Largest Wire for 180 Mig ?

[nfinch86]

Hey Guys;

I was curious, I have a Lincoln 180 Mig Welder. What is the Largest mig Wire you guys have run through your Miller 180 Mig Machines??

I've Run.035 , but I Think maybe .045 would be better , ( ER70S6) It Seems Like too much power for .035 Wire ?? ( Not Flux-Core )

................. Norm

[davedarragh]

Hey Guys;

I was curious, I have a Lincoln 180 Mig Welder. What is the Largest mig Wire you guys have run through your Miller 180 Mig Machines??

I've Run.035 , but I Think maybe .045 would be better , ( ER70S6) It Seems Like too much power for .035 Wire ?? ( Not Flux-Core )

................. Norm

Norm: What's the owner's manual say? Does it have charts for .045 solid wire? Do you have a .045 liner in the gun?

Dave

[nfinch86]

Norm: What's the owner's manual say? Does it have charts for .045 solid wire? Do you have a .045 liner in the gun?

Dave

Dave,

I have Not really looked, It was just a passing thought as I was sitting here at the Computer ? So I pulled out my 180 Booklet to see.
The Only thing I see is a Kit for .045 Innershield, .035-.045 liner , .045 Tip,
and Knurled .035-.045 Drive Roll, & a .035-.045 inner wire guide !

So I guess I'll have to order them separately, Liner & drive roll ?

Thanks,........... Norm

[TripleTrophy]

I would think .035" should be good enough for whatever you want to do. I thought I needed heavier, until I talked to some welders. I used .035" on my trailer spring mounts, which were 1/4" mounts welded to 3/16" 2" angle. I got enough heat into it to bend the angle on cool down. Plus, I've been watching a welder at work weld up 3" Sch. 40 pipe using .035 wire, with two passes. he says there is no need for heavier, and the welds look good.

Besides, .035 is a lot easier to find.

[Mustang]

With the Lincoln 180 Mig machines ( 180T and 180c ) I found that they worked the best with .030 wire . Yes , they will run .035 , but , I found that arc performance suffered . These machine do not have a lot of top end voltage , and the best arc ( with my machines ) was always with .030 .
.045 sold wire ??? No way . They do not have enough power .

[aametalmaster]

Sometimes bigger isn't better. I too like .030 on my MM185 size machine...Bob

[nfinch86]

With the Lincoln 180 Mig machines ( 180T and 180c ) I found that they worked the best with .030 wire . Yes , they will run .035 , but , I found that arc performance suffered . These machine do not have a lot of top end voltage , and the best arc ( with my machines ) was always with .030 .
.045 sold wire ??? No way . They do not have enough power .

Hello, Well If I crank it up to the Max., The .035 wire seems wanting ( Not Large Enough ) ! Too Much Power for .035 when it's cranked-up !!

Mine is the 180 Tapped, when it's on "E", There's No Shortage of Power !

................ Norm

[Mustang]

180 having too much power for .035 wire ???

I currently use a 250amp Thermal Arc Mig machine and it does not have
"too much" power for .035 wire . I've run this machine wide open ( 250amps )
with .035 wire and it runs just fine . The 250amp Thermal Arc mig machines have a LOT more power than the Lincoln 180 units .

When I had the Lincoln machines ( 180T and a 180C ) , I found that when I ran the machine at or close to it's max output ( max tap ) , the arc was poor . It was not a wire size issue , but rather that the machine simply was running out of voltage . .030 wire actually helped it some . But , the harder I pushed the machine , the worse the performance got . This was the primary reason that I ended up selling the Lincoln 180 machines and replaced them with another brand 180 machine . Problem solved . In my experience , the Lincoln 180 machines were not strong top end performers . They were great with an .030 wire with a mid range voltage setting though .

[cruizer]

You kinda need 185 amps to run 035 satisfactory, 045 your going to need 225 amps + to run satisfactory. Now my "satisfactory" is in an industrial setting getting good material penetration, non repair and non ropey welds.

Don't fool yourself on a 180 amp machine as maxed out you may be able to get a suitable weld out of 035. 18-22 volts short circuit with 180+ amps determined by your wire speed setting but thats the highest diameter wire you are going to use for these units.

030 runs the best on most of these low amp machines. The weld might look pretty, but actual penetration may not be there.

[SundownIII]

Norm,

That 180 just "seems powerful" cause you been using that toy mig so long.

I run .030 in my HH187.

.035 in the MM251 for short arc. .045 in the MM251 for spray.

A 180A machine is not powerful enough for .045 solid wire.