A sales rep (not a miller rep) mentioned that the top roller is flat. He seems to know that welder. He sells the retrofit gun kit for it. Tweco. So far, my gun is still operational. The gas valve quit working on the gun and I retrofitted a gas solenoid. Works fine. I have the part # for that top roller and the manual for the welder. The manual list that roller for using .023 wire but it doesn’t give a description??? It’s not a pressing thing. Just toying with the idea to do the .023 wire. I bought this welder in 1983. 40 years ago. Still works great. Probably at some point I am going to have to change out the gun.
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Millermatic 35 Welder
- Thread starter Scruffer
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 1,982
Very interested in this thread as I have a MillerMatic 35 from the 70's. My gun is gone as my son took it apart just before we moved to a new loc and the parts got lost. I had already changed it out for Tweco gun and solenoid kit. I have to buy a new gun anyway so I'd like to convert to .023 while I'm at it. I liked the .030 and .035 wire back in the day because this was my only welder so I used it for everything from bodywork to building trailers. Now I have stick and TIG so all I need is a good sheet metal machine for replacing the floor and body mounts in my truck . Although I never used .023 wire it seems that would be the ticket for me now. I'll have to swing by a Miller dealer to see what's what.
I'll share where I am at with my Miller 35 welder. 1st thing, it was manufactured on Jul 1979. White face. The stock drive rollers are set up for .030/.035 wire. Retrofitting a gun to run .023 wire is is easily doable. The challenge is the drive rollers. The stock rollers will not work on this wire. Miller use to sell the drive rollers to run this wire. Discontinued. They do not support any parts on this model of welder anymore.. Maybe speaking with the Miller rep, he can help. I've been able to weld 18 ga with a fairly good bead with the .030 setup. Not sure about 22 ga. The machine specs on my welder shows .030 for 22 ga. It's a great welder just outdated. Changing the gun to a current model is probably a good idea. No problems getting consumables. Until I can figure out something with the drive rollers, I'll just keep my .030/.035 setup. Good luck.
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2013
- Messages
- 1,982
I spoke with a sales rep at Weldmart-Online LLC. He sells a lot of upgrade kits for this welder. He seems knowledgeable about the welder. What he communicated to me was the lower drive rollers remains the same. The upper roller is flat. No v groove on it. They use to sell them. He suggested machining a sleeve for the upper roller. It would have to be really thin wall so no issues with the gear teeth meshing.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
- Messages
- 6,550
Rollers are out there, on eBay and via aftermarket. We can machine them too, and the dimensions are published (check the wire manufacturer for clearance and pressure specs). Even buying a spare 035 roller and grinding the OD down (cylinder grinder, t&c, or tool post precision) to reduce the groove is an easy option.
I recommend the Tweco #0 if you can find one, or the Tweco #1 mig gun (180A) for sheet metal. I have a #0 set up for 023, it's a nice light gun with cheap and easy to find components. Liners used to be $20 before covid (okay, they really used to be $7 before the bailouts) , they're probably up a little, and contact tips are still pocket change. The miller adapter at the feeder side of things is also a trivial expense. My point is you can buy any clean low-amp Tweco gun off ebay, refurbish it with liner, tips, and an appropriate gas nozzle, and be on your way. It should not be more than maybe a $200-250 investment. No reason to buy new, that stuff is really expensive. Despite not having fine voltage control (the weldor controls a lot with how the bead is led) you are still dealing with light commercial grade equipment, and will be miles ahead of import bargains with this setup.
I recommend the Tweco #0 if you can find one, or the Tweco #1 mig gun (180A) for sheet metal. I have a #0 set up for 023, it's a nice light gun with cheap and easy to find components. Liners used to be $20 before covid (okay, they really used to be $7 before the bailouts) , they're probably up a little, and contact tips are still pocket change. The miller adapter at the feeder side of things is also a trivial expense. My point is you can buy any clean low-amp Tweco gun off ebay, refurbish it with liner, tips, and an appropriate gas nozzle, and be on your way. It should not be more than maybe a $200-250 investment. No reason to buy new, that stuff is really expensive. Despite not having fine voltage control (the weldor controls a lot with how the bead is led) you are still dealing with light commercial grade equipment, and will be miles ahead of import bargains with this setup.
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2016
- Messages
- 3,866
I agree, this is doable, and is the path of least resistance.