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Thu May 21, 2009 9:38 am

I have a borrowed Miller Mig welder, and I need to buy more wire.

Is the plastic spool used by Miller and Lincoln the same? Can I buy Lincoln wire at the local Lowes/HD, to work with the Miller welder?

Thanks.

Thu May 21, 2009 9:43 am

mig wire is mig wire make sure it is the same dia.
and type fluxcore or mig. depending on what you are useing.

Thu May 21, 2009 9:59 am

I am not worried about the wire, but the whether the plastic spools are compatible from manf. to manf.?

Thu May 21, 2009 10:09 am

There are some varieties of spool ID. One model of Lincoln will use a different size spool than some other models of Lincoln machine. Same is true of Miller or Esab or whatever brand. But brand to brand is not an issue.

Just measure the diameter of your spool and compare it to what you're considering buying.

Also make sure you're using MIG wire for a MIG machine, and Flux-Core for a Flux-Core machine.

And wire diameter is an issue to watch also.

Thu May 21, 2009 11:54 am

For the most part. wire/spools (brands) are interchangeable... Just do it....

Dale

Fri May 22, 2009 9:46 am

Is there a difference between brands? Is the very cheepest flux equal to the miller/lincoln flux?

Fri May 22, 2009 2:01 pm

If you want the best and have a Argon / CO2 bottle then go to a welding shop and get Hobart HB28

Fri May 22, 2009 4:57 pm

i was always under the impression that you could feed flux core wire through a gas MIG machine as dual shield without any issues.

Fri May 22, 2009 8:16 pm

when you change from flux core to regular wire and gas, you have to change the polarity on the welder.

Fri May 22, 2009 10:06 pm

Cheap fluxcore wire, in my experience, isn't worth the effort to throw it away (or into the metal recycling bin). It wouldn't burn properly (and yes I reversed the polarity on the power leads in the welder) and just spattered and make turds. Bought some brand name (not Lincoln, but something like ESAB) and it worked fine.