I've got a Miller 35S that still weld nicely, but the gun itself has a silly little valve in it for the gas and it's leaking. Is there an economical replacement for this gun? As far as I can tell, Miller doesn't have the parts for this machine any longer.
There is no valve in the gun, if its leaking gas it the gas solenoid in the welder, you should be able to get one of those ,even if its from a newer model it should still work . The gun only has the nozzle with holes in it , it does not shut the gas off in there.
We have an Airgas vendor who stops by all the time at my company. He deals directly with Miller also. If you want I can fire him an email and ask him to check and see what he can find, or I'll get his email address and phone # so you can contact him direct. If he finds the part, I can get it at company cost, not retail. I can let you know what the amount is ahead of time if the part is available. He has access to inventory all across the country. He located some ceramic tips for our Tip Tig machine that are made in Poland, through a company in New Jersey. These tips are listed as unavalable for distribution to other than authorized and licensed users. He also located a couple of parts we needed from an Aussie company for an OTC power supply that needed repair. These parts are factory direct only from Japan, but were unavailable after the tsunami. If it's available somewhere, he can find it. Let me know.
I know exactly what you have, Millermatic 35S, a VERY early machine with the valve in the handle. No parts are available. However, there is an excellent conversion for it. I have two of these machines. Both would be junk if not for the Ergoplus 25 kit I purchased from http://www.weldmart.com/store/Miller35miggun.htm. Very reasonable price, excellent quality and NOT from Asia!! Easy conversion. Give them a call. Nice guys and extremely helpful. Any help I can offer, contact me via PM.
Got an old Millermatic 35 myself, great old machine. Get to a weld supply house with your gun, a sharp counter guy should be able to set you up with everything you need to swap to a modern gun. Switched mine out to TWECO stuff works great. Good luck, John
Be aware that there are "early" Millermatics and there are "VERY early" Millermatics. If and when you attempt Tweco, give them the serial number of the machine. No good for early-Early.
My 1970s 35S came with a #2 Tweco when I bought the welder used, in the late 70's. Never had anything go wrong with it.
Here's another vote for tweco! We use them at work and I love them! We have a couple 35s at work that don't have the gas valve in the handle, I can ask a maintenence guy about the conversion I'm assuming they did.
just had the same problem with our old marquette 183, took it to my local welder shop and they replaced it with a tweco gun. Now I feel like I have a good welder again and a much better gun!!!
Thanks guys, I have some info on the Tweco gun conversion, and looked at the Ergo gun last night. Grinderspark, I'll PM you with the part #s I might need. I recently changed the CO2 regulator to a very high quality flowmeter and that's when I noticed the leakage - flowmeter showed about 5-7 when trigger was off. Took the gun apart and there were no leaks inside the handle, around the valve or at the 2 O-rings that seal the valve. Hey, if it's worn out then it's worn out - kinda like my back
nmpontiac, did you make the change? I have an old Miller 35 and my gun is wearing out. the valve in the gun had a cracked O ring. I replaced it and its working fine now but I bet the trigger is next to fail. do you have to replace the whole lead or just the trigger? thanks! David
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