Bernard Q300 on Passport plus PLEASE HELP

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I put a Q300 on my Passport plus and am having feeding problems no matter what I do. To start I put in a 023"-030" liner but managed to cut it slightly to short so I thought that was my problem. So I installed a jumper liner and still no change.No matter what I set the welder at it seems like it doesn't have enough wire speed. I burns good for a second or two then burns back a bit then goes back to burning good for a second or to. It sounds very consistent I could set my watch by it. As soon as I put the dinky old whip back on everything runs fine. I then thought it might be because I'm using .030" self shielding flux core sire without a knurled drive roll. So I switched to .023" solid wire and that didn't change anything. I'm running on 110V input power.Can anyone offer any advice I really need it.
Reply:The bernard is a good gun. how long is it compared to the stock gun? also your liner seems a little small, I used a 12 foot Bernard on a lincoln LN-7 on a CV300, for 6 years. We used at least an .060 liner and a .040 tip with the .035 wire with good results. ( more than 3 rolls of wire per tip.) the smaller tips were more of a problem. The leads don't like to be bent, don't loop it around anything, and don't have any more bends than absolutely necessary. We did have problems on the adapter from the rolls to the liner. we were using a quick connect gun adapter.  Sometimes it would shove 6 to 10 inches of wire into a half inch long tangle. We worked out a fix using the red straw off of a wd-40 can for a guide liner  in that space and it made a huge difference.     We had a slight pulse effect as well,  blamed it on the tip size.past work toys; lathes,mills, drills, saws,  robots, lasers ironworker, shears, brake, press, grinders, tensile tester,  torches, tigs, migs, sticks, platten table, positioner,  plasmas , gleeble and spot. Retired June 30, 2009.
Reply:The original whip was 10' long and the Bernard in 15' long. I put in a smaller liner because someone on the miller forum suggested it before I bought the gun. Right now I only run .023" and .030" wire. I notices that the tips are a little tight on the wire but when I tried a .030" tip on the .023" wire it seemed to make the problem worse
Reply:Don't use .030 tips with .023 wire.   In a pinch, you can use .035 tips with .030 wire but that is the most difference in tip to wire size you want to run.   Current transfer to the wire becomes very erratic as the tip diameter gets too much bigger than the wire diameter and you can also end up with arcing between the wire and tip and weld the wire to the tip.You have the right liner size for the .030 wire.  The reason for running as small a liner as you can for the wire size is to keep the wire from snaking inside the liner and having erratic feeding.  That is what happens when I run .030 and .035 wire on the .045 liner in the 15' gun.   Switched to the right size liner (.035) and problem gone.Watch your drive rolls.  Are they slipping a little after you pull the trigger and before the wire starts moving?   You want enough tension on them that they don't slip but not so much tension that you bog down the feed motor.On the spool axle tension, you want enough tension that the spool doesn't keep rolling off wire after you release the trigger, but not too much as to make it difficult to pull the wire off the roll.  I keep just a little tension on mine.Watch how you have the wire roll loaded in the machine.  The wire compartment is very narrow on these machines and if you don't have the roll inserted all the way onto the spool and the collar threaded all the way on, the roll will rub on the case door and hang up.  Have you tried welding with it with the case door open?  Does it feed any better with the door open?Also, take a look at the wire spool itself.  Are you using plastic spool or welded wire or cardboard?  I have found the welded wire ones often are bent/warped or otherwise mangled and often hang up on the machine and don't allow the wire to be pulled off the roll smoothly.  Sometimes the cardboard ones can have damage on the edges and rub on the case too.  When you said you 'can set your watch' by the speeding up and slowing down of the feeding, I thought that sounds like an issue of the wire spool not rolling smoothly and hanging up on something.  Try spinning the spool around in the machine with the wire tied up on the spool, no wire going through the feeder.  Does it spin smooth?Another thing to look at is how the wire is rolled on the spool.  Is it rolled uniformly, or is it tangled up?  Sometimes they get crossed over and cause a difficult spot in the revolution to pull the wire off the spool.Last edited by DesertRider33; 11-07-2009 at 10:13 PM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Those are some great tips and I will check all of them tomorrow morning. I never thought about bogging down the drive motor by over tightening the drive roll tension so I sill make sure to check that as well as making sure the spool isn't rubbing. The only thing that I don't understand is why it works perfectly if I change the whip back to the short one.Hopefully I get it figured out and working. Thanks
Reply:Are you making certain that the wire is lined up with the drive roll V-groove before lowering the pressure roll?A 15' gun maybe a little on the long side for the Passport's small feed motor and single driven drive roll set up.ESAB Migmaster 250 Hobart Ironman 230Multimatic 215TWECO Fabricator 181i & 211iHH125EZ - nice little fluxcore only unitMaxstar 150 STH - very nice
Reply:I made sure that they are lined up and others are running the same combination without problems so there has got to be a way to make mine work.
Reply:I know you can make this thing work.   Mine works fine for me.  It has to be a matter of figuring out what combination of adjustments and settings and sizes will make it work for you.  I don't use mine with .023 wire, but I do use it with .030 and .035 fluxcore wire and occasionally with .030 solid wire.  It feeds all of those wires very smooth, even and reliably.  I have run many, many rolls of .030 and .035 fluxcore through mine with the torch in all sorts of crazy positions and no problems.I use the standard .023/.030 smooth v-groove drive roll for .030 solid wire and the special .035 knurled vk-groove drive roll for .030 and .035 fluxcore wires.  I adjust with just enough tension to not slip on the wire.  Too much tension on the knurled roll with fluxcore wire chews up the wire too much and deforms it and then there is problems with getting the mangled wire through the tip.  Also makes a mess of metal shavings inside the machine and up the liner. The test for drive roll tension is to bend the end of the wire and stub out the wire on any un-grounded or non-conducting surface (wood block, garage floor, un-grounded piece of metal, etc) and keep pulling the trigger and watch the wire and drive roll.  If it keeps feeding the wire without slipping, you have plenty of tension.  If the wire stops and the drive roll slips, it's too loose.   This procedure should be covered in the owner's manual with an illustration and written description. I use an .035 aluminum liner in mine.  It is a steel coil liner, no teflon as far as I know, but it is made for feeding aluminum wire.  I don't know what the difference is, as it appears to be the same as an .035 steel liner to me, but it works very well.  The .035 steel liner I have also works just as well.   Both these liners are available from Bernard.   The part numbers should be on the website, www.bernardwelds.com.  If you don't find them, I will look them up in my reciepts or take the liner out and get the number off the liner for you.I use .035 tips with .035 wire and .030 tips wit .030 wire and have not had any need to run a different wire/tip size combination.I cut my liners about 1/2" or so longer than the diffuser (or whatever length it was the instructions call for) and when I put the diffuser on, it pushes the liner back into the torch.  This is so the liner doesn't shorten up as the torch is bent around during use.  Works well for me on all 3 of my QGuns. I have not messed with using the jump liners so far.  My theory is that one continuous liner from feeder to torch tip has to be the most reliable way to feed wire.   I can envision the joint between the jump liner and main  liner possibly being an additional snagging point for the wire, but many do use jump liners without problems.  Sundown likes them says they work fine for him.   I am going to try the jump liner sometime and see how it goes.Take your liner out of the torch and inspect it for any kinks.  If it's kinked, get a new one.  Also, blow it out with compressed air if it's dirty inside.I find when I put a new liner in the gun, it will sometimes hang up where it goes into the gun as I'm insertng it down the torch hose.  When it does that and I can't get it to go in smoothly by shaking and wiggleing the gun, I take apart the gun handle halves and then the liner slides in smoothly.  Something about that little bend the liner has to go trhough at the rear part of the gun on the curved handle gun makes the liner snag up right there during installation.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Thanks for all the help. I am going to spend the afternoon messing around with it to see if I can get it figured out. I will post my results later today.
Reply:Good luck with it! MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Well I got it working pretty good its not 100% perfect yet but getting close. I check and the wire spool was rubbing in one spot as it turn. As I looked closer the little nub that goes into the spool was hitting in the hole in the spool and not letting the spool sit flat it was slightly angle so it would rub once per revolution. I filed it down until the spool sat flush on the adapter and that helped a fair bit. I then reset the drive roll tension and then went back to praying with the settings. I also readjusted the tension on the wire spool brake.A little more fine tuning as I go and it will be perfect. I haven't yet tried the .023" solid wire yet but the .030" flux core is working and thats all I need right now and I'm sure if that works so will the solid wire.Thanks for all the input an help.
Reply:Glad you got it going! MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:Don't bother with .023 in the passport. You should be able to weld most anything with .030. Also .023 solid happens to run like garbage in one. Dan is right on straining the little feed motor with a 15 ft gun. Miller would never recommend that much length. Probably void your warranty too. (if they knew about it.)
Reply:Originally Posted by Brand XDan is right on straining the little feed motor with a 15 ft gun. Miller would never recommend that much length. Probably void your warranty too. (if they knew about it.)
Reply:I needed the 15' gun because a 10' gun is useless if you are welding on anything that is to big to constantly reposition. And I use .023" wire because it welds 20ga a lot nicer than .030" with less distortion. I do  also use .030" for other things as well. And .023" runs just fine in my machine not sure why you would say it doesn't.And as far as warranty goes I haven't heard or any reason why the longer gun would void the warranty. And I'm not to worried about it being hard on the drive motor. Miller did a good job building these machines they are strong machines and can take a beating. Accidental of course.Last edited by Mega Arc 5040DD; 11-08-2009 at 08:40 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by Mega Arc 5040DDI needed the 15' gun because a 10' gun is useless if you are welding on anything that is to big to constantly reposition. And I use .023" wire because it welds 20ga a lot nicer than .030" with less distortion. I do  also use .030" for other things as well. And .023" runs just fine in my machine not sure why you would say it doesn't.
Reply:I hate to revive an old thread but..My m10 gun finally crapped out completely and I bought a Q300-15ft gun off ebay for a good price. It has the 045 liner/tips in it, and we all know the Passport can't run those Cyberweld has the tips/difusers/nozzles, but I can't find the any place that sells the .023, 030, or 035 liners. I don't even know if they exist..I plan on running all 3 wires, but mostly 030/035. What I used to run .023 for, I do nothing but TIG now, so it's a moot point. I have a big job waiting on burning lots and lots of 1" 1/16th and 1/8th stock, so this gun was a necessity. My 100% penetration smaw on 1" 1/16th square tube is about 500% right now, ha.Looking at the Bernard website, for the 150-400A guns, the liners are all the same for 035/045, part # 44115For the 150-400A guns, liners for 023/030 are part #43015Is that right? Do I need a different diffuser or anything else besides tips to swap between wire sizes?Miller: 200dx, Bobcat 225, Passport, Powermax 45, Milwaukee: Dry Saw, MagDrill, grinders
Reply:Originally Posted by JohnRI hate to revive an old thread but..My m10 gun finally crapped out completely and I bought a Q300-15ft gun off ebay for a good price. It has the 045 liner/tips in it, and we all know the Passport can't run those Cyberweld has the tips/difusers/nozzles, but I can't find the any place that sells the .023, 030, or 035 liners. I don't even know if they exist..I plan on running all 3 wires, but mostly 030/035. What I used to run .023 for, I do nothing but TIG now, so it's a moot point. I have a big job waiting on burning lots and lots of 1" 1/16th and 1/8th stock, so this gun was a necessity. My 100% penetration smaw on 1" 1/16th square tube is about 500% right now, ha.Looking at the Bernard website, for the 150-400A guns, the liners are all the same for 035/045, part # 44115For the 150-400A guns, liners for 023/030 are part #43015Is that right? Do I need a different diffuser or anything else besides tips to swap between wire sizes?
Reply:They are Bernard "style"Miller: 200dx, Bobcat 225, Passport, Powermax 45, Milwaukee: Dry Saw, MagDrill, grinders
Reply:Originally Posted by JohnRI hate to revive an old thread but.. It has the 045 liner/tips in it, and we all know the Passport can't run those