Converting Welder?

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Hey, everyone.  I have a Century 100 fluxcore welder.  It is wirefed, and I would like to adapt it to be able to use either wire or welding rods (not at the same time), by adding a stinger in addition to the wire gun.  Thanks in advance for the help.
Reply:Mig and Flux core is CV and Stick and TIG is CC. --Gol'
Reply:CV=constant voltage, CC=constant current, just incase you didn't know.Assuming you are running self shielded flux core, you have no shield gas and the polarity on the gun is dc electrode negative.To run solid wire MIG, you need to add shield gas and ensure that the polarity dc electrode positive.You can use 100% CO2 which is cheapest, hottest, but creates the most spatter and rougher beads, or 75% Ar/25% CO2 for more money, a cooler, smoother weld with minimum spatter.You will need a bottle of gas, a pressure regulator with flow meter, and a MIG gun with nozzle and gas line.  You could wire in a solenoid valve to start and stop the gas with the weld contactor (gun trigger), otherwize you'll need to control the gas with a manual valve.
Reply:Stick welding can be done from a constant-voltage machine.  I stick weld from my PowCon300SM CV/MIG welding power source and it stick welds pretty good.   To stick weld from a MIG, you need a way to keep the contactor closed.   The MIG guns trigger does this.  You would need an on/off toggle switch connected to your contactor control wires that normally go to the gun trigger.  Then you need a way to turn off the wire feeder, unless you want the motor to be running all the time while stick welding.   So you will need a toggle switch on the power wire for the feeder motor to turn it off.  Next you need a place to connect your stick lead.  Pick up the weld output power at the cable going to the feeder, connect stinger lead to that cable.Then, if you have a gas valve, you can either shut off the tank and let the valve remain open, or put a toggle on the wires going to the soleniod that operates the valve to turn it off.In the end though, you are probly better off just buying a used stick welder and have one machine set up for MIG and the other for stick, each doing what it was designed to do best.  That's my opinion anyways.  Others may differ.  Your results may vary.  Pay at the cashier.  Have a nice day!Last edited by DesertRider33; 01-16-2008 at 10:08 PM.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op