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Title: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: KerDog77 on March 27, 2012, 07:44:27 pm I realize there are other places to get information on welders such as miller or lincoln tech lines, but there seems to be more down to earth folks here.
What I have is a miller 210 mig gun that I use a ton. It is in good shape still and they seem to hold there value pretty well. I have thought about selling it and purchasing a sytem that migs as well as my 210 but also has high frequency for aluminum. For this machine I am wanting to stay electric. I have not used the high dollar push pull aluminum spool gun but have used the spoolmate and was never a fan.What would you folks think would be the best route to go and why. I do not want to complicate things more so, but I do have access to a lincoln 250 amp gas machine for stick welding when needed. I am a hobbiest but I definately want something that could be used daily if desired. I would like to keep the price under 3k as well. Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: curdog10 on March 27, 2012, 07:53:11 pm I personally use a miller 250 P its a great machine it burns hot enough to weld thick plate I have a spool gun for mine to weld aluminium Idk how much one is new I bought mine used last year. That's just my two cents
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: charles on March 27, 2012, 07:57:40 pm i just priced a miller 250 bobcat a couple days ago and they are running $3500 with 50' of leads. that price will vary from dealer to dealer.
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: KerDog77 on March 27, 2012, 08:09:47 pm curdog10, what is the thinnest you tried welding with that spoolgun? Also, can you adjust it to not have any splatter? I never could but that was 15 yrs ago.
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: DixieDogs24 on March 27, 2012, 09:06:10 pm Miller XMT 304 CC/CV. It has lift arc which eliminates the need for high frequency arc starting; however, It's about a 5,000 machine. Check out ESAB machines a little cheaper than the Millers and Lincolns with a pretty comparable performance. I pipe weld for a living so I've used all three quite a bit I prefer the miller machines but if I was gonna buy one for personal use I would definitely look seriously at the ESAB. Try Craigslist they sometimes have nice used machines at better prices to keep you within budget. Hope this helps.
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: curdog10 on March 27, 2012, 09:39:22 pm I have welded 14 gauge aluminum for horse trailers with it the splatter is not bad unless u lose your gas on your arc the only problem I have with a spool gun is it is heavy when u use it all day but other than that the machine is great I also have a Lincoln ranger 250 gxt gas machine and a suite case wire machine with spool gun attachment that works great for projects outside the shop
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: curdog10 on March 27, 2012, 09:42:39 pm 14 gauge aluminum splatter is not bad at all
Title: Re: welding machine for alum tig and mig for carbon steel Post by: Melonhead on March 28, 2012, 07:43:37 am I have a 250amp snap-on muscle mig, with spool gun and tig torch.
The spool gun works well on aluminum, but the tig part does not weld thin guage anything - ended up selling the tig attachments on e -bay. I just watch my heat and wire speed and I can weld almost anything except really thin guage aluminum |