Lincoln Spool Gun

[DIXIEDOG]

Here's a little info for those on the fence about buying the spool gun for their little Lincoln wire feed welders. It's not an expensive gun, it was around $200 which is downright cheap for a spool gun....that is reflected in little things like not having remote wire speed control so you still need to go back to the welder to adjust it, you also can't use 10 lb spools with it, you're stuck with the 4" spools only.

I purchased the Lincoln spool gun that fits my Lincoln 140C 110 volt welder early in the summer and have used it on several projects with excellent results. Set up was quick and easy and after running a few beads getting the hang of it was easy as well. It was well worth the investment and it does a far better job than a 110V welder should be able to on aluminum. :thumbsup: As a disclaimer this is not a production gun so if you intend to go into business welding aluminum you should look elsewhere but for the homeowner who would like to do some aluminum welding for small projects it's a great deal. The reason I post this is I have read alot of posts on several forums about the smaller welders lack of ability to weld aluminum and how they would not have the power to get good spray transfer.......it was nearly enough to put me off. Luckily for me I talked to a guy on another forum who had actually hands on used one of them and he eased my concerns about it's abilities. I'm glad I tried it.

 

[looknlearn]

Thanks for the info, I have the Lincoln 180C 240V and have thought about welding aluminum for light projects and for bicycles or where you want a chrome look for a cheaper price but just hadn't looked into it much because of the initial price to get set up. That gun price doesn't look to bad though.

 

[evo803]

I have a 180 pro-mig 240v and bought the gun to weld some 1/4 aluminium and it worked flawlessly . I would highly recommend this gun for small volume aluminium welding.

 

[Carl Bert]

I'm new to welding. I actually have never welded anything as of yet. I just purchased a lincoln pro-mig 180 welder. Can someone tell me what the spool gun is needed for? Thanks

 

[hilld]

A spoolgun is generally used to weld aluminum as the wire is too soft to be fed from the MIG welder itself. It will usually birdnest (bunch up between the rollers and the entrypoint into the liner of the gun). A spoolgun puts the wire right at the gun (welding point), rather than 15-25' away.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Carl Bert]

A spoolgun is generally used to weld aluminum as the wire is too soft to be fed from the MIG welder itself. It will usually birdnest (bunch up between the rollers and the entrypoint into the liner of the gun). A spoolgun puts the wire right at the gun (welding point), rather than 15-25' away.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks, great explanation. I see one in my very near future.

 

[DRL]

Thanks for the info guys. I love my 180T, may have to broaden its horizon.

DRL

 

[not2old]

I purchased the Lincoln spool gun that fits my Lincoln 140C 110 volt welder early in the summer and have used it on several projects with excellent results. Set up was quick and easy and after running a few beads getting the hang of it was easy as well.

I recently bought a spool gun for my Lincoln Power mig 255 at about $1200.00. I only got a couple of hours to play with it before I had to pay attention to other things and messed up the first job badly. You've now given me hope that I've not wasted the money. I expect to find the time to try it again this winter. THANKS

 

[DIXIEDOG]

I recently bought a spool gun for my Lincoln Power mig 255 at about $1200.00. I only got a couple of hours to play with it before I had to pay attention to other things and messed up the first job badly. You've now given me hope that I've not wasted the money. I expect to find the time to try it again this winter. THANKS

I'm not sure how much experience you have with wire feed welding but here's a tip if you haven't, wire speed is used to adjust amperage....you may need fiddle with it a bit but once you get the settings down it will work excellent. At $1200 you must have a very nice production spool gun, you will be able to achieve great welds with that combo.

 

[evo803]

wire speed is used to adjust amperage....you may need fiddle with it a bit but once you get the settings down it will work excellent. .

Can you explain this a little more in depth to us novices ?

Can I also throw this out there I distinctly remember in college a I spelled "aluminum" for a test in statics & strength of materials class and the Proffesor said it was wrong it should be spelled "aluminium" , but one of my spell checkers says it is wrong the other says its right this is making me nuts. Thanks for letting me rant.