Final choice of welder
- Thread starter Boondox
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pajoube
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Boondox,
Congratulations, that was a great move. When you did the practice at the weld shop were you using their 135 or your new one? If using theirs, let us know if you have any problems in setting up your new unit and getting the settings correct.
PJ
Congratulations, that was a great move. When you did the practice at the weld shop were you using their 135 or your new one? If using theirs, let us know if you have any problems in setting up your new unit and getting the settings correct.
PJ
OP
Boondox
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PJ -- They set mine up in the shop, actually they walked me thru the set up and I did it myself. It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, and everything is plainly marked for usage and wire size. I used the default settings for power and wire speed listed on the inside of the door, and fine tuned from there.
Pete
Pete
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Boondox
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<font color=blue>Do you have to use the gas all the time? </font color=blue>
No. If I ever use flux core I won't need the gas, but the lack of spatter and the absence of slag was really nice!
Pete
No. If I ever use flux core I won't need the gas, but the lack of spatter and the absence of slag was really nice!
Pete
em14
Platinum Member
Gary,
Since you took a welding class perhaps you can answer this one for me ... How is the MIG at welding Alum.? and what did your instructor say about the use of TIG or did they address that?
I am in need of learning to weld Alum. Something that I have always wanted to be able to do ... and I think this coming year is the time ...
Leo
Since you took a welding class perhaps you can answer this one for me ... How is the MIG at welding Alum.? and what did your instructor say about the use of TIG or did they address that?
I am in need of learning to weld Alum. Something that I have always wanted to be able to do ... and I think this coming year is the time ...
Leo
wroughtn_harv
Super Member
The little migs like you get at TSC or HD or Lowes won't cut welding aluminum. Oh, you can buy the wire, find the pure Argon gas, but it ain't gonna hunt.
The problem with aluminum is two fold in a mig. First it's soft. That means the aluminum wire shaves off in the process of passing down the tube from the machine to the welding tip. That fills up, screws up, plugs up, the liner big time. This is compounded by the fact that the drive rollers chew the heck out of the soft aluminum.
Most production welding of aluminum is done via mig. But that's like comparing a Ranger pickemup to an eighteen wheeler just because the fall under the label of "truck".
I have some TWECO mig guns for aluminum. They're four foot long with water cooled heads, yup, aluminum runs hot. They are for big time migs, big time.
The alternative for mig welding aluminum and it works fine is a spool gun. But you have to have a decent power source, hundred and fifty amp plus mig two twenty volt. And plan on spending another eight hundred to a grand just for the spool gun.
Miller has a new machine out that comes with a spool gun and is a two hundred amp mig. It's about twenty two to twenty five hundred dollars.
You can get into heliarc pretty reasonable if you have a decent stick machine. All you need is a high frequency box and a scratch start torch along with some Argon. That's the best way to weld aluminum.
Henrob's torch will do aluminum. But the only thing I've seen it do decent is flat work.
The easiest for me is the spool gun. The funnest is the heliarc. The most frustrating was the Henrob.
If you go with one of the Miller or Lincoln products like Miller's Econotig keep in mind aluminum takes more heat--amps and if you're doing much work at all you're going to be at the machine's limits real quick.
Heliarc machine's don't go down much in value for a decent one. I guess because they rarely go on the market unless they're worn out.
But this year at one of my suppliers I was offered an ESAB two hundred and fifty machine that was last years big dog for less than eighteen hundred dollars. Last year it went for almost a grand more. So you might keep your ears and eyes wide open for such a deal. They are out there.
Good luck. And don't make the mistake most of us do in such endeavors. Don't underbuy only to find the only thing worse than not being able to do the work is to only to be able to half, er, uh, half, er, uh, half, er, uh, screw it up.
The problem with aluminum is two fold in a mig. First it's soft. That means the aluminum wire shaves off in the process of passing down the tube from the machine to the welding tip. That fills up, screws up, plugs up, the liner big time. This is compounded by the fact that the drive rollers chew the heck out of the soft aluminum.
Most production welding of aluminum is done via mig. But that's like comparing a Ranger pickemup to an eighteen wheeler just because the fall under the label of "truck".
I have some TWECO mig guns for aluminum. They're four foot long with water cooled heads, yup, aluminum runs hot. They are for big time migs, big time.
The alternative for mig welding aluminum and it works fine is a spool gun. But you have to have a decent power source, hundred and fifty amp plus mig two twenty volt. And plan on spending another eight hundred to a grand just for the spool gun.
Miller has a new machine out that comes with a spool gun and is a two hundred amp mig. It's about twenty two to twenty five hundred dollars.
You can get into heliarc pretty reasonable if you have a decent stick machine. All you need is a high frequency box and a scratch start torch along with some Argon. That's the best way to weld aluminum.
Henrob's torch will do aluminum. But the only thing I've seen it do decent is flat work.
The easiest for me is the spool gun. The funnest is the heliarc. The most frustrating was the Henrob.
If you go with one of the Miller or Lincoln products like Miller's Econotig keep in mind aluminum takes more heat--amps and if you're doing much work at all you're going to be at the machine's limits real quick.
Heliarc machine's don't go down much in value for a decent one. I guess because they rarely go on the market unless they're worn out.
But this year at one of my suppliers I was offered an ESAB two hundred and fifty machine that was last years big dog for less than eighteen hundred dollars. Last year it went for almost a grand more. So you might keep your ears and eyes wide open for such a deal. They are out there.
Good luck. And don't make the mistake most of us do in such endeavors. Don't underbuy only to find the only thing worse than not being able to do the work is to only to be able to half, er, uh, half, er, uh, half, er, uh, screw it up.
Gary_in_Indiana
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The answer from WHarv is the one you want. I'm just taking a very basic ARC Welding class and burning up rods here. I'm going to do my first real "project" this week since my 'final' is now done and I have another dozen class hours to burn. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
em14
Platinum Member
Wroughtn_Harv and Gary,
Thanks for your answer to my questions ... I really do appreciate it ... very good information ... I'm not sure which way I'm going but it sure looks like it's going to be worth while to get the correct machine and process ... everything I have read also points me in the same direction as you have ...
Thanks,
Leo
Thanks for your answer to my questions ... I really do appreciate it ... very good information ... I'm not sure which way I'm going but it sure looks like it's going to be worth while to get the correct machine and process ... everything I have read also points me in the same direction as you have ...
Thanks,
Leo
