Friendly welder from Canadaland

[JOKER]

Hello!

If anyone has a welding question, I'll gladly help you out.

Congrats on the forum, Don. I always knew you had it in you.

JOKER

[Flyin6]

Hello!

If anyone has a welding question, I'll gladly help you out.

Congrats on the forum, Don. I always knew you had it in you.

JOKER

Seriously, we NEED YOU!

OK, Joker, first Duane is getting ready to lay some STBW (Soon to be worthless) merican green back down on a tig. He is asking me questions galore, which, of course, I cannot answer
I owned a TIG once. Used it as a welding table for my smaller mig projects
First thing I did with it was to thoroughly melt an intercooler. Then I melted a roll cage, then I sold it
Ya...

Next, I want to weld aluminum and was thinking of a spool gun for my MIG, but with my wanting mo-better quality all the time, I'm afraid, my craft is screaming TIG as well...

Anyhow Joker, welcome aboard and try to stay warm!

[KensAuto]

JOKER, hmm, sounds familiar.




...oh yeah, JJ! welcome to the bestest site in the world!

[Nate]

welcome JJ.  maybe you could give us a breakdown on welders, what ones are good for what projects, the good ones, bad ones, etc?!

[JOKER]

This place is already WAY better.
I need to enable email notifications though. I'm going to do that right meow.

[JOKER]

Hello!

If anyone has a welding question, I'll gladly help you out.

Congrats on the forum, Don. I always knew you had it in you.

JOKER

Seriously, we NEED YOU!

OK, Joker, first Duane is getting ready to lay some STBW (Soon to be worthless) merican green back down on a tig. He is asking me questions galore, which, of course, I cannot answer
I owned a TIG once. Used it as a welding table for my smaller mig projects
First thing I did with it was to thoroughly melt an intercooler. Then I melted a roll cage, then I sold it
Ya...

Next, I want to weld aluminum and was thinking of a spool gun for my MIG, but with my wanting mo-better quality all the time, I'm afraid, my craft is screaming TIG as well...

Anyhow Joker, welcome aboard and try to stay warm!

Point me in the right direction to help out buddy and I'll get him on the right track.
As for you, a spool-gun can be very useful, even if you have a TIG machine. Which MIG welder do you have? Having both is a true, aluminum welding setup. :p

[Flyin6]

I currently own a miller 212
But I will keep that GREAT machine dedicated to mild steel and if I go with a spool gun, then I'll buy a mig and set it up for aluminum only and make it a dedicated machine. Own a Hypertherm 45 so the plasma corner is locked down tight!

Right now I don't have a great need for the spool or tig. However when it comes trailer build time, I was thinking that everything I add to the trailer base whether it is a HMMV trailer I am re-purposing or a scratch built something, I really need to consider aluminum to keep the weight down. But that is off in the future for sure.

THe way projects lay out for me is get SquareD to where I consider it useable, then get onto C-Max and install the Dana-60 in it, then back to the tac-trailer build with bits and pieces of the bike mod and maybe a turbo for the gator.

[JOKER]

For what you're doing, a spool gun is going to be more useful than an AC TIG setup.
By all means, pick up a Dynasty 200DX like mine if you find a good deal, but consider this. If you are stitching a bunch of aluminum checker plate to a trailer, or welding a new intake onto your jet boat (3/4" deep joint on mine), you won't want to be sitting there, dabbing aluminum filler for days. A spool gun makes short work of that, with less heat input, and far less swearing.

I recommend picking up a used Miller 252 (or a similar machine) and a 30A spool gun. That is a useful, multipurpose rig. Switching between the spool gun and the factory MIG gun is nearly seamless, once you are set up. One bottle of mix for steel wire and one bottle of argon, feeding your spool gun.

I'm tigging the 4-link for my LML, but it takes TIME and ton of prep. Like I tell everyone, TIG is very useful, but it can be a pain when it is used on the wrong project. :p

[Flyin6]

I traded a Miller 250 in on my 212...Just thought it was too big for my new "Happy-Homeowner" condition, as it was my shops welder

I'm sweet on a spool gun, but when the time comes...

[JOKER]

I traded a Miller 250 in on my 212...Just thought it was too big for my new "Happy-Homeowner" condition, as it was my shops welder

I'm sweet on a spool gun, but when the time comes...

As long as you can test it, buy used. Save a few hundred bucks and get a used 30A when you need one. If you can't find one down there, there are lots up her for $800 CAD.