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Gunz101

Gunz101

Active member
Joined
Jul 12, 2020
Member Number
2288
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36
Loc
Oklahoma City Ok.
I am looking for a new welding machine for my shop. I would like MIG with a spool gun for aluminum. I dont do a ton of weldng. most of the time I get away with using my 3200HD.. But I am about to the point of cutting the frame on my crew cab square body so i need a 220 machine. Would someothing that can loaded in a truck without a forklift for the occasional time I need to take it somewhere.

I would like a machine that would run off a 50 amp 220 since that's what I already wired in my shop.

Suggestions?
 
Tombstone and keep your current welder for the thin stuff.

The aluminum rods will force you to get real good with the stick welder.
 
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I sold my Lincoln cracker box ac225, I never use it anymore and my dad has the same machine 8 miles away. I want a 220 mig with aluminum spool gun. Considering the hobart 210 MVP
 
The 210MVP can probably handle all of your steel needs. I thought comparable aluminum welds would take more amperage but going off of the chart in the manual that is not the case?

I actually have a spool gun for my OG Hobart 210 (pre MVP) I have never used it because I got a giant Lincoln Tig 250/250.

The Multi voltage input on that type of machine makes throwing it in the truck and going over to a buddies house way easier, if they don't have a welder chances are they don't have a 220v plug except for the dryer.

Edit: I was right about the amperage for welding aluminum, much higher wire speed which translates roughly to more amperage. Meaning for serious use the 210amp class machine is a bit underpowered. Also the spool gun for the 210MVP is rated at 60% duty cycle @150amps so if you will need to be a bit easy on it at full output.

If you are welding a couple of aluminum pieces here or there it'll be fine just don't expect to build an aluminum boat with it.
 
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stupid happy with this one, and it can do spool guns, hobart makes the iron man version of this one i think too, it might be 210 one you mentioned


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Screw that new stuff. Find a Miller shop master power source and add a wire feeder and spool gun to it. Hands down Best welder I have ever owned. Have 3 of them now.

Last week we put down a 33# spool before lunch time with it.

You can buy them for 3-400. Toss a used $300 feeder at it and buy a new 900 spool gun and you set for life for under 1600
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
Screw that new stuff. Find a Miller shop master power source and add a wire feeder and spool gun to it. Hands down Best welder I have ever owned. Have 3 of them now.

Last week we put down a 33# spool before lunch time with it.

You can buy them for 3-400. Toss a used $300 feeder at it and buy a new 900 spool gun and you set for life for under 1600
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That sounds like a beast of a setup but that thing weighs what 3-400 pounds?

Gunz101 said:
Would someothing that can loaded in a truck without a forklift for the occasional time I need to take it somewhere.
Click to expand...

What are the power requirements? My Tig 250/250 is about the same size and it can pull 70-80 amps of 220 single phase.
 
MigGunslinger said:
That sounds like a beast of a setup but that thing weighs what 3-400 pounds?
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At least that boom cart and 2 feeders +bottles the thing must weigh 1000pounds.

E3A1ADD6-6568-465C-B575-DD37C37E1518.jpeg


I trained my dad right. He picked up another welder for me at a auction. Didn’t even ask me about it. He bought it because it had a dual feeder on it :flipoff2:. Got the whole
Shit for 600. Feeder is alone is worth 2000+ :smokin:. I don’t know why people shy away from this old stuff.

I don’t see the attraction to inverter stuff. Only nice thing is it’s light and burns a little less power. The duty cycle and life span of this shit is horrible for what it costs.
 
Get a 3 in 1 machine...that way you have stick available too. Love my multimatic 215.
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
I trained my dad right. He picked up another welder for me at a auction. Didn’t even ask me about it. He bought it because it had a dual feeder on it :flipoff2:. Got the whole
Shit for 600. Feeder is alone is worth 2000+ :smokin:. I don’t know why people shy away from this old stuff.

I don’t see the attraction to inverter stuff. Only nice thing is it’s light and burns a little less power. The duty cycle and life span of this shit is horrible for what it costs.
Click to expand...
That might be a little overkill for those of us in modest shops!
 
ThePanzerFuhrer said:
At least that boom cart and 2 feeders +bottles the thing must weigh 1000pounds.

E3A1ADD6-6568-465C-B575-DD37C37E1518.jpeg


I trained my dad right. He picked up another welder for me at a auction. Didn’t even ask me about it. He bought it because it had a dual feeder on it :flipoff2:. Got the whole
Shit for 600. Feeder is alone is worth 2000+ :smokin:. I don’t know why people shy away from this old stuff.

I don’t see the attraction to inverter stuff. Only nice thing is it’s light and burns a little less power. The duty cycle and life span of this shit is horrible for what it costs.
Click to expand...
Inverters are overrated and disposable. Only worth it for fancy tig or portability. Nothing like a old industrial copper wound transformer miller machine :smokin:
 
I used a production 6' mig gun to build my sxs ramps.
Migging Aluminum is a whole different beast and on my Miller Vintage 200 (250) it was almost out of wire speed but it did work good.

Point being adding a spool gun to machine is not that hard so if you found a used machine you could add a spool gun to it even if it doesn't have option for one.

Hard to go wrong with a 250 amp class miller or Lincoln.
I have a 165 amp 220v Century that I used for the first 20 years of fabbing and it never missed a beat. It's tired now and I think it needs new caps but it owes me nothing.
 
CarterKraft said:
I used a production 6' mig gun to build my sxs ramps.
Migging Aluminum is a whole different beast and on my Miller Vintage 200 (250) it was almost out of wire speed but it did work good.

Point being adding a spool gun to machine is not that hard so if you found a used machine you could add a spool gun to it even if it doesn't have option for one.

Hard to go wrong with a 250 amp class miller or Lincoln.
I have a 165 amp 220v Century that I used for the first 20 years of fabbing and it never missed a beat. It's tired now and I think it needs new caps but it owes me nothing.
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So you got a regular mig gun to work feeding aluminum? 5356?

Did you have to get u drive rolls and a teflon liner?

I tried it once bird nested the first time I tried to strike a arc then I gave up on it. Wouldn't mind trying it again. Forgot to lock the compartment for my spool gun on the truck and the crackheads got it :mad3: A new 30a miller and controller is like $4k+now :barf:
 
Hobart Ironman 240 has been treating me well. As far as I can tell it is extremely close to the Millermatic 252 without a digital display and different gun. Chassis is even the same, just way cheaper.

Welds .045 dual shield and solid wire as good as the xmt 304's I used to live off of when I was welding fulltime.
 
WESTOF7 said:
So you got a regular mig gun to work feeding aluminum? 5356?

Did you have to get u drive rolls and a teflon liner?

I tried it once bird nested the first time I tried to strike a arc then I gave up on it. Wouldn't mind trying it again. Forgot to lock the compartment for my spool gun on the truck and the crackheads got it :mad3: A new 30a miller and controller is like $4k+now :barf:
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Yep, the vintage 200 I got must have came from a production shop with a 6' gun.
I kept it for this purpose.
Bought a teflon liner and 2lb spools of filler I think the harder 5356 like you said.
It took some futzing but with the short ggun it ran no problem on a less than ideal project. Lots of short welds.

1649796874934.png
 
If I have to another project I am going to buy a chi-com spool gun and the connections to be able to hot swap it.
 
CarterKraft said:
If I have to another project I am going to buy a chi-com spool gun and the connections to be able to hot swap it.
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I put a dinse connector on my mm251 so the 30a can quickly swap between it and my tb302

If you guys are wanting a 30a look around for used units. Even search 15a (15’vs 30’ but easily extendable) I bought a used 30a and wc24 a few years ago for a couple hundred bucks.
 
I put a flex neck on my 30a a few years ago, fucking life changing! Spend the money on one, it's worth it.
 
Twankie said:
I put a dinse connector on my mm251 so the 30a can quickly swap between it and my tb302

If you guys are wanting a 30a look around for used units. Even search 15a (15’vs 30’ but easily extendable) I bought a used 30a and wc24 a few years ago for a couple hundred bucks.
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Exactly, that was my plan if I need to do it again.

I tried to find the 10 pin #043084 spool gun module for my machine but I wasn't gonna pay the $400+ to do so.
 
Twankie said:
I put a dinse connector on my mm251 so the 30a can quickly swap between it and my tb302

If you guys are wanting a 30a look around for used units. Even search 15a (15’vs 30’ but easily extendable) I bought a used 30a and wc24 a few years ago for a couple hundred bucks.
Click to expand...
That's probably what happened to my 30 and wc24. Stolen by crackheads and sold for $200 :mad3:

I've never seen one go for a reasonable price used. Almost got a spoolmatic 3 just to have something but the deal fell through
 
Since I only use it a few times a year, I think I am looking for something like the Hobart 215MVP. My shop is 25x35 so real estate gets scarce quickly.
 
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