I am wanting a MIG welder. I want to buy 1 to last a long time. I want to at least have the capability to weld aluminum. I am considering the Hobart 180 (http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/handler180.html)
It can be bought with a cart for $630.

Anybody have experience with this machine? Is this too much? Can I weld aluminum with a lesser machine?

I know there was a thread on this recently, but it did not discuss welding aluminum.

 

Mig welding aluminium sucks, only realy high $$ push pull, pulse mig get a decent job, a regular mig will result in really poor welds. AC TIG is the only real option when wanting to weld aluminium, gas can be used but not on structural components.

The problem with normal mig is the oxide layer, you could thoroughly clean the aluminium but still the results won't be nearly as nice as w/ tig.

 

I'm very happy with my Clarke 130amp 110v MIG.

However, if you want 180 amps, I would consider this:
http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/we...ml?id=rC9vw4MW

I would order the welder and regulator ... then get the other
accesories from HF or local gas supply.

These can be converted to weld aluminum with correct shielding gas and wire.
I have never used mine on aluminum, so I can't vouch for how well it works.
I would take TT's advice.

 

TT is correct. A TIG is really the way to go for aluminum. But then you have the problem that TIG is fairly painful on steel because it is so slow. Often you will prefer a MIG for steel work. So if you are serious about doing aluminum as well as steel you will end up either with two welders (MIG & TIG) or one that can do both.

 

These can be converted to weld aluminum with correct shielding gas and wire.

You also need to change the liner. The normal liner will pick up iron and this leads to a problem. If you lay the cage out carefully, no sharp bends you can get away without the pull type gun.
So you need to change liner, wire and gas to pure argon vs the argon/co2 mix you run for steel.

 

and you need at least a double wheeled wire feeding setup with less roller pressure, otherwise the alu wire will be crushed and may clog the feed.

 

The mig you are looking at will work just fine for what you want to do. The problem you will have with welding aluminum is that the wip on the small Mig welding machines are to long for the aluminum wire to be fed at a steady speed and this is critical for welding aluminum. If the wip is kept flat and straight and the proper liner is used (Teflon) than the Mig welder will weld just fine, it is when you want to weld with the wip bent around and not straight that it will give you some trouble also the liner for carbon is a coiled steel liner and the liner for aluminum is a Teflon liner. If you try to use the Teflon liner for carbon and than use it for aluminum it will contaminate the aluminum wire and cause some welding problems. In the shop I worked at we used Miller machines, they have a gun on the end of the wip that holds a 1lb spool roll of wire, this way the wire does not have to be pushed through a long wip. This was the best machine for welding aluminum that we could find. We also used Linde welding machines but in order to weld aluminum we had to shorten the wip to 40” so it would not have problems (they normaly have a 6’ wip). Linde makes the best carbon and stainless Mig welder on the market for commercial use but both Linde and Miller are very expensive machines for personal use. We used mig for about 80% of the aluminum welding we did and used Tig for the rest. Tig is a very controlible welding process but rather slow.

Neal

 

Thanks for the help. I looked at the Miller stuff and it's probably better, but the 175 is $723 shipped then you need a $1000 hand feeder and control to do aluminum. I am a firm believer in buy the best/right tool the first time, but can't quite justify that.

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/...llermatic_175/

Looks like you can also get a Lincoln sp175+ and an aluminum add-on kit for about $750. Any feedback on that one?

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Cat...eet.asp?p=7083

I will keep researching.

 

You can get the Hobart on Ebay for $587 including shipping. I may go that route unless somebody says it is not a good machine. TT what do you think? I can stick weld fairly well when I practice a little. I want this to weld floor pans in a '66 Rustang and some other projects where the stick welder is just a bit too big. I don't know if I will weld any aluminum, but don't want to buy a machine with no hope of doing it. I want to stay with some of the bigger names-Miller, Hobart, Lincoln- so maybe replacement parts will continue to be available.

 

markdtn
A few of my friends have the Lincoln machines but I believe they are the smaller ones. I have welded with them and they are very good machines. I think they paid in the $400 to $500 range for theirs. I have welded aluminum with these machines and they will do it if you keep a good liner and clean tip on the machine.

Neal

 

OK, Thanks!

 

Hobart is a good name as is miller. Stick welding is far harder to do well then mig. Anyone with just a little practice can run nice mig welds.
I would not look at a mig machine that is NOT 220v. I would stay away from 110 regardless of what you want it for.
For my cage I am using .094 wall tubing and I run my 220 volt Lincoln wide open. Fast hot welds.
You won't go wrong with the hobart but NO flux core, only gas. Flux core burns and runs like stick.
If you are welding vertical welds only weld down, not up.

 

Just an FYI on Hobart, they were bought by Miller. I just got a Hobart 140 and the whip and gun say Miller right on them. I'm very happy with the welder.

 

Is there any way that a MIG welder can be used as the power supply for a TIG setup?

 

Why 110v? Portability? I was looking at 220v to get better duty cycle. I will stay with gas, no flux core. Between the Hobart with 4 voltage settings and the Miller with infinite settings is that a significant enough difference to pay $100 or more for a Miller? I think I could get a Miller 135 110v in the same price range as a Hobart 180 220v. I have an ancient Hobart stick welder and have been more than happy with it. It just welds and welds and welds.

 

Any structural diff between a gas sheilded weld and a flux core weld? I am going to do up a trans bracket and another couple hundred $'s for a pretty weld is not in the budget right now.

 

I use my DC stick machine for the power supply for my TIG setup to do mild and stainless steel.

Steve

 

I'll have to differ with Norval on that one. The new 110V machines are very capable for most things we do. Sure, if you need to weld blocks of 1" steel to eachother it ain't gonna cut it, but for sheet metal, or 1/8 steel or the other things we usually weld the 110V machines will do just fine. The C3 frame, for instance, is made of fairly thin steel. Less than 1/8".

I just finished fabricating a welding cart for my new Hobart 140 (110V) using 14 gauge square tubing and 1/8" L steel. For some of the welds I had to dial the voltage back to the #2 setting because it would burn holes at #3. The welder goes to 4. Welding the 1/8" L steel I used #3 with the feed set to 50% of max and the weld penetrated all the way through.

 

Why 110v?
I borrowed a 110Volt unit for a test and found it just totally lacked power. I run my 220V mig welder wide open all the time, voltage on maximum and wire cranked almost to the top even for light metal. The welds flow in fast , no undercutting at the side, no sputter with slow wire feed, just a nice hum, you want as close to spray transfer as possible.
I found the 110 units just couldn't cut it.
Flux core wire runs like stick, burns through and doesn't give the nice finish.
Also a poor welder like me looks good with wire and gas.

If you are burning through it is because you are running too slow and poring too much heat into the weld.
Get a piece too hot and it doesn't weld as nice.
With mig you always push the weld , not pull, you do not weld up, you weld down and for overheat run stringers, do not weave.
I do not weave most of the time.
I start the weld and then just push it ahead of the gun.
Once again wide open regardless of thin material.

 

I'll have to differ with Norval on that one. The new 110V machines are very capable for most things we do. Sure, if you need to weld blocks of 1" .
I could never weld 1 inch blocks of steel. Sure I fabricate suspension parts and then I might be making multiple passes but I only weld things like frame and .094 tubing for the cage.
I find from lots of practice that even turning the machine voltage down or slowing the wire down affects the weld quality, smoothness and heat input.
I crank the machine up for light material, poor the weld in fast and get good looks, proper flow out at the edges and I don't pore alot of heat into the weld material.
I have been welding for about 40 years on cars and it took my son to teach me a few years ago how to really weld. He kept cranking my welder higher and higher, I kept turning it down. Now I know why. From experience, doing and results I know that I want the machine hot and fast.
Can't get that with 110V.
I work with a mig machine here at work that is $50,000 plus with 100 different settings and really cranked up there is nothing but a hum, no splatter, just a hum and a constant bright light. That is called spray transfer, very desireable for penetration and laying down a picture perfect weld.
Can't get that with even my 220 volt unit. This is 460 volts which I don't have at home.
110 is the bottom of the scale.