You can always try a Carbon Arc Torch with your tombstone. See:
If you do a little googling, there is quite a bit of info around for these units.
You can always try a Carbon Arc Torch with your tombstone. See:
If you do a little googling, there is quite a bit of info around for these units.
The part about "it's only been six months, but my Clarke works just fine". And the part about "he asked whether it was an import, not whether he should buy it".
It's got a nice big handle, so if it starts misbehaving and I buy a boat, I'll have an anchor for it.
What made the difference?
Yeah, I can mig aluminum. But only up to 1/8. Mig for steel uses C25 mix while aluminum needs pure argon. As to pre-heat, only about 400 degrees or so for 3/8 steel. Ernie Leimkuhluer told me that even 1 inch plate can be welded if pre-heated. Eric
On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:21:41 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, snipped-for-privacy@whidbey.com quickly quoth:
Preheated to red hot so the weld bead doesn't chill and solidify too quickly?
You can MIG aluminum?!? (I _just_ picked up on that.)
Thanks, Eric. I'd like that.
-- Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for. -- Earl Warren
I've wondered that too. Might be a combination of things. Whatever, there is no doubt at all that the quality, consistency and ease of my welding improved noticably and instantly with the Lincoln.
On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:11:33 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, snipped-for-privacy@whidbey.com quickly quoth:
Excellent.
-- Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for. -- Earl Warren
Yeah, you sure can. But like he said, you have to use a different gas. You have to use pure Argon instead of the standard 75% Argon 25% Co2 which is normal for mild steel.
You have to use aluminum filler wire of course, and that creates a problem because it's so soft it's hard to push feed without jamming. The normal way to mig aluminum is to use a spool gun which pulls the wire from the gun instead of pushing it from the welder. (or use a push-pull system for a larger set-up). This makes it rather expensive because of the extra cost of the spool gun (many hundreds of dollars). The Millermatic 250 series supports two guns connected to the machine at the same time so you can have it configured to do either steel or aluminum without changing guns or wire and the runner cart that goes with it will hold two tanks so you can weld either by just picking up the right gun.
With the small Lincoln machines you can buy an aluminum "kit" which gives you a different gun cable liner and I think different feed rollers made to push aluminum without marking it. Even tho ugh it's a push configuration I'm told it works. However, you have to take it apart, switch cable liners and rollers and wire, and switch the gas tanks to convert from steel to aluminum so it's a real pain to do. And you do have to be very careful keeping the cable fairly straight. If you try to cheat and not switch liners, I think for one, it's more likely to jam, and two, you are likely to get steel dust contamination on your aluminum which will cause problems with your welds. But, you can mig aluminum with it and the add on kit isn't that expensive so it's a nice option to have.
The miller units don't have that add on kit. They tell you to buy a spool gun (for $500 dollars?).
Aluminum conducts heat away from the weld faster than steel so it takes more heat to weld aluminum than steel for the same size material. As such, the small mig machines (which can't weld very thick steel to begin with), have any more trouble trying to weld thicker aluminum.
I much prefer TIG for aluminum and my personal plan is to get a machine like the Miller Dynasty 200 for steel and aluminum (TIG and Stick). Unlike MIG, you can use one gas (Argon) for both steel and aluminum with TIG so it's easy to use one machine for both. Of course, decent TIG machines are in a different price bracket than the small wirefeed units. I'd like to get a small wirefeed as well but I'd just use it for steel.
On 26 Jun 2008 04:31:25 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, snipped-for-privacy@kcwc.com (Curt Welch) quickly quoth:
Hmm, I wonder if I could add a spool gun to my HFT 44568 (now under HFT #97719, 132A AC/200A DC) stick welder...
Thanks, Curt. Nice enlightening post.
I picked up one of the little HFT units and it's great for what it is, a scratch-starter.
-- Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom. --Chinese Proverb ----
I've stood in the store looking at the unit. It's so damn cheap it's almost free. Hard to resist. But I know I'll want more so I keep waiting until I can justify the price of a higher quality one as a new toy or have some excuse to buy it for a job I have to do.
The high heat conductivity of aluminum will also limit that machine to relatively light material. Welding 3/16 aluminum will be pushing the welder quite hard. You could probably do 1/4 in a pinch with preheat, or on small pieces.
Yeah, most my interest is in small robotics projects which should be limited to about 1/8" so I think it will do ok. If I find it's not cutting it, I'll just have an excuse to buy more hardware! :) Thanks for the heads up.
I think you would find a small TIG much more to your liking. MIG can do ally, but thin ally is tricky and thicker ally is beyond the capacity of a small MIG box. Thin ally is tricky because you need to have everything set up just right -- and then maintain a rather brisk welding speed. MIG
TIG affords much better control. You can weld at whatever rate is comfortable, a definite advantage on small projects. You can change from ally to steel and back without changing anything other than AC to DC and perhaps changing the tungsten. If the joint design permits, you can do autogenous welds in which parent metal is fused together without addition of filler. With MIG, you are *always* adding filler. You can't go back and remelt without adding even more filler.
TIG can do about anything MIG can do, though usually considerably more slowly. On small jobs where a modicum of precision might be sought, that can be a distinct advantage.
Sounds like you've done your homework and found a machine that meets your requirements. If you've never done it, you may be surprised how much you can extend the capacity of the machine by preheating the workpieces. It's neither convenient nor pleasant welding on a large plate that's heated up to 400-500 F, but it's doable for the occasional job.
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