Try looking through sci.engr.joining.welding - discussed somewhat frequently, generally favorable reviews, at least WRT small-scale or hobby use, portable use, good bang for the buck, etc.
Read their literature a bit more carefully, too - you've posted some things which indicate a careless reading (for instance, 12V is really only for very limited uses, 18-24V for more typical stuff and 36V to do the heavy plate). A few 6V or 12v golf-cart batteries can be combined to provide choices in voltage.
Ernie likes 'em. He was showing me his the last time I was in his shop. He was telling me how amazingly portable they are. Of course, I always weld within the same six foot square so portability isn't an issue with me.
They work with a whole lot of power sources, and Ernie says they work very well.
Grant
Ra> I just searched though the last 7000 messages here and there's been no
I talk about them at any opportunity. Great little machines.
I took mine into school last week and welded 16 ga aluminum with 0.030" wire and argon, from a 40 year old Airco 400 amp stick welder we only use for carbon arc gouging.
I usually run mine from my Maxstar 200DX inverter, since it can run from anything from 110 volt to 460 volt 3 phase.
I run mine from my Betamig 250.
Two 6 volt batteries and a 12 volt battery can give you 6, 12, 18, or
This caught my eye as a portable welding option, and as a spoolgun for Aluminum or bronze mig. Some of the spoolguns that I have seen look very heavy and awkward, the readywelder looks nice and compact.
I looked at their website, and it seemed to be self-contradictory on use with welding power supplies. The website in one place seemed to recommend only batteries, but then they showed different setups for battery, constant current, and constant voltage power supplies.
I was interested in possibly using it as a spoolgun for aluminum with my Synchrowave 180 welder, TIG/Stick, constant current. But I always heard that Mig needed constant voltage, as the Mig power supplies have. I guess a basic MIG is not a lot of money, to get the constant voltage supply, maybe just get a used MIG. Spoolguns for aluminum have never been cheap, about the same price as the readywelder. How does the readywelder work with constant current supplies? Obviously it worked with your old Airco, which I assume is DC constant current. I noticed that for use with constant current welders, they suggest a separate power supply for the gun/wirefeed, perhaps to prevent erratic wirefeed speeds.
I like the idea of portability. I have two group 27 batteries, 12V, in my camper that I could use for this purpose, that would be more or less a constant voltage supply. The spool is in the handle, I believe, so it should feed aluminum wire fine. I have an Argon tank and regulator/flowmeter for my TIG welder, so no need to buy that, but then I would need a different gas tank for steel, I think the argon-CO2 mix is recommended.
Dumb question, but are one and two pound spools readily available for the usual alloys of steel, stainless, bronze, and aluminum? I notice they sell spools, but don't specify the alloy, which made me nervous.
It sounds like you are using it as your preferred MIG setup, with different power supplies. I confess that I am not very familiar with MIG, but am familiar with TIG, stick and oxy-acetylene, which I use regularly.
Would this setup work for thicker aluminum? I am happy using TIG on the sheet metal, but 180 amps is not enough to TIG 1/4 inch aluminum.
Maybe the optimum setup is a readywelder set up for use with batteries or a MIG constant voltage supply. The readywelder is the same price as a spoolgun, but more versatile.
A lot of questions, thanks in advance for the answers.
They sell 3 versions of the gun. The original was designed for use with batteries so it comes equiped with big alligator clamps to hook to battery terminals. The next is the one I have which is designed to work from a welding power source. It comes with the seperate 110v AC to 24v DC power supply to power the wire feeder. The third is a military model desgned to plug into the NATO standard 24 volt socket on all US Army HUMV's
It works from CV or CC power sources. The only difference in use is that on CC power sources you have to hold a fairly consistant wire stick-out to get a consistent arc temperature.
Correct, or you could just use Flux-core wire for steel and not use gas.
They are available in most major flavors, except dual-shield. I rigged up a simple widget so I can mount empty spools on a large slow hand drill and spool my own small spools off of larger spools.
I own a Hobart Handler 120 and a Hobart Betamig 250, but I needed wire feed for location work, and with my Maxstar I can grab power from any source.
You can weld heavier aluminum with MIG than TIG from the same power source. I have welded 1/2" aluminum with mine from a 200 amp inverter. I did use multiple passes.
I use mine on location and in the shop. In my shop I use it for MIG welding aluminum and bronze from my Betamig 250. It is my second favorite spoolgun ever. My favorite is the Miller 30A, but Miller refuses to make it easy to run a spoolgun from a small CC inverter, so I opted for the Readywelder and have never regretted it
I should also mention that the Tweco front end on the Readywelder makes finding parts extremely easy. Everybody carries Tweco parts.
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