Spool gun

[Yofish]

Hello, new here. I own an Everlast 200Dx which I am generally happy with other than My second foot pedal just went tango uniform and the flow meter leaked really bad out of the box for poor machining. I'm in Alaska and the Everlast guy here took quick care of my problems. I don't like how it welds 5-P and as long as I'm running quality LO-HI I'm happy. But I didn't buy it for that. I got it to go over starts and stops (MIG aluminum) on things like fuel tanks, keel coolers and other things that can't leak.

BUT! That's not why I'm here. I'm wondering if anyone has hooked up a real spool gun, Printz, 30A etc. to any of Everlasts' machines? I've got my eye balls on the MTS250s. Everlast has about the most worthless data output I've ever seen. I had to laugh when I looked at the so-called instructions that came with my machine so I think schematics are out of the question. However, I don't see anything on the surface that would prevent what I want to do.

I've looked at their top end gun and if it's true that it only goes up to .040" wire then that doesn't work for me. Also, 20' is not enough stretch. Lugging the powersource around too much while you're building a boat sucks. Besides, it looks kinda cheesy and the spool case does not rotate to give better options for weld angle. Having said all that, I'd be interested to hear from someone that actually has put the stones to one. I'm not a purist and I have no loyalty after being screwed by the Hobart Bros for too many years.

NOTE: I already have to edit this post as I was wrong about the data supplied by Everlast. Pawing around the website I found pretty detailed stuff. Maybe when I bought my welder it wasn't available?

[m j mauer]

Welcome to the forum Yofish.

[zoama]

The top spool gun will run .045 wire.
I believe the spool gun actually comes with a 25' cable but you would need to talk to sales to confirm this.

[Kempy]

I have a MTS250S got it with a Everlast spool gun SM 200-N and have done a lot of aluminum welding with it and it will hold .045 wire also but I used .035 and .040 4043 wire I tried 5356 but it was harder to get a good weld some day I will try it with helium and argon mix.


this one had some splatter

used more argon flow and upped the volts by .6V on this one and got a better weld.
All the welding are done with the Everlast spool gun SM 200-N the spool gun is 25 feet long not the 20' on the website.

[zoama]

All the welding are done with the Everlast spool gun SM 200-N the spool gun is 25 feet long not the 20' on the website.

What's the thinnest aluminum you can weld cleanly with this setup ?

[Kempy]

What's the thinnest aluminum you can weld cleanly with this setup ?

I have only done 1/8th or 1/4 in most of the time but did 1/2 to 3/8 also.

[Yofish]

Kempy, thanks for the reply. So it seems you are happy with your machine. 3/64" aluminum wire is .047" diameter. Have you ever tried that? Does that gun take some standard tip or off-breed? I use an .060 tip. Can you get them that size? Nowhere can I find that info on the website.
I like the cleaning action I see on the weld in the second picture. The first pic looks like it has been brushed afterwards. All the machines I have or have used like to run .047" at between 19.5-22V. What are you running at? Have you ever been able to outrun the machines duty cycle?

[Kempy]

Kempy, thanks for the reply. So it seems you are happy with your machine. 3/64" aluminum wire is .047" diameter. Have you ever tried that? Does that gun take some standard tip or off-breed? I use an .060 tip. Can you get them that size? Nowhere can I find that info on the website.
I like the cleaning action I see on the weld in the second picture. The first pic looks like it has been brushed afterwards. All the machines I have or have used like to run .047" at between 19.5-22V. What are you running at? Have you ever been able to outrun the machines duty cycle?

I tried .045 once to see how it worked only with 4043 never tried 5356 in .045 but did with .035 and .030 not to bad but black maybe it would work with a little helium added. Yes the first one I used the wire brush to remove the black smoke. After I got thing working the black smoke was almost 100% gone. Duty cycle I have not push it that far yet. Welded 1 inch round tube to 1 inch round tube 1/8th thick about 6 inches each time total of about 5 ft. for about 2 minutes and off then Tig the rest of the part around 15 minutes or less.

[Kempy]

The tip are standard I have used Princess Auto, Binzel, Lincoln and Miller tips 6MM thread and inside diameter from .025 to .062 they are cheap to buy.