Thanks Len for taking the time to comment. I greatly appreciate it. My iron/steel projects so far with my new equipment is one of satisfaction with it. The results have been to my liking so far. The aluminum has been another story but I "chalk it up" to lack of experience with the equipmen...

Hi ya'll: I've already purchased a miller 212 unit with spool gun. But from what I'm seeing on this site, many of you use TIG which makes me wonder if I purchased the wrong unit (MIG). I thought I had done a large amount of research before buying this MIG setup but seeing some of the pic's on this s...

No problem guys. This is the first alum. ladder I've seen that had welded rungs and the reason it caught my attention. Now for another question that I need your expert opinions: I had the 212/spoolmatic gun tuned and welding well on pieces in preparation to weld them to the boat with the purpose of ...

That's exactly what this ladder will be used for, my boat. I will pin it to brackets on the boat and take it off or fold it up and secure it when not in use. Welding these pieces of angle to the top of the ladder was where I ran into big problems. Luckily a had a new alum. grinding wheel to make it ...

first weld on a new project.jpg Aluminumladder.jpg Hi Guys, thanks for the responses. The ladder rungs are welded to the main tubes. It appears that whoever did this drilled holes in the main tubes and slid the rungs thru the holes and then welded them together. It's a very strong aluminum ladder. ...

Also, just to complete the troubleshooting loop I was embarked upon, I tried welding some of the alum. I've been practicing with and after tightening the spoolgun wire feed, I started laying some very decent beads again so the different grades of alum. has to be the factor with the ladder project. B...

Hi guys, thanks for the responses. I will check the gas lines. The argon bottle is new so low volume shouldn't be an issue but I'll check it anyway. I'm holding (or trying to hold) the tip around 3/4" away but that could vary. I called Miller directly, spoke to one of their experts there and he...

Regarding the issue: I increased the voltage and the wire speed, gas flow still at 25 but still seeing the same issues. I can't seem to get a smooth metal flow started. It will arc, deposit a marble and wire will melt up to the tip. Nothing so far that I try seems to help resolve this issue. Any tho...

hello Otto. No sir, I understand. Thanks for your help.
I wasn't sure how much time was involved during the "intro" stage. So that's why I went into the questions phase. Sorry if I violated protocol.

New question for you: Laying aluminum beads on a test piece looked great so I assumed that I was ready to start on my "real" project. The first step was to weld a piece of angle to the top of a circular pipe. The pipe is old aluminum so I brushed it with a s/s brush along with the small pi...

Thanks again guys for the recommendation. After watching the video and applying some of their techniques, it has greatly helped to reduce my issue. I also tweaked the settings on the 252 as well. Now the only thing I'm seeing it much more black soot around my welds. Trying to find out why. Ideas?

Thanks guys for the feedback and welcome. I watched the video. Very good info, I'll try some of it and see what happens.

Howdy folks. A new forum member her from the South. I have a Miller 252 MIG welder along with a SpoolMatic gun attempting to weld aluminum. I've been able to lay somewhat decent beads on alum. so far but always seem to have a small crater with a pin hole in the middle of it at the end of every bead ...

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum, joining only today. Not sure if my issue would be classified "leaky" but here it is nonetheless: I bought a new Miller MIG welder model 252 with a Spoolmatic gun. Welding aluminum, each time I make a bead and pull up from the weld, I see a crater with a pin h...