Welding Tips and Tricks

First off, as this is my first post, lemme introduce myself. I am 16, and a junior in high school. Besides my passion for metalworking, I am an avid angler, and also enjoy boats in general, thus, most of my work is on boats, in one form or another. I can MIG steel very well. I am also very skilled when it comes to all forms of working aluminum except welding (cutting, bending, riveting, threading) and have done numerous riveted aluminum boat projects. But, I enjoy welding more, and wish to build a boat that will be better built by welding (at least now, I wish to build those full time eventually, but that is a story for a different time).

Anyway, I am looking to purchase my own MIG machine, to dedicate to aluminum. For a long time now, the goal was to purchase a spool gun for the MIG we currently have (230v, 130 amp, 30 percent duty cycle, Lincoln), at least for now. Currently, I weld aluminum with it, but swapping out the shielding gas, drive rollers, and liner is getting to be a royal pain in the tail (not to mention the aluminum wire doesn't feed for crap). Being that this machine needs to be used for steel on a regular basis, the only logical solution was to get another machine for aluminum, as opposed to a spool gun for this one.

The requirements:
-Spool gun is a must. My budget will likely not allow for a push/pull wire feed setup.
-Most welding will be between 1/8 and 3/16.
-A few parts in the 3/8 or better range, but on the scale of boats I will be building, there aren't many of these welds needed, so beveling, and multiple passes with backchipping in between is not an issue.

Also, I am self employed, working out of my dads home shop, doing various work on smaller aluminum boats and outboards, plus any steel welding job I can find. I would love to be able to weld .090 aluminum (90 degree welds, no butt welds), to make certain add ons that are quite common on these smaller aluminum boats (add in livewells and hatches for jon boats, consoles for larger jon boats, trolling motor pedal trays etc). The "stack of dimes" is not necessary, but a somewhat visually appealing weld is nice.

My budget for this machine is around 1000 - 1200 dollars. I prefer to buy used, to get more bang for my buck. What machine should I look around for, that meets all these requirements. Lincoln or Miller only. Leaning towards Lincoln, a) as I am already familiar with them, and b) consumables are readily available at the local big box stores, thus can be gotten on short notice, if I get in a bind. But, I have no problem going to Miller, if that will suite me better.

Thanks in advance.

Ah well, I woke up from dreamland, and killed the idea of the 1200 dollar budget. Was getting tired of my bass boat anyway. Talking to a group on another forum (lively bunch we have here), I decided on looking for a used Millermatic 251 or 252, and a Millermatic 30A spoolgun. Should do most of what I need for aluminum, save for the real thin stuff (and hopefully make me enough money for a TIG), as well as some of the steel jobs I do too, seeing as it allows for both guns to be hooked up at once.

howdy!
We had exactly what you are looking at where I used to work doing custom aluminum rails (laid off) On the thinner stuff, just went fast, plenty of penetration, just had to be a bit careful with the flap disc!lol
We used the tri mix at 15cfh, down around 16.5V for the thinner stuff, and kept it moving at a pretty good clip.
I liked the 251 quite a bit-good luck!

Here are my thoughts...I've got a Miller 252 and it is an awesome machine. I've tended towards Miller for MIG and for decades had a Lincoln for stick...so I'm not biased, buy what you like, there isn't much difference. For me it has always come down to service and I like my Miller supplier better than the rest.

Here's what I did - why get another MIG to dedicate, why not use your money and buy a TIG right off the bat. You're going to want one anyway, and trust me, spending the money once is always less expensive in the long run. I bought a lightly used Miller 180SD (4 hours on the clock) for $1700 (with a mitt full of rod, torch accessories, peddle and regulator). The guy I bought it form thought TIG'ing aluminum would be just as easy as it was on TV - tried it once and gave up.

These machines are common enough as people upgrade to the 250 or go with an inverter. It works just fine and I've got a buddy that just bought a Diversion 165 and now wishes he had some of the adjustments I have on the old 180SD. You may outgrow this machine, but you won't wear it out first.

Just my 2 bits.

Craig

Millermatic 252 with 30 spool, try to pick one up used if you can, they are probably the easiest to learn on as well. but I would have to agree with Canuck try to pick up a tig machine if you can. I have a Miller syncrowave 350 but that was purchased on the bosses dime. Used to have an old lincoln (unidentifiable) that finally died but we picked it up for about $1900 and it lasted for about 12 years. You are gonna want a tig machine and the nice thing is most tig and stick so it makes it a bit easier to spend the cash.
Anthony

I have to go with what Canuck said.

Buy yourself a used Tig machine with ac, I think you would be better off.

Remember that you could weld down and up, up and down and even upside down with a AC Tig.

When you talk about building boats, that is the way to go.

I just sold a Fronius ACDC Magicwave 300amp watercooled to a boat builder, he had a PulseMig Fronius TPS 2700 but needed a Tig to do the outside corner welds and upside down welds with he told me.

Just my 2cents

Good luck.

This is a bit of an old post. I'd forgotten about it until I got a PM about it today. Not very long after this post, I ended up getting a Thermal Arc 185 TIG.I ended up with a virtually new one, second hand (one of those bought, yet never used deals). It paid for itself in the first couple jobs, and has greatly increased the number of jobs I can bid. I'm 17, in high school, and am staying busy with it.

A lot of what I do can be done with a MIG (I'm playing with a lot of .125 wall aluminum tubing these days), but for the .090 sheet (which I also use a good bit of), the TIG is really the better choice.


I am in the market for a good TIG fingertip controller. I'm about tired of the working the pedal with a knee, elbow, forehead, etc. routine. Any recommendations on a good fingertip controller that I won't constantly curse at?

bassboy1 wrote:This is a bit of an old post. I'd forgotten about it until I got a PM about it today. Not very long after this post, I ended up getting a Thermal Arc 185 TIG.I ended up with a virtually new one, second hand (one of those bought, yet never used deals). It paid for itself in the first couple jobs, and has greatly increased the number of jobs I can bid. I'm 17, in high school, and am staying busy with it.

A lot of what I do can be done with a MIG (I'm playing with a lot of .125 wall aluminum tubing these days), but for the .090 sheet (which I also use a good bit of), the TIG is really the better choice.


I am in the market for a good TIG fingertip controller. I'm about tired of the working the pedal with a knee, elbow, forehead, etc. routine. Any recommendations on a good fingertip controller that I won't constantly curse at?

I have one from WeldTec that's a continuous tractor band (for lack of a better description) It works but I'm not nimble enough to get the changes I need fast enough or steady enough. Maybe if I was a better welder it would be easier.

What I have found what works the best for me when I can't work the foot pedal right is to just use my pulser. I don't know that it will ever replace a remote but as long as I run a couple of test beads I can usually dial it in well enough to weld at max power and still control the puddle pretty well.

I've been using the finger tip control with the pulser and I just find the sweet spot and leave it. I'm thinking about getting a torch with a 2T switch on it. If you look at the new machines a lot of the things that a foot control does are ending up on the front panel. It won't be long before TIG setup is no more difficult than MIG.

Not sure if the original poster is still around but I'm building the Glen-L Canyon Cruiser Jet Sled. I was practicing on some 1/4" last night because there is a lot of 1/4" corner welds on that boat and I was also contemplating bumping the bottom plate up to 1/4" and sides to 3/16". Welding the 1/4 in I thought I'd kill two stones at one time and set up a joint like I'd have at the chine. Welding the outside as a butt weld that can't be chamfered yet because of the angle, I tigged about 8" and blew the 50amp breaker with my Lincoln Precision TIG 225.. uh oh. Then I flipped it over and welded the inside corner with my Miller 212 and Spoolmate 3035. That cooked the barrel on the spool gun. I will upgrade to the 200amp barrel that's no problem.

What I should have done was just tack the outside butt weld then welded the inside corner weld and come back and back chipped the butt weld and ran a couple of passes. Yep that would mean I'd have to flip the boat twice because there's no way I'm getting up under there and welding the corner overhead. I'm not that good.

The point I'm trying to make is that I'm thinking that most of these welds are going to be non-finess welds and a foot pedal is not going to play a huge roll. A on/off switch might be all you really need.

Steve