Looking for a small MIG welder

I bought a 252 after after owning a lincoln 140. While the lincoln will weld most of what I need to at full power, it will only do so for a couple of minute before I hit thermal protection and have to wait 5 for it to cool down. Once it is warm it will only weld 30 seconds or so on full power before shutdown. Very frustrating. The duty cycle is very low on any of the higher settings. Now the 252, that has a 100% duty cycle for most of the things I weld. That being said I still own the 120v machine since I can plug it in places I don't have 220. Maybe look at a 211? I would avoid the 120v only machines.

 

No doubt Tig is the best for aluminum, but my spoolgun has gotten me out of several pinches. It works, the aluminum must be super clean though.
Cant use the thin aluminum wire with the spoolgun, it will ball up where it exits the drive rollers

 

Looks like there is a $200 rebate on 211's right now.

 

Spool gun works fine for occasional aluminum work. Easier for most to learn to do over tig.

 

There is a minor learning curve with tig....

 

I have seen first time TIG guys just about fall over from having to balance on 1 foot while using the other foot for the petal while holding the torch in one hand and feeding the filler with the other hand.

All while working with the material in a vise standing in front of the bench

 

What came before the 250?

Think it was the 200?

 

And I'm betting that is on something easy like steel that changes colors when heated unlike AL.

 

Mig/fluxcore is a great process for a lot of repairs. The drawback to it is it can have a great looking bead that is not a strong weld. The smaller machines just do not have the power to melt the base metal, the great looking bead just sits on top on the base metal. Fluxcore is a bit hotter therefore can weld a bit thicker metal. I bought the Lincoln 135sp and quickly out grew it. I now have a 200 amp machine I bought cheap, when it dies I will own an Everlast 250 class amp machine (unless I can find a 252 or a 255/6 cheap). The difference between Miller and Hobart is the adjustability, the Millers are fully adjustable (both wire speed and voltage) where the Hobarts are tapped on voltage. They are both owned by ITW and Hobart is geared more towards homeowner.

 

The main reason that fluxcore is "hotter" is because is runs on DCEN.

Electrons want to go from negative to positive in DC, so when you are set to DCEN, the heat is more at the work. When set to DCEP, the heat is more at the wire

I have gotten beat up on line about this a few times, but you CAN run a solid wire set up (usually DCEP) on DCEN and get a hotter weld puddle with more penetration if welding steel.
You can also change shielding gas composition to allow for deeper penetration.

 

I have the thumbwheel also, it does come in handy for 14 point rollcages in street/drag cars, but it aint easy to get accustomed to after you are used to the petal. I had such a tough time using the wheel that I settled for using the foot petal between my knees while upside down welding the dash crossbrace and its gussets .............................. I guess its like everything else ................ practice, practice, practice

 

I will add that the flux while burning adds some heat also.

 

That thumb wheel does take some getting used to. I will use the pedal between/ under my knee, or if doing an autogenius weld, with my off hand. before I will use the thumb wheel. I really need to practice with the wheel more.

 

the free spoolgun deal expired 7/31/15

 

Yea...Mike Lee said there was a "minor" learning curve with "square filing too"...
we may have varying degrees of "minor" here ...

 

To practice for tig practice with oxy/acetylene, they are very similar. Where I took my classes oxy/fuel was a pre requisite for gtaw.

 

the cheapest "welding class" was about $600 for the semester...(Barack took care of all the "cheap" education for us).

 

Tig welding isn't too bad to learn. Maybe a day or two to get the hang of it.