Mig like Tig or almost anyway.

[Hood]

Found a manky old Alu tray out in the back store, 1mm thick and going by the feel of it I thought maybe 1050 Alu or similar.
Hacked a bit off it to give it a go with the EWM Phoenix, set the EWM to 1mm and gave it a blast, pretty happy with the results and absolutely no spatter

Obviously not as neat as Tig but not too shabby, also did an etch but you can't really see the weld as it is basically full penetration and my camera is not good enough to show what my eyes see.

 

[TomCGB]

Is this pulse, double pulse/pulse on pulse or push-pull/spoolgun?

I've been looking into double pulse for aluminium but there isn't an awful lot of reading material regarding practical results or pictures that I can find apart from the basic explanation of what it is and the sales garb about how wonderful it is.

I was saving up for an ac/dc TIG set up, but am now wondering about saving up some extra, selling off my current oxford mig and going for something like the oxford 330DP. Although I've had a play with TIG, I have no experience in it. I have received quite a lot of enquiries about stainless and aluminium work though and so far I have been sending them elsewhere, but would like to be able to take them on.

 

[Hood]

Is this pulse, double pulse/pulse on pulse or push-pull/spoolgun?

It was with Superpulse which is basically what EWM call double pulse. I have a Push/Pull on it.

I've been looking into double pulse for aluminium but there isn't an awful lot of reading material regarding practical results or pictures that I can find apart from the basic explanation of what it is and the sales garb about how wonderful it is.

I was saving up for an ac/dc TIG set up, but am now wondering about saving up some extra, selling off my current oxford mig and going for something like the oxford 330DP. Although I've had a play with TIG, I have no experience in it. I have received quite a lot of enquiries about stainless and aluminium work though and so far I have been sending them elsewhere, but would like to be able to take them on.

I have no idea about the Oxford but if it were me I would be wanting to see its capabilities on the metals I intended to use before I spent money on it. The EWM is highly configurable for pulse duration on both peak and background, voltage is adjustable for each part as well plus lots of other settings such as wire type, wire dia, etc etc, not sure if the oxford has these capabilities?

Depending on what type of stuff you intend to do a Tig may be a better option, I certainly wouldn't be without my Tig even though the EWM is proving good on very thin Alu.

 

[Jim Davey]

Some good advice there, you need to get quite a sophisticated MIG to be able to do what is easy, but a lot slower with a TIG.

 

[TomCGB]

Thanks for the advice, looks like I need to carry on saving up then see if I can test both the MIG and a TIG. Hopefully it will be more a case of which one first rather than either or. The TIG would certainly be a lot more versatile, but it would be a whole new skill for me, especially considering that a lot of my work is out of position.

I'd be interested to see how you get on with your EWM in the future. As I said, there isn't an awful lot of pictures or info about how people are getting on with double pulse MIG in the real world, so even your couple of pics above are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Hood]

What type of material/thickness will you be doing?

Few more pics of my Alu here
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/ewm-phoenix-330-expert.72053/

and here
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/1mm-v-1-2mm-alu-wire-on-ewm-phoenix-330-pulse.73454/

Still coming to terms with the EWM as it is a lot different from normal Mig when doing Alu so is taking a bit of time but I think I am getting there.

 

[Brad93]

Give me a PM I have a few pdfs that speak about the benefits of pulse welding Aluminium. You've just missed out on an EWM Picopuls in the for sale section which went for silly cheap.
For a 300A machine top class machine you're looking at a around £3-4000 second hand and around £6-8000 to do what hood has done there. Plus torches and wire etc.

 

[TomCGB]

I would say almost all the stuff I do would be in the range 2mm - 12mm. Thanks for the links, I'd found one but not the other. Apologies for hijacking your thread!

Brad, thanks, PM sent. that makes the Oxford S-MIG 330dp which I was thinking about look cheap at £3800 new!

 

[Hood]

I would say almost all the stuff I do would be in the range 2mm - 12mm. Thanks for the links, I'd found one but not the other. Apologies for hijacking your thread!

Brad, thanks, PM sent. that makes the Oxford S-MIG 330dp which I was thinking about look cheap at £3800 new!

Definitely going to need Mig for the heavier stuff, either that or a big Tig.

I do a lot of Alu and I have both Mig and Tig, before getting the EWM Phoenix Pulse I avoided Mig welding anything under 4mm and used the Tig instead. I still tend to use the Tig for the thinner stuff if it has to be a very tidy weld although the EWM is making it look like I will be using the Mig more now.
I see lots of people using a standard Mig on thin material but I don't like the look of the welds personally. You can not get into spray transfer with a normal Mig at the low volts required for the thinner stuff so the weld is spattery and cold looking. That s just a personal observation from doing Alu Mig for years with a standard Mig but I am just self taught so the qualified people may differ in their opinions.

As I said before I would be asking for a demo of the Oxford on the kinds of material you use before splashing the cash. Might also be worth asking if anyone has a good second hand Pulse Mig for sale. I got mine from @Jim Davey and I couldn't be happier with the EWM's capabilities, I just have to catch up now with my own capabilities

 

[Brad93]

I would say almost all the stuff I do would be in the range 2mm - 12mm. Thanks for the links, I'd found one but not the other. Apologies for hijacking your thread!

Brad, thanks, PM sent. that makes the Oxford S-MIG 330dp which I was thinking about look cheap at £3800 new!

But what level of programs does it have. Not being funny but I would give £3800 for something made by Tec arc. I'd want something from the likes of ESAB, Lorch, fronius, EWM who have spent millions researching pulse GMAW since the 70s and know it inside out.

 

[Brad93]

I would also buy ex-demo or used too. No point having a new one when you can get a quality second hand unit for half the price.

 

[Hood]

I would also buy ex-demo or used too. No point having a new one when you can get a quality second hand unit for half the price.

Wonder if mine counts as Ex Demo ? It was 10 years old and the display said 22Hrs of welding time

Looked the last day and it is 35Hrs now so I have done about half of what it did in 10yrs and I have only had it since April

 

[Jim Davey]

I think you are safe to put a few more hours on it Robin, they don't auto-fault until 99 hours usually

 

[Hood]

I think you are safe to put a few more hours on it Robin, they don't auto-fault until 99 hours usually

Do I get my money back if it fails at 98Hrs 59mins or less?