Hi all
I had a quick look and didnt see anything here, so what is the general concensus on the
usefulness of spool guns for welding aluminium. They arent even dear and they seem like a very useful
accessory for the MIG machine.
They work great... for the right application. The main problems around aluminium MIG is that it only produces a sound weld when in spray transfer, meaning you need at least a 180 amp machine, and you're limited to minimum thickness 4-5 mm, before you just start blowing holes.
Pulse MIGs can go lower, but still not all that consistent below 2mm.
The heat characteristics of aluminium mean you get a sluggish poor start, and then a very hot finish with a huge crater - you have to work around these things, unless you have an ultra nice inverter with hot start and crater fill functions.
It all adds up to mean aluminium MIG is really best suited to long and/or thick wall seams, and absolutely useless for delicate work.
I use one for aluminium 5mm and above, when I occasionally weld sheets in to the back of tipper bodies. Has something like a 5m hose/lead on it and means I don’t have to struggle and get the welder inside the body