To Spoolgun or Not to Spoolgun?

[Areugone-mix 80/20]

Hello everyone. I've just purchased my first welding machine, a Kemppi Kempact 2800 with single pulse. Actually, I don't feel worthy of this machine as I am a beginner, but I'm really looking forward to using it. I've already started reading up on how to set it up for welding aluminum, but I'm a bit unsure about the setup. This machine has a synergic program for aluminum with 1.2 mm wire only. I dream of making motorcycle parts like rally tower skidplates from approximately 2mm aluminum plates, and I'm not sure if 1.2mm wire is the best choice for that. I suspect it's the only choice because it's less likely to cause birdnesting.

If I buy parts from Kemppi like a Teflon liner, 1.2mm wire feeder U-groove, and contact tips, it'll cost about the same as a spool gun on AliExpress (about 100 pounds). The problem with a spool gun is that I assume I'll lose the synergic program, but it comes with the bonus of making it very easy to switch between aluminum and steel setups.

What do people think? Should I buy original parts and set up with a regular gun and stick with the synergic program, or should I step up and learn to set up the machine myself and buy a spool gun? Or should I grow up and learn to set up the machine myself and purchase a spool gun? All advices are greatly appreciated.

 

[hotponyshoes]

The larger 1.2mm wire will probably work fine on pulse.
When I first got my pulse welder I fitted 1mm wire and was able to weld 0.8mm sheet just fine.
I think I could have used thinner sheet but I was just messing about and 0.8 was the thinnest I had.

The advantage of a spool gun is you can run a much longer cable.

With a normal mig torch I'd say you are limited to a 3m torch for 1mm wire.
You could probably use a 3.5m with 1.2mm wire, maybe even a 4m if using a stiffer grade of wire.
I don't think you could go much longer than that.

I've got a 4m spool gun and have used that with a 4m extension cable (so 8m) with no problems.
You can use the spool gun with the synergic programs provided the gun matches the machine.
It might take a bit of faffing around to get a Chinese one working correctly.
Does your welder have a socket for a spool gun?

I don't see any reason why a spool gun wouldn't work with pulse either? (Never tried mine)
Only thing with pulse is the tip of the gun gets really hot really quickly and causes feed issues.
I'd guess a cheap spool gun would suffer from that.
Most of the chinese ones I see are rater at 200a (and that's probably optimistic)
I'd have a look for a 300a+ version if I was going to try running pulse on it unless you are just doing thin stuff.

 

[Areugone-mix 80/20]

I really appreciate your input, hotponyshoes. You've raised several good points that hadn't crossed my mind at all. I'll likely need to DIY a solution for connecting a spool gun, but I'm not too worried about that. but You've really changed my perspective on using a regular torch with 1.2 mm wire; maybe it's not that bad after all. Given the current situation, I don't see any problem with having a short cable, since I don't plan on welding aluminum on a boat or car. However, the dilemma has become a bit more complex now. When I measured the original cable that came with the unit when I bought it, it's almost 4.5 meters (PMT35). So, in that case, I'll probably need to replace this anyway.

 

[arther dailey]

I would buy and keep seperate a torch for ali , saves changing liners and forgetting whats in it .

 

[hotponyshoes]

That's what I would do.
Keep the original torch for Steel and get another shorter torch for Alloy.

That will save you having to remove & swap the torch liner & tip & shroud over every time you want to change to Alloy.
It's already enough of a faff swapping the torch, wire and gas and changing the settings!

Get yourself some quick connectors for the gas as well.

I've got a new 3.5m Kemppi torch here if you want to spend kemppi money!
Otherwise, unless you only plan on doing short runs, get one size bigger than you normally would

 

[Mark 2]

I couldn't get on with a 3m torch and 0.8 (constant bird nesting) though 1.2 might be better.
Spool gun would be less problematical but in all honesty if you're going down that weld porn exhaust stuff then TIG is your man.

 

[Domdom]

I tried the R-tech spool gun a few years back. It was for Ali panels on a mud plugging buggy, so all one off shapes. It´s good for laying the welds down quickly compared to TIG but I couldn’t make it look as nice as TIG. That said, I’m a rank amateur.

The lorry body builders use spool guns a lot and they seem to get on OK, neater than I could get. But having tried and failed to use MIG for aluminium I agree with the above. Bird nesting is a problem.