i consider myself fairly capable at MIG and am looking for a decent home unit. am considering a good name with longevity important. have been looking in the $1500 range. would be mostly weekend work with good-sized steel (roll bars, bumpers, trailers, etc) and possibly aluminum in the future as well. im thinking 240V, miller or lincoln. any input would be appreciated. is it true that to do alum, you only need to change gas and wire? (and unit settings of course)?
i've heard good things about the Miller machines. you can get lots of add-on parts for it too. and the other good thing is, Miller isn't gonna disappear anytime soon, so you'll be able to get parts for years to come.
To really do Al MIG successfully, you need a pull or push-pull wire feed system. As such, there is a substantial difference in the equipment. If you are only going to do a bit of Al now and again, than it would not be worth your while to pay for the extra equipment. Rather live with the irritation of the occassional birds nest in your wire feeder.
Regards
Niekie
The millarmatic series are dependable and easy to use. The only real disadvantage is the 1,2,3,4,5 voltage settings as opposed to a rheosadt.
Definately the spool gun is the way to go for aluminum if you can afford it(push/pull gun).
tq
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