Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys. I've seen a lot of vids on the versatility of this welder, but have yet to see any aluminum welding with their K4195-1 aluminum package. Anyone here have seat time with this welder on aluminum? I know Lincoln under rates their products, so it would be nice to see just how far it could be pushed on Alu.

Thanks

I used it for a couple of jobs. Their spool gun only worked on 220v for me and trying to run it on 115v was just a headache. Personally their spool gun is very piss poor in my opinion. It looks and feels extremely cheap. I love lincoln products, but it made me miss using my old miller spoolmate 100 all the more, and I sold the lincoln spool gun I was so disgusted with it. In the world of entry level spool guns I like Miller's version a lot more.

Now, Jody just did a video where he welded very successfully with the lincoln spool gun and only had minor issues with the gas coverage. I'm hoping other people on here have had better luck with this product than I have.

hey thanks for that. I'll have to dig through his vids to find the one you're talking about. How are you finding the duty cycle on the machine? I've read Lincoln underrated them by a fair percent.

I haven't tried to pop the duty cycle on it yet. Everything I've welded has been off 115v so far. I do a lot of repair welding so I spend more time prepping metal and only a few minutes, to an hour at most, actually welding. It can do spray mig transfer on .035 wire, but I only welded for five minutes. I think the dual fans really go a long way in helping the duty cycle, but they're so loud.

Here is the video on the lincoln spoolgun: https://youtu.be/hUpmiDL92V8

Thanks for the info, CWS. I'm reluctant to pull the trigger on any machine right now. The PM210 came out and now the 211 inverter as well. It looks like a real good machine. Can we guess for a verter machine 252 next?

In my opinion, the 252 is a fine machine. We have one at work, set up on 480 3-phase. It's the only MIG we keep calibrated for code work.

I like being able to set up pre- and post-flow for code welds, and even burn-back time is adjustable.

I've mostly used it short-circuit, but did a few feet of spray-transfer with 308 wire and He/Ar/CO2 tri-mix running about 280A and it never hesitated despite the 250A gun it came with.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:In my opinion, the 252 is a fine machine. Steve S

I second this.

I worked at a chemical plant where we use a miller 252 for all our shop fab work. This was the machine I learned to mig weld on and its awesome. I welded short circuit as well as spray transfer with ease on a couple projects. Did A LOT of stainless running tri mix gas and I also agree that the pre and post flow was a super nice feature to have. I even used this machine to practice and learn dual shield flux core.

For running spoolgun, 250+ amp machine is really the way to go.

I welded some aluminum angle that holds a tool box under a trailer on a flatbed that a transfer truck pulls. Too much weight in the box made it just rip away from the bolts and it left some big gaps and cracks. My 210MP did great. It was 3/16 and when I set the machine it was way too hot and blew through. After I figured it out where I needed to be it worked great. No regrets so far in the 210MP.