flex neck mig gun
Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:17 pm
I guess you might consider this a mini review of the flex neck gun.
I picked up a flex neck mig gun for my lincoln, I think the gun is made by HTP, it takes HTP consumables anyway. A link to it is at the bottom of this post.
First thing I noticed, is that I don't really like how the nozzle attaches, it just kind of presses on with a little bit of a twist, and feels a little cheap. Instead of the screw-on nozzles that were on my Lincoln gun. And the HTP nozzles were too long by almost 1/4", but a quick hit on the band saw and they are perfect now, the tip sticks out just slightly now. More about the nozzles later on.
That said, the flex neck is actually really nice. I had only been using it on the welding table until this weekend. On the table, the flex head is nice to use, but not really a huge difference. So until this weekend, I haven't been able to really appreciate the flexible neck.
This weekend, I was crawling under a neighbors small SUV to weld up a bracket that cracked. I must say, the flex neck was extremely handy under there. I've welded under vehicles before, usually 4x4 vehicles with alot more space to get into position. Crawling under this little vehicle with the flex neck was not near as bad as I thought it was going to be! I didn't have to change my position to get to the other side of the joint, I just bent the neck around backwards and kept my same position (cramped
). Can't wait to use it on the jeep next time, where I have comparatively lots more room to work 
Using .035 wire, even with the neck bent to a considerable degree, the wire still feeds nicely. I can feel the wire moving in the neck when it's bent sharply, so I'm not sure if .045 wire would feed very well with a sharp bend in the neck, but .035 feeds just fine.
I picked up two sizes of nozzle, one nozzle that is the normal tapered shape, and one nozzle that is a straight tube, which is a large opening. The up-side of this larger opening, is that you can just rest the nozzle on the table and zap a quick one-handed tack weld. I have found this to be quite handy. All of the nozzles are to long (I think) they are all longer than the tip when installed. I cut most of them down by at least 1/4", however, for the large opening nozzle, I left it long, that way I can just rest the gun into a joint and zap a quick one handed tack weld without worrying about getting the tip into the tack weld. For quick assembly of joints when my other hand is usually holding something up, or steadying my body under a vehicle, the larger nozzle is nice
And because the nozzles do just pull on and off, I don't feel like I'm wasting time and effort changing a nozzle when I switch from tack welds to bead welds. So I guess the somewhat cheap feeling push-on nozzles do have somewhat of an advantage, you can change them in and out in a second.
The trigger has a lip around it that keeps the trigger from being hit when you set the gun down. With the Lincoln mig gun, the trigger would often get bumped when I rest the gun over the table, or over a saw horse, or whatever. So far, it's never happened with this new gun. That was an unexpected benefit.
The connector that goes into the machine's wire feeder is SLIGHTLY more loose than the Lincoln gun, but there doesn't seem to be any problem once it's locked down.
Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there. I read alot about flex neck TIG torches, but not so much about MIG guns. I'm happy with the purchase, even though I'm not entirely thrilled about how the nozzle attaches. And... the gun is PINK. Not sure why it's pink, but it is.
http://www.usaweld.com/Flexible-Swan-Ne ... eckmig.htm
Carry on!
I picked up a flex neck mig gun for my lincoln, I think the gun is made by HTP, it takes HTP consumables anyway. A link to it is at the bottom of this post.
First thing I noticed, is that I don't really like how the nozzle attaches, it just kind of presses on with a little bit of a twist, and feels a little cheap. Instead of the screw-on nozzles that were on my Lincoln gun. And the HTP nozzles were too long by almost 1/4", but a quick hit on the band saw and they are perfect now, the tip sticks out just slightly now. More about the nozzles later on.
That said, the flex neck is actually really nice. I had only been using it on the welding table until this weekend. On the table, the flex head is nice to use, but not really a huge difference. So until this weekend, I haven't been able to really appreciate the flexible neck.
This weekend, I was crawling under a neighbors small SUV to weld up a bracket that cracked. I must say, the flex neck was extremely handy under there. I've welded under vehicles before, usually 4x4 vehicles with alot more space to get into position. Crawling under this little vehicle with the flex neck was not near as bad as I thought it was going to be! I didn't have to change my position to get to the other side of the joint, I just bent the neck around backwards and kept my same position (cramped
). Can't wait to use it on the jeep next time, where I have comparatively lots more room to work Using .035 wire, even with the neck bent to a considerable degree, the wire still feeds nicely. I can feel the wire moving in the neck when it's bent sharply, so I'm not sure if .045 wire would feed very well with a sharp bend in the neck, but .035 feeds just fine.
I picked up two sizes of nozzle, one nozzle that is the normal tapered shape, and one nozzle that is a straight tube, which is a large opening. The up-side of this larger opening, is that you can just rest the nozzle on the table and zap a quick one-handed tack weld. I have found this to be quite handy. All of the nozzles are to long (I think) they are all longer than the tip when installed. I cut most of them down by at least 1/4", however, for the large opening nozzle, I left it long, that way I can just rest the gun into a joint and zap a quick one handed tack weld without worrying about getting the tip into the tack weld. For quick assembly of joints when my other hand is usually holding something up, or steadying my body under a vehicle, the larger nozzle is nice
And because the nozzles do just pull on and off, I don't feel like I'm wasting time and effort changing a nozzle when I switch from tack welds to bead welds. So I guess the somewhat cheap feeling push-on nozzles do have somewhat of an advantage, you can change them in and out in a second. The trigger has a lip around it that keeps the trigger from being hit when you set the gun down. With the Lincoln mig gun, the trigger would often get bumped when I rest the gun over the table, or over a saw horse, or whatever. So far, it's never happened with this new gun. That was an unexpected benefit.
The connector that goes into the machine's wire feeder is SLIGHTLY more loose than the Lincoln gun, but there doesn't seem to be any problem once it's locked down.
Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there. I read alot about flex neck TIG torches, but not so much about MIG guns. I'm happy with the purchase, even though I'm not entirely thrilled about how the nozzle attaches. And... the gun is PINK.
Not sure why it's pink, but it is.http://www.usaweld.com/Flexible-Swan-Ne ... eckmig.htm
Carry on!