How does this machine perform when welding aluminum and stainless steel?
85299
It welds very well with stick, haven't tried the tig. Light portable and plugs in to 110 or 220
85300
You can't tig weld aluminum on this machine. It does not have HF ac output. It weld stainless as good as any I've used. No foot pedal of coarse, but still welds great.
85301
The machine does not work with aluminum. When welding on stainless steel, you need an aluminum rood. Set the settings right and you are good to go
85302
Not for Aluminum, I use mine for steal stick welding and I love it . works as good as my red buzz box and its smaller than my lunch box
1803787
It cannot weld aluminum. This welder is DC only and aluminum requires AC. It will work fine for stainless steel and regular steel.
718886
It's actually really good. With the arc balance and freq control I can dial it in for beauty welds.It struggles on 1/4
2077784
The stainless steel encompasses the aluminum. It is usually only for heat transfer purposes. .. I purchased this.. still going great
224769
This is a good machine for a beginner and also a good choice for an experienced welder. You can run flux core wire or solid wire if you purchase an argon tank. I like argon because the welds are clean and no slag to chip off. This welder does not do stick. My first welder was a lincoln 100 wire feed with flux core wire. It was just fine for starting out and not a lot of money.
1984738
Out of the box NO - I tried the aluminum rods without any success. It is DC but with a TIG torch and gas tank you can. What I have read online you can weld aluminum with DC but it is better with an AC unit. AS of yet I have not had the chance to set up my attachments to verify this.
1405116
Do you want to know if you can weld an aluminum spool with this welder, if you are really good with a welder maybe, but this is not even close to what I would use on aluminum? Aluminum is a real pain and TIG is the only way to go if you want it to hold. For what it is it is not bad and not needing to haul a tank around makes it handy but this welder is not meant for any sort of serious welding. You can get a stick welder for light aluminum jobs for around the same money and if you are new to welding get extra aluminum sticks and practice on scrap first.
1883389
For welding Aluminum you need 100% argon and aluminum wire. For steel 75% argon 25% carbon dioxide and of course solid steel wire.
1686777
very happy with it. I think a smaller welder, probably a 110v with more taps/infinite settings would be better for the thin stuff
50920
Not without a spoil gun and the correct gas. Your skill level and grade of aluminum will determine how strong your weld is. Eastwood sells this welder with the kit you need.
870847
Google welding chart.you can use .035 or .030. Just feed and temp settings are different.Use 100 percent Argon with aluminum.Good luck
270543
Well none of this is Miller, etc., but it's quite impressive for the price. I'm not sure if you mean the internal wire drives or the spool gun internals, so I'll answer both this way --about thirty (or more) spools of Al through the spool gun with no issue, and maybe 80, 10 pound rolls through the welder drives without problem. One thing is I switched to the larger spools (only possible with the welder, not the spool gun) and by so doing I have adjusted the tension spring once, because the larger rolls will go on/off the adapter without removing it, so you aren't messing with the tension system as you do with the small rolls --besides being a lot less expensive and lasting way longer (time between spool changes). Hope that helped.
2078733
Incredible machine! unless you weld lots of aluminum where you need the fine tune settings of the Miller 211, don't spend the extra cash. Not worth it. The Hobart will do the job
2216549
For aluminum tanks I think you would do better with a lower power unit. This unit comes with a WP26 torch which is really too large for what you want. That said, the machine will do the job but might be a bit difficult to handle with the large torch and stiff hose for tight work like you will be doing. The torch can be replaced (WP17 should work) but I found the hose to be very stiff for detailed work. Just my $0.02 worth, YMMV
439100
Stainless no prob just get the proper spool of wire but aluminum is more tricky you have to have a shielding gas to make a good weld to do this you just have to get an compatible attachment and bottle of gas. With out it the weld wont stick and just make a mess.
1185268
I haven't tried welding aluminum, but one thing I know because I have tested it: it's good for the 1/16 and more and less for the 5/64 and 3/32 as it seems to need some extra 5 to 10 amperes more to burn properly these last ones, (I have tried to make a nice welding with these last 2 electrodes using this welding machine but the weld simply cools down to fast).Using the 1/8 electrode for mild steel; well this machine won't burn it, not even using the 1/8 SS electrodes which I feel are softer.
232683
If you are in a home setting this welder is great. I am doing automotive body and fabrication work as well as using it to tack together tig projects. It only has two settings; wire speed and amperage. Both are reohstats and can be used successfully. If your expecting professional quality by a miller or Lincoln. I own a miller and a Lincoln and this compliments both when it comes to getting work done. As for reliability I have only had it for a few months. I use it every other day.