3 reait motorcycle trailer miller 211 with spool gun Aluminum pics

[Alumitech]

Hi guys .. first post here .
been welding a long time started with gas , then stick , then mig , on to tig .. been building my business up over the past 6 yrs ... but been welding aprox 20 yrs , home hobbies projects and so on .

ok enough about me
recently I decided to build a motorcycle trailer for my self out of Aluminum , as that’s what im dealing with these days in my biz ..had bought a P.O.S Steel trailer and thought .. I can do better .

So we started out doing some in Tig Aluminum with my Dynasty 200 at 200 amps , but it takes a while to heat up 1/4 inch material , so got the frame tacked together and drove to the Miller store .. after doing some research here and the web .
ok now we are on the way home with a new (Miller 211 with spool gun ) $1300.00 later

ok , after reading instructions and checking settings .. time to start welding right .. needless to say as far as factory settings there out the window .. with in 15 min burned back and destroyed 5 tips .. so back to the welding store for more tips and ask some questions .

from my experience you need to run about 20% higher on wire speed with the Aluminum spool gun then stock settings call for
just a FYI .

FOR INSTANCE the chart says for .250 thickness run 7/75 I find best results at 7.25 and 100 wire speed .. this keeps the arc aprox 1/8 to 1/4 out of the puddle as this is what they refer to as spray welding ...if you contact the puddle ..lots of spatter .. yup its not the same as mig steel .

all and all im happy with the machine for speed and penetration.. some of the welding gets sooty some dosent .. depending on angle of the gun speed and so on .. but im getting better with it .

Don

[andyman]

are you using 5356 filler?
when i first start playing with my MM211 and spool gun. I bought a roll of 5356 aluminum wire and it welded like crap burnt up all my tips on the factory setting. I went back to the store to get more tips and to try some 4043 filler. The guy at the store thought it was weird the 5356 wasn't working. so we called miller and they don't recommend using anything but 4043 on the MM211. got my rolls of 4043 and seems to work great.