WELDTECH WT200MP - MIG Welding Procedures; Gasless and Gas MIG Welding; Spool Gun Operation for Aluminum

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endoftheMIGtorch.ReplacethetipontheMIG
torch and trim o any excess wire.
3. Gasless Welding Operation
3.1 Connect the earth cable quick connector to the
positivewelding power output socket (12). Con-
nect the earth clamp to the work piece. Contact
with the work piece must be rm contact with
clean, bare metal, with no corrosion, paint or scale
at the contact point.
3.2 Connect the MIGpowerconnection lead (14) to
the negative welding power output socket (13).
Note if this connection is not made, there will be
no electrical connection to the welding torch!
3.3 Settheweldingvoltageadjustmentknob(8),wire
speed control knob (9) and inductance control
knob (10) to the desired positions.You are now
ready to weld!
4. Gas MIG Welding Operation
NOTE: Gas MIG welding will require a gas cylinder. (Argon
mix or CO2)
4.1 Connect the earth cable quick connector to the
negativeweldingpoweroutputsocket(13).Con-
nect the earth clamp to the work piece. Contact
with the work piece must be rm contact with
clean, bare metal, with no corrosion, paint or scale
at the contact point.
4.2 Connect the MIGpowerconnection lead (14) to
the positive welding power output socket (12).
Note if this connection is not made, there will be
no electrical connection to the welding torch!
4.3 Connect the gas regulatorto a gas cylinder (not
includedwithmachine)andconnectthegashose
from the regulator to the gas inlet on the rear of
themachine(15).Ensureallhoseconnectionsare
tight. Open gas cylinder valve and adjust regulator,
owshouldbebetween10-25L/mindepending
onapplication.Re-checkregulatorowpressure
with torch triggered as static gas ow setting may
drop once gas is owing.
4.4 Settheweldingvoltageadjustmentknob(8),wire
speed control knob (9) and inductance control
knob (10) to the desired positions.You are now
ready to weld!
MIG welding with aluminium provides a unique
challenge, due to the low column strength and
surface friction of the wire. This causes the wire
to deform more as it is pushed through the feed
mechanism and the torch wire delivery liner, great-
lyincreasing friction. Because good MIG welding
results are dependent on a smooth wire feed, cer-
tain changes must be made to the wire feed sys-
tem to minimise friction caused issues.
 Forastandard‘push’fedtorch,alengthofnolong-
er than 3m cable should be used, as well as the
torch feed liner must be changed to a special Tef-
lon/PVCliner, rather thanthe conventionalsteel
liner. Also the correct style drive roller must be
used and specic Aluminium rated torch contact
tip(orastandardtipinonesizeoversize,e.g0.8mm
aluminiumwire,usestandard1.0mmcontacttip).
For this reason, it is quite common for operators
tohavean extra MIGtorchspecically set upfor
aluminium use, if the machine is used for weld-
ing steel as well. Another option to overcome the
friction issues is using a spool gun, which will give
better results than a 3m push torch when welding
aluminium.TheWT200MPis spoolgun capable,
refer following section for use with a spool gun on
theWT200MP.
5. Spool Gun Operation
NOTE: Spool Gun is an optional extra for the WT200MP.
Spool gun part number: 13323
ThespoolgunisaveryusefuladditiontoaMIGwelder.
It canbeusedforalltypesofMIGwelding,but ithas
two primary advantages over a conventional ‘push’ wire
feeder. The main advantage is that distance that the
wire has to travel from the spool to the welding tip is
very short, compared with a conventional torch. This
greatly reduces the wire feeding friction and improves
the wire feed speed smoothness and consistency, thus
the welding quality is greatly improved. This is especial-
ly so with ‘soft’ wires such as Aluminium. It is dicult to
get Aluminium to feed smoothly in welding machines
equipped with standard design wire feeders, even with
special torch liners and short torch lengths.
The second advantage is that the gun can allow the
use of the small D100 wire spools at a distance from
thepowersource(Thisdistanceisonlylimitedbythe
lengthofthespoolgunlead).Thisisadvantageousfor
highcostwire,thatisnotusedcommonlysuchasStain-
lessSteelorMIGbrazingwire.Itsavestheoutlaycostfor
a much more expensive, larger D200 spool.
5.1 Connect the earth cable quick connector to the
negativeweldingpoweroutputsocket(13).Con-