Adding a spool gun to mig.

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Dec 6, 2023, 04:42 AM
Gadgeteer

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Adding a spool gun to mig.

This is my method of adding a secondary attachment for hooking up a spool gun to my Eastwood Mig 175. I had repaired the original wire drive connector with a 3D printed gas supply ring, which accepts the gun hose plug, so put it to use. I had ordered a replacement drive housing from Eastwood, and made a functional strain relief plug to hold the hose end.

The machine cabinet was lacking sufficient room to add the drive housing, so I attached it to the side support rail of the cart. Rather than employ a second gas solenoid for the Argon gas, I chose to use a diverter valve, downstream from the original solenoid in the machine, which tucked, neatly, inside. Now, it is a simple matter to change from one gun to the other by interchanging the small gun trigger plug, flipping the diverter valve, and switching from the machine drive to spool gun drive. I have my C25 and Argon gas bottles plumbed to my machines with a variety of T connections, so it is easy to change gases.
Dec 6, 2023, 08:11 AM
Frank S

A good idea with a caveat though. you risk contamination. to the argon delivery system downstream of the diverter valve to the spool gun. Always remember to give your gun a good purge before using it. I ran into an issue many years ago when I was thinking of buying a used Tig machine from a guy without a regulator or hose. I grabbed one off of one of my mig machines that had C25 on it I purged and purged the regulator and hose for several minutes and still couldn't get the quality weld I had expected I thought his machine might be faulty, So I called my welding supplier, to ask his opinion. He told me that I needed to try a dedicated regulator and hose and see if that worked. So I bought a new regulator and hose and tried again the machine was fine it was the contamination of the CO2 from the C25 that was the problem. I bought the machine from the guy and used it without any problems for several years until I sold it.

You may not experience this problem since the only possible contamination point will be limited to the small area of the diverter valve Mine may have been more the hose than anything else.
Dec 6, 2023, 01:48 PM
Gadgeteer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank S

A good idea with a caveat though. you risk contamination. to the argon delivery system downstream of the diverter valve to the spool gun. Always remember to give your gun a good purge before using it. I ran into an issue many years ago when I was thinking of buying a used Tig machine from a guy without a regulator or hose. I grabbed one off of one of my mig machines that had C25 on it I purged and purged the regulator and hose for several minutes and still couldn't get the quality weld I had expected I thought his machine might be faulty, So I called my welding supplier, to ask his opinion. He told me that I needed to try a dedicated regulator and hose and see if that worked. So I bought a new regulator and hose and tried again the machine was fine it was the contamination of the CO2 from the C25 that was the problem. I bought the machine from the guy and used it without any problems for several years until I sold it.

You may not experience this problem since the only possible contamination point will be limited to the small area of the diverter valve Mine may have been more the hose than anything else.

Thanks for the good word... I've not encountered any contamination problems, so far, after adding the modification. However, I did discover that there has been a leak at the brass connection of the C25 to Mig 175, which has been affecting the appearance of tig beads. I've wondered why my beads, rarely, ended up colored, like those produced by other posters. Since adding torque to the fitting, stopping the leak, the beads are colored. Yeah! So, now, not only are my tig beads shapely, they are, also, pretty.
Dec 10, 2023, 03:58 AM
DIYer


Thanks Gadgeteer! We've added your MIG Spool Gun Modification to our Welding category,
as well as to your builder page: Gadgeteer's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-mig-spool-gun-modification"> <img src="/uploads/261110/homemade-mig-spool-gun-modification.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-mig-spool-gun-modification">MIG Spool Gun Modification</a> <span> by <a href="https://www.homemadetools.net/builder/Gadgeteer">Gadgeteer</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/mig'>MIG</a>, <a href='https://www.homemadetools.net/tag/modification'>modification</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>