mm135 teflon liner aluminum kit??

[fun4now]

looked all over miller site no luck finding kit you spoke of only found spool gun and controler.did miller discontinue the teflon kit to trade up to spool mate? ill get another lead and gun just for alum. but think spoolgun is too much $$$ i would rather put tward that tig we spoke of do you think my dealer will know what kit you're talking about?
thank's for the help
james

[HAWK]

fun4now,

I don't see a listing for an aluminum liner in the parts manual or accessory listing for the M-10 gun the MM135 uses. I only see it listed for the M25/40 guns which are 250 amps/400amps rated guns for larger machines.

If you want to try it you may get away with pushing a 5356 .030 wire through your moncoil liner as it comes from the factory. If so be sure to use a .035" oversized tip to make your feeding as effortless as possible since aluminum wire will expand as you start to weld and it heats up.

Don't buy a spoolgun for your MM135. The 3035 is a good gun, but you will also have to have the SGA100 controller and will still me limited to 1/8" aluminum with your machine. If you want to go the spoolgun route, get a MM210 or MM251 with the spoolgun package included.

If you are wanting to repair small parts such as you spoke of on the motorcycle side cover plate, get a tig machine. The Syncrowave 180SD is a nice machine, but I am partial to the Dynasty series as you may have figured from my many posts of praise for both the Dynasty 200 and 300DX models. TIG machines are not limited only to small parts. I regularly do 1/4" aluminum with my Dynasty 200 and up to 1" with my 300.

[fun4now]

i knew that spoolgun needed controler it all adds up to too much $$$ with limited uses if spoolgun was only choice i would just wait till i can get that tig i was planing on some time this year.lots more fun / options for the $$ as im not an alum. only shop spoolmate too much to invest. thanks for the advice ill just get a new 10ft M-15 and dedicate it alum. only and the 35 tip sounds good i wouldnt have thought of that thanks

[HAWK]

fun4now,

I would not buy a new M10 just for aluminum. Try it with your regular gun. Worst case scenario stock an extra liner. Eventually the aluminum will not feed as well because of steel shavings in the liner from a lot of use. Liners are cheap. A new M10 is not.

[Canuck]

I have had sucsess feeding .035 5356 wire through my HH135 which also has the M-10 gun on it. I did not have great results welding with it though. I think this was do to the sixe of the wire ( .035 instead 0f .030) I have not tried AL since I got my 180 SD and would second the motion of getting into TIG for more AL welding. The Econotig might be more of what you are looking for but I would recomend the 180 SD or if you can aford it a 200 DX.

P.S. Hawk did you use argon helium to weld that 1" AL with your 300 ?

[HAWK]

Canuck,

Oh yes! My trademark on the thick stuff and sometimes on the not so thick. 75% helium/25% argon.

[fun4now]

i thought if i used my old gun to feed alum. it would pick up metal shavings left behind from lots of metal feeding. witch would realy trash my alum. bead ?? wont the metal even in dust form contaminate my alum. weld?? this is why i was going to get a new hole new hose and gun.it is still much cheeper than the tig for now. i know you should keep a seperate ss brush and scotch bright gust for alum seems only logical hose and gun would do same . could be why you had bad results?? just gessing anyone can jump in here with a more experianced thought.

[ASKANDY]

Fun,

You are correct that your aluminum wire will pick up contaminants from the steel wire you already ran through the liner. I would go for the new liner ot get another gun as you stated. The 5356 wire will feed better but weld worse than the 4043. The 5356 wire will give you a darker, less shiney beed due to the magnesium content. It will also burn off faster than the 4043 and require a little more wire speed. The 5356 is a stronger wire but the 4043 will color match beter.

A-