Power I-MIG questions

1) Which models have a metal wire feed assy?

2) Is there any documentation for the control port?
(not listed in the manuals)

3) I have a TIG setup with a Euro connector.
Do I have a way to enable use the internal gas valve in CV mode?
(doing mild steel, 75/25 works for either, change bottles for aluminum MIG or SS)

4) Do they support voltage/wire speed remote control speed/voltage capability in CV mode and remote current in CC mode?
I have wire speed on my spoolgun (Binzel connector) and will not return to hiking back and forth from position to tweak wire speed or just adapting to it.

Same for TIG, current control (pedal or finger) and a gas valve for pre/post flow is not something to live without.
(Although as you mentioned in another thread, most schools teach how to make ~OK welds with the low end TIG setups
... with preset current and technique, but I'm not going back to school to learn how to make poor looking welds I can do that already ;-)

I consider any MIG+TIG unit that does not have automatic gas and remote current/voltage/speed control to be not an option.
(moreso than even having to use scratch start, as gas is far from free)

...Otherwise I'd have an MTS200 or TA 181i already.

The 181i ALMOST works, the gas valve in TIG mode is like yours... external manual.
Not for serious use unless you love buying gas.
The MTS160/200 are non options sadly due to lack of remote and the TIG mode gas valve sillyness.
(Euro connector is not just for MIG...).

The iMIGs would be suitable if they have remote voltage/speed control in CV and current in CC, and have the ability to enable the gas valve in CC mode.

Thank you.

Piledriver,

Metal wire feed assembly? All of them except the mts.
The control port is for use with a spool gun.
I am not sure what "tig" with euro connector looks like. The Dinse connector is standard throughout the US on most units.
The MIGs are designed for MIG stick use, and not primarily intended for tig, so it is a scratch start setup, and low end is about 30 amps.
The gas valve is for use with CV only. (MIG) Do you mean CC?
No they do not support remote operation. The unit control is for the spool gun.
The wire speed during operation with spool gun is controlled on the panel of the welder.
Likely your spoolgun is incompatable with ours. More to it than an adapter.

The setups I have referred to are more than "low end" systems. They are 5000.00 inverters.

Our MTS uses a built in solenoid for TIG, not same as TA unit.

I wouldn't call this "sillyness". There are a lot of these TA units out there, and this type system is used by pros everyday world wide.

Sounds like we don't have a unit for you. As far as I am aware, no company does currently.

Good luck in your search.

1) All iMIGs have metal wire drive assys, Good to know.

2) Great, I have a spool gun with a std euro connector on it, it comes with a 6 pin control plug but that's trivial to correct.
What's the iMIG pinout/schematic so I can verify if it is compatible or make it so?
(Doesn't sound difficult to do documentation)
I must have misunderstood an earlier post I read indicating iMIGs had at least a remote wire speed capability,
I suffer from being an optimist, sorry.

3) A TIG torch with a Binzel looks remarkably like...
...A tig torch on a Binzel connector.
Traffimet makes them, even TA makes them, usually it only involves adding an "X" to the part# in the connector style position when ordering
You can get gas cooled and water cooled versions, the gas always comes through the euro fitting.
I wonder why they make them that way if no welders support it?
(I understand the "we are in the USA" part, but that's really not an issue)

I would have bought one of your MTS units ages ago if it had remote current or wire speed capability at least.
The TA can do remote speed/V and amps (depending on mode) and just develops the stupids when it comes to TIG gas.

Your MTS200 would be ideal with remote capability, it has better specs otherwise.
The 181i would also be ~perfect with the gas valve operational in both modes, that was simply a design choice by TA.
The "non-US" versions come from the factory with a euro adaptor on them, but that is easily solved... the gas valve not so much.

As work won't be paying my shielding gas bill for this one, I don't feel an automatic TIG gas valve is an unreasonable requirement.

IIRC the HTP MTS160 can do all I requested, but their short warranty support is only via phone/web/fedex, the ability to hit my local Airgas
for warranty support was my personal threshold so I could possibly Go Green.

I guess I'll have to keep looking, thank you for your time and rapid response.

I was just able to confirm via the manuals that HTP MTS160 will NOT work, nor even support a spoolgun, as it has no plug for that.
It appears TIG WOULD likely work, as it used the Euro fitting for the TIG gas supply etc, but the spoolgun/remote anything are not happening.

I'll either have to go with the 181i and the hokey manual TIG gas setup or keep looking.
(or just find a stand alone MIG w/remote speed and a TIG having the typical remote current control)

None of your portable MIGs have remote wire speed?

I wired the pot in our spool gun in the past for the IMIG and it worked. I gave the gun to a customer, but assume it is still working.

Thanks, I don't seem to be getting reply notifications, I'll have to check my prefs.
(I had to change the default subscription mode to "on")
I ran through some research just getting a solid MIG unit and seperate TIG...
Tried to buy a close to new condition TA 251 fabricator for cheap, but too late...

Anyway...

I wanted to check in and make sure you didn't think I was a drive by troll giving you a hard time--- I appreciate the feedback.

I already built an interface box with a 24V PWM controller for the spoolgun, (can be 110v, 220v or run off the welders output (at least with the POS I have)
Used a Dewalt drill controller (drill died from gravity poisoning) it ALMOST fit in the handle, but I didn't feel like hacking up a spoolgun. (wiring mods? no problem, those are reversible)

interfacing ~anything to ~anything is doable (given sufficient documentation, or time sucking reverse engineering)
I've done junk like that as a small part of my job for 20++ years.(now i feel old)

To go off on a slight tangent... With inverters, as you mentioned earlier IIRC, it's ~minimal effort to have both CV and CC modes implemented.
.
Rather than trying to go with MIG and have a lame TIG function, do any of your ACDC TIG inverters have a CV mode? >:"-)
I don't mind throwing the $$$ at it if it will stick and REALLY do what I want. I don't really care if it has a feeder even, just as power supply.
I could do with a 225 or 250. setup, esp if the pulse modes worked in MIG too.
(I suspect that would be... popular...)

For the MIG work I have been doing to date, the spool gun setup has been excellent, mostly out of position auto body stuff
The 20' super flexible cable works out awesome...

I don't weld every day (or even every month, which is why I like a 5 year warranty)
... and I hate wire that's been on the spool for ages, the little spools are OK, so far.
That would change with a decent power supply I'm sure.

If I ever need big spools, feeders can be had ~cheap, and are appear ~trivial to interface as they ALWAYS have excellent documentation.

Given a decent power supply (and decent documentation) it would be a no brainer for me.

None of our AC/DC inverters have a mig function. No one does as far as I know. You simply will need two machines. Pulsing is not the same in MIG as in TIG either.
Good luck.

Well, you can't blame a guy for trying :)

An ACDC TIG + MIG all in one unit with a pulser (even if the MIG relied on am external control box+spoolgun or feeder) would be a pretty much killer product.
It would seem fairly trivial to implement, esp if all the MIG specific bits were in an external feeder/interface.

DC CC + CV power supplies (with internal or external pulsers, that seem to work in both modes) have existed for ~decades.
CC aluminum spray MIG dates back to WW2, but sadly CC and MIG on steel pretty much blows for real use.
(although it does work for some definitions of "works")

I''m genuinely curious:
I understand why TIG vs. MIG pulse settings might be vastly different, but the functions are ~identical, no?
Duty cycle, freq and base settings... the ramp up/down are common for TIG use as well, although optional and may use different time constants.

I'm curious as to what the fundamental differences are.

No, the functions aren't
In MIG, you are typically pulsing voltage. In tig, it is amperage.
The issue from a practical standpoint, from what I understand, is a technology conflict with HF and MIG drive components. It's not saying it can't be done, but the cost and effort required to make a unit so described is not practical. Plus, in the industry, what would the incentive be? This would kill the potential profit to be made by the big guys by selling individual units. I think that would be another issue that would prevent it's development. I am a firm believer, that if you can afford separate units, you should buy them , unless space or other practical consideration enters the picture. One failure could deny the use of all your welding capability until it is fixed.

"The issue from a practical standpoint, from what I understand, is a technology conflict with HF and MIG drive components"

I agree completely, and one would certainly want to to automagically inhibit HF/lift start when the MIG interface is plugged in... easily done.
...but even certain AC/DC Tig units seem to have silly, show-stopping issues with their OWN HF start, which is why I'm looking. Again. :mad:
(Hey, even Miller had problems on the early Synchrowaves)

Also, for a great deal of the customer base, "One failure could deny the use of all your welding capability until it is fixed." is simply life.

I'm visualizing the cost delta between owning two identical (and sadly, hypothetical) "250ZX ACDC CC/CV" units (and an external feeder or spool gun that can be swapped) and a similarly capable stand alone Pulse MIG unit and ACDC pulse TIG unit would be so slim as to be invisible, esp to a small company that might suddenly need "extra" TIG or MIG units on occasion.

If either blew up and was out for service, you would still have full process capability.
THAT'S a killer feature by itself.