30A fitted to MTS250S

[TheGary]

The Everlast spool gun worked just fine but could not drive the .045 4043 aluminum easily like the 30A needs the drive rollers from a 30A to keep it from slipping.

sounds like Everlast needs to make some new style drive rolls for their spool gun. Then the retrofit might not be needed. Unless of course a person already owns a perfectly good spool gun already . which is the case many times with customers that have been welding for some time. Also lets face it sometimes it just doesn't pay to reinvent the wheel when an outstanding product already exists and is widely used.

[performance]

Same drive rolls that fit the miller guns up to the 200 will/should fit.

[Kempy]

Same drive rolls that fit the miller guns up to the 200 will/should fit.

The drive roll did fit the SM200 but I did some test with and it had a hard time feeding the .047 5356 wire the gun is only designed for .030"/0.80mm wire and it is a 60% duty cycle also the SM200 will work fine when I am doing steel because the 30A is sold and made for aluminum and soft metal to run at 100% duty cycle at 200Amps. it will push .062 5356 aluminum wire and soft metal wire up to .045.
The 30A starting price is at:$ 1,273.00 US and up the SM200-N is $325.00 CA.

[TheGary]

The drive roll did fit the SM200 but I did some test with and it had a hard time feeding the .047 5356 wire the gun is only designed for .030"/0.80mm wire and it is a 60% duty cycle also the SM200 will work fine when I am doing steel because the 30A is sold and made for aluminum and soft metal to run at 100% duty cycle at 200Amps. it will push .062 5356 aluminum wire and soft metal wire up to .045.
The 30A starting price is at:$ 1,273.00 US and up the SM200-N is $325.00 CA.

Yes, after looking at the Everlast spool guns , they do not have near the duty cycle of the 30A . I had not looked at the spool gun line up before now so I did not realize that they are that light of duty. I will probably adapt my spoolmatic 3 to the 250s machine. Since I already have it and the only befit of the 30A over the 3 is that the spool holder rotates. Also it is built like a tank and can take a lot of abuse and still keep ticking. The 3 has the same 14 pin connector so the wiring will be the same as the 30A. I will probably make a short adapter cable for it and keep the 14 pin setup on the 3 since I use it on my trailblazer 302 and my millermatic 200 also , depending on where I am and what I am doing. After I get the 250S the MM200 will stay in my shop and the 250S will take its place in my trailer for more portable needs. If I find a smoking deal like you did then I will get a 30A

[zoama]

The 30A starting price is at:$ 1,273.00 US and up the SM200-N is $325.00 CA.

Here's a brand new 30A with the HD air cooled tube for $775+ shipping but they only have one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Item-for-signman1960-/251568732773?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a92aa 3a65
Maybe Everlast will find a heavy duty spoolgun to add to it's lineup soon.

[performance]

A niche market does not necessarily mean that it is sufficient an sustainable once the "pipeline" is full. We have to look at the big picture. The Guns we sell come off the same assembly line that the Miller Spoolmate series comes off of. Same, if not better duty cycle, same parts...on the 3035 and smaller 100 series gun. The Barrel is different on the 200 but the drive roll should be the same as the Spoolmate 200. These guns are (its not a secret) manufactured by North in China. North manufacturers OEM trafimet, which sells the same gun too, and for Miller and a host of others. Its an extremely well built product overall. Spool guns ( as many of you know) are largely an American thing. Much of the world uses a simple teflon liner and suitable wire and welds with the main wire feeder. We seem to see and have problems where other places accept it and find a way of doing it. I am not saying that we are ignoring the possibility of having a bigger gun, but due to the lack of worldwide demand, China doesn't have a wealth of spool gun manufacturers, and the 200 a unit is about as big as it comes.

[TheGary]

A niche market does not necessarily mean that it is sufficient an sustainable once the "pipeline" is full. We have to look at the big picture. The Guns we sell come off the same assembly line that the Miller Spoolmate series comes off of. Same, if not better duty cycle, same parts...on the 3035 and smaller 100 series gun. The Barrel is different on the 200 but the drive roll should be the same as the Spoolmate 200. These guns are (its not a secret) manufactured by North in China. North manufacturers OEM trafimet, which sells the same gun too, and for Miller and a host of others. Its an extremely well built product overall. Spool guns ( as many of you know) are largely an American thing. Much of the world uses a simple teflon liner and suitable wire and welds with the main wire feeder. We seem to see and have problems where other places accept it and find a way of doing it. I am not saying that we are ignoring the possibility of having a bigger gun, but due to the lack of worldwide demand, China doesn't have a wealth of spool gun manufacturers, and the 200 a unit is about as big as it comes.

I for one am not saying that Everlast spool guns are sub standard . We have been talking about a gun that is not even manufactured by big blue anymore. newer is not always better. That is why the retrofit is appealing to some of us. In many peoples opinion that use them the 30A is the standard by which other spool guns are judged. The New blue spool guns are not as good either. Please do not take this discussion as a criticism . If there is no market then so be it ,we are coping. Why do you think I am hanging on to my old #3 gun. I admit that we as americans are spoiled. I have used teflon liners and welded alum. It has its hassles and if the rest of the world is willing to live with it, fine. Push pull setups are probably the best for alum. but they are expensive and geared to production facilities. The spool gun is relatively inexpensive , can be setup it a few minutes , and works well 95% af situations where mig is an advantage. It would take longer and be more hassle to switch out a machine to a teflon liner, change spools and setup the machine than a lot of alum welding jobs would take to do.

[Yofish]

Kempy, you've got it! Now it's just a matter of technique. You will find as you proceed that many times all the 'control' you will do is adjusting wire speed for the differing welding positions encountered. For example, on a skiff I'm building right now I could show you a flat lap, a flat butt, a lap vertical up, a lap down and a fillet within a foot of one another all done by adjusting the wire only. BTW, according to Miller, you're not 'spraying' because the voltage is too low!

[zoama]

A niche market does not necessarily mean that it is sufficient an sustainable once the "pipeline" is full. We have to look at the big picture. The Guns we sell come off the same assembly line that the Miller Spoolmate series comes off of. Same, if not better duty cycle, same parts...on the 3035 and smaller 100 series gun. The Barrel is different on the 200 but the drive roll should be the same as the Spoolmate 200. These guns are (its not a secret) manufactured by North in China. North manufacturers OEM trafimet, which sells the same gun too, and for Miller and a host of others. Its an extremely well built product overall. Spool guns ( as many of you know) are largely an American thing. Much of the world uses a simple teflon liner and suitable wire and welds with the main wire feeder. We seem to see and have problems where other places accept it and find a way of doing it. I am not saying that we are ignoring the possibility of having a bigger gun, but due to the lack of worldwide demand, China doesn't have a wealth of spool gun manufacturers, and the 200 a unit is about as big as it comes.

Thanks for the info... maybe an HD barrel could be an option. I wish I could use Tweco 23 series nozzles and 14 contact tips like my mig gun. Is the duty cycle of the 200N determined by how much heat the barrel can take or the drive motor ?

[performance]

60 % duty cycle at 200 amps is plenty for most aluminum welding. That corresponds to the duty cycle and output of the 250 that we sell, so it is a good matchup. I believe its limited by the barrel as they have different barrel options with different duty cycles. Trafimet rates their version of the gun at 35% duty cycle at 300 amps mixed gas, 350 amps co2.

[Kempy]

Here's a brand new 30A with the HD air cooled tube for $775+ shipping but they only have one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Item-for-signman1960-/251568732773?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a92aa 3a65
Maybe Everlast will find a heavy duty spoolgun to add to it's lineup soon.

From what I have been told that is a brand new old style gun like my gun the new one is a little different but that $775.00 gun is a good price.