Lincoln Electric’s Power Wave S350 is a third generation inverter welder. Match this up with the company’s recently introduced Advanced Module and you get several advantages, especially for aluminum welding.
“The Advanced Module allows you to use both DC and AC current for MIG welding,” said Lincoln’s Frank Armao. For aluminum welding there are advantages using AC. “It allows you to tailor the penetration, so you can change the penetration without changing the heat input, which you can’t do with conventional MIG welding.”
“The module allows you to do AC and DC,” said Armao. “The module provides another process for the welder.”
Miller Electric has enhanced selected models of its XMT ArcReach multiprocessor welders. The improvements in the 350 and 450 models allow the feeder to recognize polarity and send a message via the weld cable to the power supply, which selects the appropriate wire process.
That means the welding operator doesn’t have to leave the work — sometimes hundreds of feet away from the power source — to change wire processes, which translates into more time welding and increased productivity.
Welders can also change the output voltage where they are welding, which also reduces trips to the power source. There’s a safety benefit here — the welder doesn’t have to climb off and on scaffolding and ladders as much to get to the power source.
Welding equipment manufacturer Eastwood may not be on many boatbuilders’ radar. The company got its start in the auto restoration/customization and “muscle” car markets.
One of Eastwood’s newest products is the MIG/Stick 200 welder, which the company’s Ed O’Brien described as a “beast.”
“It can do MIG. It can do stick, and it can do aluminum with an aluminum spool gun that’s sold separately.”
With 200 amps it “provides better penetration for a weld and can weld up to 5/16 inch.”
The welder delivers 200 amps in MIG mode and 140 amps for stick welding. O’Brien said the MIG/Stick 200 could be used in a boatyard, but it’s priced more on the “DIY (do it yourself) level.”
A new product from Hobart is the Megafil, a seamless flux-cored wire or metal-cored wire with a copper coating designed to offer extreme resistance to picking up moisture. The copper coating also improves current carrying capabilities that will deliver a better quality weld.
In addition, a uniform shape to the wire helps minimize contact tip wear. With a very low level of diffusible hydrogen — less than four milliliters per 100 grams of weldment — weld cracking is reduced.
The Megafil was designed specifically for shipbuilding, bridge construction and offshore platform work. — M. Crowley
