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ADVANCEMIG 350 • ADVANCEMIG 500
2.2 Assemble the long end of the interconnect lead
gas line to the regulator outlet fitting. Connect the
gas regulator to a gas cylinder (not included with
machine). Ensure all connections are tight. Open
gas cylinder valve and adjust regulator, flow
should be between 10-25 l/min depending on ap-
plication. Re-check regulator flow pressure us-
ing the gas test button on the wire feeder control
panel as static gas flow setting may drop once
gas is flowing.
2.3 Set the welding parameters as required following
the instructions in the previous section. You are
now ready to weld!
MIG Welding With Aluminium and Other Soft Wires
MIG welding with aluminium provides a unique chal-
lenge, due to the low column strength of the wire. This
causes the wire to deform more as it is pushed through
the feed mechanism and the torch wire delivery liner,
greatly increasing friction. Because good MIG welding
results are dependent on a smooth wire feed, certain
changes must be made to the wire feed system to mini-
mise friction caused issues.
For a standard ‘push’ fed torch, a length of no longer
than 3m cable may be used, as well as the torch feed
liner must be changed to a special Teflon/ PVC liner,
rather than the conventional steel liner. Also the correct
style drive roller must be used and specific Aluminium
rated torch contact tip (or a standard tip in one size over-
size, e.g. 0.8mm aluminium wire, use standard 1.0mm
contact tip). For this reason, it is quite common for op-
erators to have an extra MIG torch specifically set up for
aluminium use, if the machine is used for welding steel
as well.
With the heavy duty 4 roll geared wire feeder, the AD-
VANCEMIG 350/500 will have a more steady and con-
sistent wire feed when ‘push’ feeding soft wire, than oth-
er machines with standard 2 roll wire feed units. Another
option to overcome the friction issues is using a spool
gun, which will give better results than a 3m push torch
when welding aluminium. The AdvanceMig 350/500 is
spool gun capable, refer following section for use with a
spool gun on the ADVANCEMIG 350/500.
3. Spool Gun Operation
Note: The Spool Gun is an optional extra for the
ADVANCEMIG 350/500
Spool Gun Overview
The spool gun is a very useful addition to a MIG welder.
It can be used for all types of MIG welding, but it has
two primary advantages over a conventional ‘push’ wire
feeder. The main advantage is that distance that the wire
has to travel from the spool to the welding tip is very
short, compared with a conventional torch. This greatly
reduces the wire feeding friction and improves the wire
feed speed smoothness and consistency, thus the weld-
ing quality is greatly improved. This is especially so with
‘soft’ wires such as Aluminium. It is difficult to get Alu-
minium to feed smoothly in welding machines equipped
with standard design wire feeders, even with special
torch liners and short torch lengths.
The second advantage is that the gun can allow the use
of the small D100 wire spools at a distance from the
power source (This distance is only limited by the length
of the spool gun lead). This is advantageous for high
cost wire, that is not used commonly such as Stainless
Steel or MIG brazing wire. It saves the outlay cost for a
much more expensive, larger D200 spool.
When used with the correct Strata spool gun, the weld-
ing voltage/ current may be controlled directly from the
spool gun for the ADVANCEMIG 350/500. This is espe-
cially useful in synergic mode, as the primary MIG set-
tings can be controlled ‘one touch’ with the single knob
on the spool gun. The Strata spool gun rated for up to
200A @ 60% duty cycle.
3.1 Connect the earth cable quick connector to the
negative welding power output socket (4) Con-
nect the earth clamp to the work piece. Contact
with the work piece must be firm contact with
clean, bare metal, with no corrosion, paint or
scale at the contact point.
3.2 Connect the spool gun interface plug to the wire
feeder remote socket (28). Connect the spool
gun Euro plug to the wire feeder Euro connector
(29). Set the spool gun switch (51) to ‘on’ posi-
tion.
