M4 on board spool gun

[M4wdFab]

i have been threatening to do this for a while and finally did last night.  After 571's electrical failure last race, i am really considering carrying a second battery- so with the capability of 24 volts on board, why not have a welder also!


i have an M100 spool gun i bought that was intended for Aluminum welding-  its a rather cheap spool gun as they go and was effective but i really don't use it much.  it runs about 189$ for the gun and uses 2lb spools.


Last night i took it apart, learned how and what the electrical connections do, and modified the harness for dual purpose.  I still wanted it usable with my welder if needed.  I don't have adjustable power or feed but it BURNs 1/4" plate nice with 12volts to the feed motor, and 24V to the weld circuit.  Followed polarity instructions on my 211 for flux core. 


it works awesome! 

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[M4wdFab]

before i cleaned up the harness

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[dubt]

Slick. I saw this on face book looks good

[mr.mindless]

Noice!! Now it just needs an ammo cab w gloves shield mask and maybe jumper/ extension cables!

[matt]

Care to elaborate?  I got one of those too.

[M4wdFab]

I have the spoolmate100 from miller that mates to my miller211 welder.  it has the main power lead that plugs into the welder (and gas source if you wish) and the little 4 pin plug that plugs to the controls.   


i opended up the gun, two of the four pins are the trigger switch, and the other two are power and ground to the drive motor.  with two batteries in series, you can pull 24v for welding, and pull 12v off only one battery (at the same time) to run the drive motor.  i tapped in spade terminals and re shrinkwrapped the cable that i cut up so i could still plug into my welder.   the trigger switch was then wired to give the drive motor 12v.  adapted the plug in power for wire with a batter clamp as shown in the pic, and added a ground clamp to the ground.  done.

the weld circuit is always (hot)  and feed starts when you pull the trigger.  there is not feed or heat adjustment, but it burns 1/4-3/8" comfortably just about where i would set it if i had nobs to turn.