SA 200 & wire feed

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I've got an old SA200 that I completely rebuilt about 35 years ago and still works great.  I'dlike to add a wire feed box of some kind to allow some MIG work. I could sell it and buy a dedicated MIG machine, but I hate to give the old girl up.  I only do hobby welding and work around the farm, so don't want to spend a ton of money.  Any ideas?
Reply:You can run a voltage sensing feeder from a CC machine like your SA200, but I don't think you'll be happy with the results. Lots of guys run LN25's from them with flux core wire in the field for heavy work.Wire wants a CV power source rather than the CC power your SA 200 makes. To run wire from a CC power source the VS type feeders "trick" the machine into an aproximation of CV by constantly changing the wire speed to mimic Cv as close as possible. Short arc mig doesn't work well because the feeder simply can't make the adjustments fast enough. Large wire FC in spray however works well, usually runing .045 wire and larger. Spray however is a bit of a PITA in vertical and overhead. This kind of welding is not what most think of when they think of mig. It's a production process to lay down a lot of metal on heavy material, not weld sheetmetal and thin stuff.You will be better off with a dedicated mig than trying to run a feeder from that SA200 most likely. For what you will spend for even a used VS type feeder ( $600-1200 depending on the model) you can buy a nice entry level 220v stand alone mig new. If you only need something for sheetmetal, a good 110v unit might fit the bill with the SA200 as a backup for heavy work. CL is your friend. I'd suggest using a CL aggregator like Searchtempest and put in "welder" for the search topic and search the list manually. it will allow you to locate items you might not be aware of a good distance from your location. I usually put in 250 miles, but seldom go past the 1st few lists unless I'm serious about finding something in a hurry. Good luck.Last edited by DSW; 09-24-2011 at 11:37 AM..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan