Miller 350p Aluminum vs OTC Mig Boy for 2mm aluminum

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Miller 350p Aluminum vs OTC Mig Boy for  2mm aluminumI need a welder for 1/8 and .100 and .090 aluminum  sheet welding. The Miller 350p aluminum seems a nice choice, the specs say it welds sheet as thin as 1.2mm  (1/8 inch is about 3mm).  But I see no evidence of that on MillerWelds.com - all pics and youtube videos show thick aluminum.  Is this just marketing hype?Does anyone have direct experience welding 1/8 inch and thinner with the 350p? Is that thickness just and edge case or does the machine do well in that thin of material?I also looked at the OTC Mig Boy which I like but am afraid 1/8 inch is too thick for it.  Any advice regarding either the Miller or Mig Boy for 2 and 3mm aluminum would be appreciated.(Please disregard cost issues.)Thanks,  Joe
Reply:Originally Posted by josephleecantonMiller 350p Aluminum vs OTC Mig Boy for  2mm aluminumI need a welder for 1/8 and .100 and .090 aluminum  sheet welding. The Miller 350p aluminum seems a nice choice, the specs say it welds sheet as thin as 1.2mm  (1/8 inch is about 3mm).  But I see no evidence of that on MillerWelds.com - all pics and youtube videos show thick aluminum.  Is this just marketing hype?Does anyone have direct experience welding 1/8 inch and thinner with the 350p? Is that thickness just and edge case or does the machine do well in that thin of material?I also looked at the OTC Mig Boy which I like but am afraid 1/8 inch is too thick for it.  Any advice regarding either the Miller or Mig Boy for 2 and 3mm aluminum would be appreciated.(Please disregard cost issues.)Thanks,  Joe
Reply:Oh, you can run an Argon/Helium mix for cover gas and turbocharge the arc to weld 3mm with the MigBoy.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:Shovelon,  thank you for the informative answer.  My brother and I are building 10 small sail boats for a rental business we want to start. We've been tigging the first but that is, at least for us, a slow process. We are fairly amateurs at welding aluminum but getting better. Our welds are good, but slow, and we have more like stacked quarters than stacked dimes appearance.  I notice also due to our speed we seem to put a lot more heat into the weld than necessary which causes other problems.  We have 2 business models, one rental and one retail sale of the boat.  For the purchase business model the cosmetics of the weld have to be high which is difficult, at least for me, using my trailblazer and spoolmatic gun. Also, with the trailblazer welding 090 takes a WHOLE lot of concentration, at least for me, probably again due to my skill level.   I think I'll go with the Miller 350p aluminum thinking it will be easier to use and faster to produce a good cosmetic appearance of the weld.   I did rule out the OTC-daihen  welbee p400 due to cost and it was 3phase only. But I did like it. Had I been able to attach my spoolmatic 30a to the OTC p400 and be assured it would run on a rotary phase converter it would have been an option. OTC seems to specialize in thinner aluminum and high cosmetic appearnce of the weld.  Overall though, the miller p350 has more convenient single and 3 phase power, and less expense so they appear to be the winner.One question:  you mentioned the "lite" gun.  Cyberweld has the package with the 25foot XR-A Aluma Pro gun only $300 more than the lite gun. If the more expensive gun is worth the money it's better for me to buy in now rather than later.  What are your thoughts on the pro's and con of the "lite" vs "regular" XR guns. The light seems right for thin aluminum, but is there a negative of using the "regular" in this situation?Thanks,  Joe
Reply:Re-reading my reply above, some clarification:  We're tigging the boat, want to switch to mig.  We have done some mig with Trailblazer and Spoolmatic but want a better mig setup.  J.
Reply:Oh gosh,  I'm never out of questions.  I can live with 15 ft cable length on the mig gun, but 25ft is better.  What is the smallest diameter aluminum wire I can run on the 25 ft length XR-A Aluma Pro? WIll it run 035 wire or do I have to reduce to the 15ft length as the mig wire diameter decreases?Any coments or observations are appreciated.J.
Reply:If you have not handled an XRPro gun, it is huge. My CobraMig gun is smaller than the regular Miller gun, and my crew likes it better including me. The lite gun is much better for your purpose. The lite gun I recall can weld up to 1/4", and if it delivers the performance you want, the cost is chump change. They say they both will run .035 wire, and you are running the stiffer 5356, so it will feed better. Every 10 spools of wire you will want to change the plastic liner. They cost about $20. I would talk to miller about getting the lite gun with 15 foot hoses and power cable. The wire will drive better. The 350p-a I demoed came with the 15foot lite gun and was outfitted with 4943. Wow!The best thing about the Miller is the main drive is in the gun. The motor in the cabinet is a slave assist. My regular 350p has the dual drive which is a monster and has to be synchronized to the gun. Not so with the 350p-a.Before you take delivery, I would set up a demo from a Miller sales rep. Miller has done a good job at simplifying it over the regular 350p but it can be a little intimidating. Have your metal ready, and see if they can program the machine to do what you want. Write down the settings before buying. On occasions you might have a power spike and will have to do a factory reset. This machine is a mini computer. I have had to do it a couple of times.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.