Mig welder torch brand-to-brand compatibility chart??

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Looking to add a spoolgun to an older Lincoln 140.  I can pick up a hundred different brands at various price levels. I can handle the wiring easily enough, but am wondering what brands share the same machine end connector for the torch whip?  I know that "Tweco is NOT Tweco" and there are more than just Miller and Lincoln, but I find it hard to believe that a company that knocks off every other part of the machine will spend the time and money to go with a proprietary fitting for the whip.  Has anyone ever seen or put together a chart of who's who and what's what?I realize that I could just buy a Lincoln spoolgun, but If I can save a few bucks,  I need to do that.Thanks for listening!
Reply:Hello and welcome.My 1st question to you is what do you intend to weld with the spoolgun on that machine? Small 140 amp 110v migs don't really have the balls to run alum, the typical reason most guys start looking at spoolguns. A 140 amp class mig on alum is severely limited. You will max out a 180 amp class mig to do 1/8" alum, and even that is borderline at best.  Go too much thinner and the problem is alum mig is generally too hot to do much less than 16 ga unless you are running a pulse mig designed to do alum. So at best you are looking at a machine capable of doing 16 ga with difficulty and with barely enough power to do say 14 ga..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
Reply:Thanks!  I fully understand the limitations. I mostly need it for fit-up work at home.  I work in a Miller shop, and run a 251 and/or a 350P at work all day, but don't have any aluminum capability at home. I figure I can fit-up, tack, then take it to work and weld it out if need be.   I do also come across lots of fab projects and sculpture work at home that it will work just fine for.  With access to mountains of Al scrap, the hamster is CONSTANTLY turning the wheel in my head! LolThere are also occasions that I can't turn the 251 down far enough to keep from blowing through, even on fit-up.I can't afford an AC tig right now, either.  I just see the availability of so many different spoolguns, but don't know what other brands will fit into my Lincoln.  I can handle the rest from there.  I figure I will be frustrated with the quality level of anything in the price range I need to be in, when comparing to what I work with, but I really don't have the choice right now.
Reply:I know a lot of the Miller spoolguns won't work across the board even on Miller machines. Certain ones only work on certain machines and so on, so I'm sure trying to adapt a Miller to a Lincoln won't be easy. You'll probably need a good understanding of electronics and circuit diagrams to make one work, IF it's even possible.I'm not as well versed on what options Lincoln has, so I can't comment on those.My guess though if you are having issues turning down a MM251 low enough, you may not have any better luck with a small 110v mig. I've run those Millers on occasion down pretty far on steel with the right sized wire. I'm not sure if I'd give a 110v machine an "advantage" at the bottom end of the scale with everything else like wire size being the same. If you are using say .035 or larger wire in the MM251, my guess would be it's the large wire causing your issues not the actual machine itself. If you are already down to .030 alum wire, my guess is at this point you may need to go to pulsed mig  to cut the heat input even farther if you can't go to tig. Usually all you get with an underpowered mig when you don't burn thru is cold welds with no penetration. That's especially true when you don't have adjustable run in and so on that some of the upper end alum migs have to fight cold starts..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
Reply:Update-  I picked up a generic gun off ebay. The brand is Real Gear, and from pictures online, it appears to be the same gun sold by Longevity and others. It is light duty, but so is my machine. It took a little doing to get it all wired up, but it came with a switch and several harness configurations. (None of which worked, but I was able to get it handled with a little help from the seller, an old post here on WW, my own reservoir of useless knowledge, and my stash of parts, wire, and connectors.)  It came with a spool of wire, but in an effort to eliminate any variables during testing, I opted for a roll of Radnor wire that I use daily at work.  I set the machine based on the manual, but the wire speed was way too high. I backed it off and just guessed based on my experience. Turned out pretty close.1/8"-First shot, off hand, out of position-Second try, with a tiny bit of effort-Penetration-That's all I had time for, but so far, I'm very impressed. It obviously isn't gonna do production work, but for what I do at home I think it'll do just great
Reply:Would just use the mig with no spool gun, tip n liner change at most ,gas too.