New memeber with another welder dilema.

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Hi all, sorry to be asking another what welder for aluminum question but here is my problem. Firs a little background. I am not a welder by trade but I do quite a bit of mig welding at times. My typical projects have been steel fabrication of machine frames, repair on heavy equipment tractors etc. I have some projects coming up that I would like to do in aluminum, custom flat bed for one of my trucks thing like that. I currently own a powermig 255 that i use on steel. I have been looking in to trying my hand at aluminum for a while now. At first I was told to only use tig for aluminum nothing else would be structurally sound. My projects would use mostly 6061 structural members and aluminum diamond sheet and flat sheet. I am thinking I will probably be happy with the look of the mig welds and that it can be structurally sound. I was thinking of a dedicated mig for aluminum maybe a Miller 211 with spool gun but was told I would most likely not be happy with the capability of that machine on aluminum over 1/4".  My projects will use channel and solids up to 3/8' or more.   Now the options I am thinking of. 1 Lincoln 250lx spool gun for current welder and switch back and forth. 2 new Miller 252 with dual tank set up and spool gun, sell my 255, I would not be in to this for much more than the spool gun set up for the Lincoln as the 255 is like new and could wait as long as needed to get a good price out of it. 3 found an almost new Miller 350P with spool gun for about 3,000 this would be a really good machine for aluminum but don't know if it would switch back and forth to steel as easy as the 252.Any input would be appreciated.Thanks in advancePaul R
Reply:Most alum dumpbodies are mig welded rather than tig. The reason being speed of fabrication. Also alum mig is well suited for heavier alum, if you have a big enough machine to run it.If you have that much alum to do, you'd probably be better off with a push/pull gun than a spoolgun so you can run larger spools. A spoolgun does allow you greater flexability of where you can reach on a body, but they are a bit clunky and awkward sometimes. If you don't do all that much alum, the spoolgun might be simpler for swiching back and forth.I don't find it a huge deal to swap out to run my spoolgun from my MM185. If I'm going back and forth I'll leave both sets of power leads hooked up FT and just flip the switch under the cover and turn the gas valve, unplug the one gun and plug in the 2nd and move the reg to the argon bottle. Total time maybe 3 minutes tops. Usually it takes me longer to dig the spoolgun up out of the storage drawer where I keep it if I'm not using it on a regular basis..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:If the $3000 for the 350P is within the price window I'd give it a very serious look. Pulse will give you very good speed and good looking welds with thin materials as well as the ability to spray .045 well.Matt
Reply:If you can get a 350P with the Spoolmatic spool gun $3K, buy it!   Yes, the machine will switch back and forth from aluminum to steel VERY easily.   Load steel wire in the machine and hook up your mix bottle to the machine.  Load aluminum wire in the spool gun and hook up your argon bottle to the spool gun.  Switching from steel to aluminum is as simple as picking up the appropriate gun, pulling the trigger and welding.  Really is that  easy.  I have done a project in aluminum and a project in steel simultaneously, welding intermittently on both at the same time with my 350P and Spoolmatic.  No changing anything, just pick up the right gun and weld.  The machine remembers all the settings for each process seperately and as soon as you hit the trigger, it automaticaly switches to whatever settings you have saved for that gun.  Pick up the other gun, pull the trigger and it switches back to those settings.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op