Welding is one of the most used fabrication processes that play an important role in the construction of all types of tools, appliances, machinery, vehicles, and much more. But different types of welds require the user to have different types of welding guns and machines. One such type of welding tool is a spool gun welder that offers the following features to the user:
- Length: If you are working on a large scale object, then you would want to reach all spots of the object that you are welding. This is only possible when your spool gun has a decent length. While most options are around 10 feet, a few models offer a much higher length of up to 20 feet for ease of use.
- Wire Size: The aluminum wire that you are going to use with your spool welder needs to be supported by the welding gun in terms of its thickness. Thankfully, as spool gun welders are so popular, most of them use a common wire size or thickness of up to 0.035 inch.
- Accessories: A welding gun is one of those tools that cannot be used right out of the box. Instead, you need a few extra bits and pieces like adapters, wire, and a few others. Thus, you should look out for spool gun welders that offer additional accessories like carrying cases, length extensions, wires, adapters, and other things.
As these spool gun welders are great for using with aluminum welds, there are a lot of options available out there, including the best spool gun welders mentioned in this article.
To help you in differentiating between these various models and picking up the right one for you, we have mentioned all of their details along with a detailed “Buying Guide” so that you can go through this article until the end and buy the right one for you.
Best Spool Gun Welders 2024: List
| Spool Gun Welder | Length | Wire Size | Warranty | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart Spool Gun | 10 feet | 0.035 inch | 3 months | Check On Amazon |
| Lincoln Electric Spool Gun | 10 feet | 0.035 inch | 3 months | Check On Amazon |
| Lotos Technology Spool Gun | 9 feet | 0.035 inch | 1 year | Check On Amazon |
| Miller Electric Spool Gun | 20 feet | --- | 1 year | Check On Amazon |
| Arc Union MIG Spool Gun | 10 feet | --- | --- | Check On Amazon |
Top Spool Gun Welders Reviews
1. Hobart 300796 SpoolRunner 100 Spool Gun
Hobart is quite a popular brand of products related to welding and welding guns that offer a great electric spool gun welder that is mentioned here.
The Hobart 300796 spool gun welder is present in the 1st position in this article as it is a great overall option for most users out there. Just per the name, the SpoolRunner 100 offered a length of 10 feet that is quite decent for the average user. You also get a standard maximum wire size support of up to 0.035 inches so that you can easily use this spool gun with aluminum wire.
While the warranty offered by it is rated at just 3 months, the build quality offered by it is quite decent so that you can keep using it without any worries. A great thing about this spool gun welder is that you get a spring-loaded tension release in it for easy feeding of the wire that gets used for welding during its use.
Best Features:
- Offers a length rating of 10 feet
- Supports up to a 0.035-inch wire
- Comes with a 3-month long warranty
- Includes a gas hose in the box
Pros:
- Offers spring-loaded tension release
- Supports standard size wire thickness
- Decent build quality
Cons:
- Comes with just a 3-month long warranty
2. Lincoln Electric Spool Gun
Unlike most other spool gun welder brands available out there and the ones mentioned here in this article, Lincoln Electric is one of the only few that includes multiple handy accessories.
Lincoln Electronics’ K2532-1 Magnum 100SG spool gun welder is present in the 2nd position in this article as it offers a lot of handy accessories. One of the most unique and useful things included with this welding gun is its carrying case that can be quite handy for easily and safely taking this spool gun welder to remote job sites if needed.
As for the welding gun itself, it is a 10 feet long spool gun welder that can accept up to 0.035 inch thick wires for welding. It includes a spool of wire along with the welding gun so that you do not have to buy one separately. Just like the previous welding gun, this one also comes with a 3-month long warranty. Unfortunately, the build quality offered by it is quite average, and you can find better options out there at the given price tag.
Best Features:
- Offers a length rating of 10 feet
- Supports up to a 0.035-inch wire
- Comes with a 3-month long warranty
- Comes with a carrying case
Pros:
- Offers multiple handy accessories
- Decent length for most users
- Works with 0.030 inch to 0.035 inch thick wires
Cons:
- Build quality is average
3. Lotos Technology MSG094 Spool Gun
In comparison with other spool gun welders out there, Lotos Technology’s offerings are highly reliable and durable, especially for the given price tag.
This Lotos Technology MSG094 spool gun welder is present in the 3rd position in this article since it is the most durable and reliable option present in this article. Apart from offering an excellent build quality to the user, you also get a 1-year long warranty with it, which is much higher than other options. But the best part about this warranty is that you do not have to pay a premium for it.
Even though the length of this spool gun welder is a bit shorter at 9 feet, the performance offered by it is quite good. You get the standard wire size support of 0.035 inches with this spool gun for ease of use. Another great thing about it is that it offers a pretty high wire feed speed of up to 13 m/min.
Best Features:
- Offers a length rating of 9 feet
- Supports up to a 0.035-inch wire
- Comes with a 1-year long warranty
- Rated at a wire feed speed of up to 13 meters/minute
Pros:
- Highly durable and reliable
- Offers a high wire feed speed
- Works at 130A with 30% duty cycle
Cons:
- Slightly shorter than other options
4. Miller Electric Spool Gun
Even though Miller Electric is one of the more premium welding gun and machine brands out there, its spool gun welder can still be a great pick for many users out there.
The Miller Electric 301272 spool gun welder is the best performing option present in this article. This is primarily due to the reason that you get a pretty high length of 20 feet with this spool gun welder, which is much better than all other options. While it does not have a specific wire size rating, its 4-inch spool can store a lot of wire at once with ease.
Since this is a more premium brand of spool gun welders, you get a 1-year long warranty with it for peace of mind. It works with Miller Electric’s 4000 and 5000 series aluminum wires that can be used for welding without any compatibility issues.
Best Features:
- Offers a length rating of 20 feet
- Uses a 4-inch spool for storing aluminum wire
- Comes with a 1-year long warranty
- Works with 4000 and 5000 series aluminum wires
Pros:
- Great performing spool gun welder
- Offers a pretty high length
- Comes with a long warranty period for peace of mind
Cons:
- Quite an expensive spool gun welder
5. Arc Union MIG Spool Gun
Arc Union is a relatively small brand but it has gained a reputation to develop reliable power tools that are quite efficient, affordable, and offer value for money.
The reason that Arc Union MIG spool gun SL-100 find its place on our list is because of its specialized design for MIG welding aluminum along with selective Lincoln welders. This light spool gun is rated at 135 amps at a 30% duty cycle. It has a 4-inch diameter spool of wire reducing the travel distance of the wire and creating smooth welding joints.
This spool gun is ideal for stainless steel, aluminum, and flux-cored wire use. With its 10-feet cable length, this spool gun is quite enough to move around freely while welding. Connect this welder properly using a 5-pin snap-on trigger. The comfortable handle grip will securely hold the spool gun without straining the hand during its operation. Apart from that, a hex wrench and 2 contact tips are included.
Best Features
- Comes with a cable length of 10 feet
- Robust build quality
- Compatible with select Lincoln welders
- Comfortable hand grip
Pros
- Perfect for welding aluminum
- Reliable and a durable option
- Decent length for various users
- Works at 135 Amps with a 30% duty cycle.
Cons
- Lacks warranty information.
Buying Guide for the Best Spool Gun Welder
You can use a spool gun welder to get great results while welding with aluminum wire. With their long length and large wire spools, you can easily weld a lot of surfaces when working with aluminum. Because of this reason, we have already mentioned some of the best spool gun welders in this article.
And to help in differentiating between them, we have also mentioned their major features and options. That being said, since welding is quite an important process for fabrication, you might be interested in knowing more about these. Therefore, we are here with a detailed buying guide related to the spool gun welders. This buying guide consists of various factors related to spool gun welders so that you buy the perfect spool gun after going through these:
1. Length
If you are familiar with welding guns like a spool gun welder, then you must know that there is usually a pretty large distance between the gun and the welding machine. This distance can further increase if you are weeding a large size object, and you want to reach all of its corners for welding properly.
To overcome this distance issue, you should get a spool gun welder that offers a decent length between the welding machine and the spool gun welder itself. Generally, you can find a lot of 10 feet long spool gun welders that are ideal for small size projects in small workshops. Although, if you are looking for longer units made for heavy-duty usage, then a few spool gun welders also offer a length of up to 20 feet for ease of use.
2. Wire Size
There are a lot of welds that can be performed on any given joint or surface, depending on your work requirements. These different kinds of welds use different amounts of metals for melting and forming the weld.
This amount of metal primarily depends on the thickness of the wire that you are using. If you are using a thin wire, a less amount of metal gets used, and a higher amount gets used for thicker wires. But before you go ahead and start using a thick wire with your spool gun welder, you have to make sure that it can be used with a given spool gun welder.
Different spool gun welders have a different maximum supported wire size. While some models are rated at a maximum of 0.030-inch thick wire, almost all of the models present in this article can work with up to a 0.035-inch thick wire.
3. Spool Size
As you can tell by its name, a spool gun welder is a welding gun that uses a wire spool for its functioning. This wire spool can store a lot of wire at once that then gets used for welding. Because of this design, you can continuously weld for a long time without needing to get a new wire again and again.
Although, this is only possible when you can insert a lot of wire in your spool gun welder. This can only happen when the size of the spool of your spool gun welder is large enough to store that amount of wire you want to use at once. Usually, the spool size of these welding guns is given by their diameters in inches. Most of the spool gun welders out there offer a spool size of 4 inches that allows you to store a lot of aluminum wire inside.
4. Feed Rate
Once you have added wire inside your spool gun, it has to be fed into the welder so that it can be melted for forming the weld. But this feeding can be quite slow, making the overall welding process slow in a lot of cases. To overcome such an issue, you need to check the feed rate of your spool gun welder before buying one.
As you can tell by the name, the feed rate simply tells you about the rate at which the aluminum wire is being fed for welding purposes. Different spool gun welders out there have different weld rates making them ideal for different use case scenarios.
While entry-level models can offer a feed rate of up to 8 or 9 meters per minute, high-performance units can go even higher at 13 or 14 meters per minute. Out of these two options, the latter one is much better if you want to weld a lot of things together quickly.
5. Supported Welding Machine
Even if you have bought a powerful spool gun welder with all of the required features and options, you cannot use it without having the right welding machine. This is because due to the reason that a given spool gun welder will not work with all the welding machines out there.
The primary reason behind this is that while some spool gun welders are electric ones, others work with a gas-powered welding machine. Even if you are buying an electric welding machine, they might use different voltages.
Therefore, you should check all of this and ensure that a given spool welding gun is compatible with your welding machine. To further help you regarding the same, a lot of the spool gun welders out there also offer a list of supported welding machines that you can check to ensure that you can use your spool gun welder properly.
6. Accessories
To have a great overall experience while using your spool gun welder, you need to get a lot of other things as well. This mainly includes the wire and the adapters that you need to connect your spool gun welder to your welding machine.
Other than this, something like a carrying case is also highly essential if you want to take your spool gun welder with you to remote job sites. While you can get most of these things separately after getting the spool gun welder, a few models out there also include a lot of these accessories in the box.
This results in a high value for money while going with such spool gun welders as you do not have to buy those accessories afterwards. Such spool gun welders are also quite easy to use since you can start using them right out of the box without any issues.
7. Durability and Warranty
After you have gone through all these factors and bought the perfect spool gun welder after considering all these factors, you would want your welding gun to last for a long time. This is due to the reason that apart from being a bit expensive, a welding gun breakdown on a job site can be highly frustrated.
Because of this, you need to ensure that your spool gun welder is highly reliable and durable. The easiest way to do so is to go for a spool gun welder that offers a long warranty period. While budget options offer a 3-month long warranty, better and more reliable models can offer up to a 1-year long warranty. Other than that, you should also check the build quality offered by your spool gun welder to ensure that you can keep using yours for a long time without any issues.
Conclusion
Just per the name, a spool gun welder has a large spool of wire so that you do not have to insert wire again and again. Instead, you can load a lot of aluminum wire at once and keep using that for long welds on a given object with ease. The best way to do so is to get yourself a spool gun welder from the best spool gun welders mentioned in this article. To help you in choosing the right one, we have already mentioned all of their important as well as a detailed buying guide related to spool gun welders. If you are still confused and cannot choose a gun welder, then consider going with one of the following recommendations:
- Those of you who are on a budget and want high value for money spool gun welder should go with the Hobart 300796 SpoolRunner 100 Spool Gun. It offers a pretty high 10 feet length to the user.It has a maximum wire support of 0.035 inches, offers decent build quality and includes a gas hose in the box. It also comes with a 3 month warranty.
- But if you want the highest possible length with your spool gun welder, then you should go with the Arc Union MIG Spool Gun. While it is a bit on the expensive side, its 10 feet length rating is the highest one in this article. You also get multiple adapters along with this air-cooled welding gun for ease of use.
- Talking about accessories, Lincoln Electric’s K2532-1 spool gun welder happens to be the only option in this article that comes with a carrying case, wire, adapters, and a few other handy accessories. As for the performance, it is a 10 feet long spool gun welder that supports a wire size of 0.035 inch which is the same as most other units out there.
Make sure to share your thoughts in the comments section. You can also post any questions down there if you have any!
One Response
I use spool gun for welding aluminum. Though it is challenging but very interesting one. This article is very informative and precise. I have found some spool gun suitable for one of my projects. Thanks for the information.