Ironman 250 Cancelled?

[Dan]

Based on what I see on the wire feed product page it looks like the Ironman 230 is replacing the Ironman 250 instead of the Ironman 210. I never considered the Ironman 250 as a legitimate 250 amp unit anyway. 12 (Ironman 230) vs 7 (Ironman 250) voltage taps. The Ironman 230 having a better wire drive. As well, as the top end output power level and duty cycle easily meeting my true real world needs, I would have purchased an Ironman 230 over an Ironman 250 anyway.

Since the Ironman 230 is being shown in the product page, I'll post a couple pics of one feature of the Ironman 230 that I feel was a very good idea.

[GilaSlim]

They must have updated the page today. Yesterday it still had the Ironman 250 on it. Maybe they will come out with an Ironman 300 and drop the 210 then.

Dang, I bought my Ironman 250 about a year ago. It was a year old then and had seen very little use. Would love to have an Ironman 230, but I expect I will crash and burn before the 250 does. So far, I like it just fine.

[OSU-WE10]

I like that screw feature on the spool hub. No need to use those springs that I feel don't always work well on the smaller spools.

[crawler]

Originally Posted by OSU-WE10

I like that screw feature on the spool hub. No need to use those springs that I feel don't always work well on the smaller spools.

I wonder if you could buy this part and install on older Miller welders?

[OSU-WE10]

Originally Posted by crawler

I wonder if you could buy this part and install on older Miller welders?

A good question for sure, I would definitly ask if I had a mig unit (hoping to get one at some point, but need my own place/garage before I buy any more welders/tools).

[dda52]

It won't work on the smaller spools if it is a 2" hub as it looks. It will only work on the 10/11# and up spools.


Charles, Miller has had a spool set up like that for well over 10 years now. My old 8VS suitcase has a similar spool hub....but it is threaded all the way to the bottom hub, though. It is a tad more adjustable. It will fit on any Miller wire drive, too. Just look up the hub ***'y in the suitcase manuals and you will get a part number.

[Dan]

Don,

I don't have a picture of the set up; however, with the supplied spool hub components, you can line a 4" spool of wire up with the drive rolls too. Of course this requires removing the 2" spool hub.

[dda52]

The Miller setup doesn't allow for any alignment unless you use a spacer. Two 4" spools seemed to work pretty good for the most part.

[Hobart Expert Darrell]

The spool alignment feature works with 4 inch spools (1lb. and 2lb.) as well. It's not shown in Dan's pictures, but we recognized the need to use the smaller spools.

Don't mind the nut on the end of the shaft in my picture. The production machines have the knurled brake tensioner as shown in Dan's pictures so that you don't need tools to adjust it. This is the only picture that I had handy showing the small spool in an early prototype. The production assembly is more "finished" than that shown in my picture.

Darrell

[Dan]

The first attached picture will give people interested a better look at the knurled (tool-less) spool hub brake tensioning nut that Darrell mentioned

Since we're discussing components in the wire drive compartment of the Ironman 230 I'll move over to the right of the spool hub, and give those interested a look at the drive roll assembly. More than likely several on this forum should already be familiar with this set-up.

[GilaSlim]

There is also a new spoolgun for the IM230 ... http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/wirefeed/spoolguns/dp-3545/

Dan, did you get one to try out?

[Dan]

Originally Posted by GilaSlim

There is also a new spoolgun for the IM230 ... http://www.hobartwelders.com/products/wirefeed/spoolguns/dp-3545/

Dan, did you get one to try out?

Yeah, Hobart sent a DP-3545 spool gun with the IM230. I've only used it once though on some scrap aluminum that I found at work. The only problem was the fact that material had been exposed to an alkaline based cleaner. More than likely some of this chemical was asorbed into the base metal, because even after a thorough rinsing with water, and a good buffing of the surface (scrotchbrite abrasive pad), to shine up the surface, all I ended up with was swiss cheese weld beads.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by crawler

I wonder if you could buy this part and install on older Miller welders?

Charles,

Last night, I was running some 4" spools of .023 on the IM 230. Since I had the 8" / 12" spool hub off the unit, I decided to see if it would fit on my MM 210. I didn't install a roll of wire and test to see how the unit performs, but I can tell you the IM 230 spool hub fit on my MM 210.

[crawler]

Originally Posted by Dan

Charles,

Last night, I was running some 4" spools of .023 on the IM 230. Since I had the 8" / 12" spool hub off the unit, I decided to see if it would fit on my MM 210. I didn't install a roll of wire and test to see how the unit performs, but I can tell you the IM 230 spool hub fit on my MM 210.

Dan,

Thanks for trying it out. I'm going to order a few of them for my welders.

Charles

[OSU-WE10]

Originally Posted by Dan

The first attached picture will give people interested a better look at the knurled (tool-less) spool hub brake tensioning nut that Darrell mentioned

Since we're discussing components in the wire drive compartment of the Ironman 230 I'll move over to the right of the spool hub, and give those interested a look at the drive roll assembly. More than likely several on this forum should already be familiar with this set-up.

Looks like an exact replica of the MM 252 insides. (except for the spool hub)