First Look - Mobi-Mig
|
|
| The MobiMig from Mobile Power & Welding, Inc. |
Short Cuts |
|
|
|
Dave Gray 5/2000
 |
| Portable alternator driven MIG welding power. |
 |
An underhood welder has saved my butt more than one time on the trail. For somebody who likes putting their rig at risk each time they hit the trail, an underhood welder is almost indispensable - but I will admit that when it comes to stick welding I am kind of a hack and my skill does not get any better when I am laying on my back, under my rig in ice cold mud at night. For all of my critical welding jobs I have always used a wire fed MIG welder back at my shop, I can whip out a high quality weld with it in a snap. Every time I use it I wished there was a way I could take it on the trail with me so I could do the same type of quality welds on the trail.
Now there is a way for me to do just that. Mobile Power & Welding, makers of the Mobi-Weld & Mobi-Power underhood welding systems has developed the "Mobi-Mig" - a wire fed welder that is driven by an existing underhood welder. While it integrates seamlessly with the MobiMig system, it is adaptable to work with any other 12V alternator driven underhood welding systems as well.
 |
| Inside the Mobi-Mig |
I had the opportunity to take a good long look at the prototype in our shop and we were quite impressed with its high quality , heavy duty construction and beefy Tweeco welding gun. It can use up to a 10 pound spool of flux core gasless wire up to .035 in diameter. It connects very simply inline with the alternators excitation wire and has two battery clamps for 12 volt power (your alternator will not be charging your battery while using this unit). The 12v power assures that the unit will feed wire smoothly even while engine RPMs may change. The Mobi-Mig unit is approximately 20 inches long, 18 inches high and 9 inches wide and weighs in at 25 lbs without the wire spool. The only change we can say that we would wish in a production unit would be to shorten the chassis up a bit which along with its ability to use a smaller 2 pound wire spool would make it a much smaller and more easily packed unit for trail use.
With a 100% duty cycle at up to 230 amps, this unit could easily be used as an alternative to many 120V or 240v AC powered wire feed welders in the shop and has the great added ability to easily use it on the trail. I hope to do some much more extensive testing in the very near future, including some serious fabrication work, and 4x4Wire will bring you a complete evaluation and review at that time.
This site and all original materials contained herein are Copyright © 1999 - 2008 by OutdoorWire, Inc.. -- All Rights Reserved.
The use of this website, OutdoorWire, or any of its publications or services is subject to the terms of use agreement.
You may link freely to this site, but no further use is allowed without the express written permission of the owner of this material.
All corporate trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This publication and OutdoorWire, Inc. assume no liability for your use of the material contained within this site.
OutdoorWire, 4x4Wire, SUVWire, JeepWire are all trademarks and publications of OutdoorWire, Inc.
