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Wayne
08-17-2003 21:23:57
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Re: make of welding wire in reply to Kennyp, 08-17-2003 11:53:12
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There are as big a differences in MIG wire as there are in stick electrodes. Just going from a .023 to a .035 or .045, even in using the exact same wire, makes a big difference. If your looking for more penetration and are gonna be welding over 1/4 inch material much I'd suggest stepping up to the .045 if your welder will handle it. It will allow you to burn hotter giving better penetration for the heavier stuff, but you can still crank it down enough to do 12 guage stuff easily and even down to 14 or 16 guage stuff if your skilled enough. As far as a specific brand, in my experience, each is slightly different from the other but it just depends on what your doing and your own prefferences as to which you choose. As I said, just like stick electrodes have different coatings, there are different types of flux cores that are geared for different properties your looking to achieve. Some are good for multiple pass withoug having to remove the flux covering and some aren't, some are geared toward giving as hotter arc/better penetration, some will give the weld a nice final appearance, etc etc. I admit I'm no expert here, there are just too many variables for anyone to know or address them all, all I can do is speak from past experience. The best thing to do is find a knowledgable salesman, (who isn't afraid to call the different manufacturers if need be to ask a question he does't know the answer to) at your local welding supply house and tell them what your looking to do and see what they suggest. Lastly, if your planning to do alot of welding it would probably pay you to get the gas conversion kit for your machine and run solid wire with a gas. Here you get into kinda the same thing with the different types of wire, as well as having different gasses you can use, but generally if you find a good ER70 wire and use a standard 75/25 mix, it will be good for anything you'll ever run into under normal circumstances. The main thing is, from what I've seen, the cost of the shielding gas and the wire together is usually less than the cost of the flux cored wire alone. Not to mention this way you don't have to chip the weld when your through just like you would if you were using a stick. Just my .02 Good luck.
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