Hi all, just a note of caution for all you guys with mig welders. I was doing some welding last Sunday and ran out of wire no big deal I thought. I will run down to my local Rural King and get a 10 lb spool of Fourney wire. You know the kind, all the welding stuff most places have is one big display. Well got it home , loaded it up and started welding........ WHAT THE HECK does Fourney use for their wire stock???????? Clothes Hangers???????? This stuff was a splatterin all over the place!!! Not to mention you get a purdy weld out of it if you tried. Not to mention the clean-up involved with it. Anyone else have this experiance with thier wire? Well I went and got some good wire the next day and threw that other crap in the scrap barrel. That stuff is'nt even good enough for back-up wire. So the morrel of this rant-n-rave letter........Always keep a spare roll of Good Wire on hand!! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

stumpy2

 

You didn't say what kind of method you are using, maybe you got some solid wire instead of fluxcore, that would make a real mess.

 

Well, yes it was solid core .035", supposedly their high strength 70,000 psi wire. The same as I had. I use a sheilding gas, no need for the flux core wire. Anyway I ran right out yesturday and got my roll of L-56, Thanks Fourney for showing me the light!

stumpy2

 

Good point; on different brands of mig wire performing differently. When I first started using my mig welder I used a roll of Weld-It brand flux core wire from Atwoods. It worked great, the slag was easy to clean off and the weld beads were pretty. I ran out and the store did not have anymore in stock at the time, so I went to Lowes to get some Lincoln mig wire. Suffice it to say, it did not work very well, and produced more and messier spatter. I compared the chemical make up of the two rolls and there is a difference in how much of certain minerals are in each brand. I'll stick with Weld-It brand flux mig wire for now on. BTW, I'm using a Campbell Hausfeld WG3060 mig machine.

 

Good call!! I almost bought a roll of that same brand wire the other day (it was CHEAP!!), but the name rung a bell. Now, after re-reading this thread, I know why it was...

Thanks for saving a lot of frustration..

 

No Problem.........and isn't that why we're all here : )

 

One thought on the clothes hanger comment. Clothes hangers work good when gas welding steel exhaust pipe. You should always match the filler rod/wire to the material you are welding. Cheap quality steel pipe welds best with cheap quality filler rods.

 

Howdy guys.

I know this is an old thread but here is some handy info:

Cored Wire comes in two basic types:

Gasless wire(E70T-11) whereby you do not require a shielding gas and all of the shielding is done via the fluxing agents within the wire. With this product you need to run Straight polarity. Lot of good products in the market like this for use on smaller and home based migs.

Dual Shield (E 71T-1)wire requires gas to shield but also uses some of the fluxing agents within the wire to help do this as well. One uses Reverse Polarity (Ground is Neg wire is Pos)Typically one will get better penetration and weld quality with this kind of wire.

With standard E70S-6 ( copper coated solid wire also with Reverse Polarity), you must use a shielding gas. CO2 can be used but lots of spatter. Better yet and what is used a great deal here in the GWN, is a 75% Argon / 25% CO2 mix. Clean metals and a bit hotter arc will come with mixes that are up to 92% Argon and 8% CO2. All will give Nice welds and low spatter volumes.

Without a doubt...if you pay less than you should or feel you could have ...chances are that you ended up with junk. As a journeyman welder with over 30 yrs in the field...I prefer to use the Trade name brands: ESAB/LIncoln/SelectArc/Miller etc....simply cause I know they all manufacture great products and I can count on a quality weld when I am done.

Just hope I never have to weld on my SportTrac..

Best regards,

stk

 

coat hangers also work with mig as a filler for those big gaps , you just puddle the hanger in with the mig wire