Question on Wire Fed Welders

[Lazyman]

You have solid wire

[Grizzly1]

OK, guess I'll go to Lowes tomorrow and buy some flux cored and bring this back to them Tuesday when they are open again. The guy even ask me if I had a gas bottle hooked up and I said no and he said oh yeah then this is what you need.....GREATNESS.

[Grizzly1]

Thanks for all the help........you guys always come through.....who needs GOOGLE???

And I learn something new everyday!

[dpatterson1976]

Check this out.

Look at B-18 or page 32/60

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/assets/servicenavigator/LINCOLN3/im546.pdf

[Grizzly1]

I do have one last question............once I have the proper flux cored wire, are the welds that this small unit makes as "strong" as a 220V stick welder?

[dpatterson1976]

Depends what you are wanting to weld. If you get proper penetration then yes. The PDF shows what the solid core and flux core is capable of doing.

[Grizzly1]

Depends what you are wanting to weld. If you get proper penetration then yes. The PDF shows what the solid core and flux core is capable of doing.

I'm welding 1/8" angle iron and square tubing most of the time.......building a large feeder right now and I'm actually using angle iron from bed frames that I've collected over the years.

[dpatterson1976]

Then you definitely need the Core Flux. Recommended setting would be D-2.

Your welder will do up to 1/4" with the Core Flux with multiple passes required.

[jakhunter]

Flux core wire can get pretty pricy but so can buying a bottle and the gas to fill it when using solid wire. Remember that what Lincoln sais your welder can weld and have good penetration is going to the extreme. They are going by standards for commercial type welds.

[TexMax]

Recommended setting would be D-3

[mavrick]

Buy the 10 pound spool (Flux Core) and an adapter. It will last a long time. You have the speed up way to high, if it is up that high the wire will push the gun away from the metal. Watch and you can see the weld burn, if you are having to move too slow speed the wire up.

D is Hotter than A, as you increase the heat you may need to increase the wire speed. I have one of these welders and they work great.

[Wayne Meuir]

I am not a fan of flux core welding. It seems to me that I always get better, smoother, and stronger welds using shielding gas, and with the cost of the flux wire being what it is, the cost is not much different between the two. You can now buy the gas at Home Depot, so availability is not an issue now either.
That said, do yourself a favor since you are obviously a beginner and buy yourself an auto-darkening helmet if you do not already have one. It makes learning much simplier.

Wayne

[Draco]

When you weld, don't look at the arc. You need to look at the molten puddle of metal behind the arc. You should be able to see the molten puddle melted into the two pieces of metal, equally. The puddle will move along with you as you weld and that will give you an idea of how fast your travel speed should be and will show you the two pieces are going to be joined properly.

If you do decide to go with a gas shield, I would suggest CO2. You can get the bottles cheap and the gas is much cheaper than a mix. It will also give your little machine more penetration and allow you to do a little thicker metal in one pass.

[Grizzly1]

First....let me say thank you to everyone above that posted to help me figure out my "issue".

I went to Lowes yesterday morning and bought 2 pounds of .035 flux cored wire, went home and started welding on a feeder that I had started on.....did perfect, much much better the welds were definitely penetrating and very strong, by the evening time I had burned through both spools of wire and went back to Lowes and bought a 10#spool. Once I practiced on the feeder all day I was feeling confident and my welding was getting better and very strong. So once I got my feeder frame welded up I started working on a pipe bumper I was gonna have a weld shop do for me but I decided to do it myself. The bumper is 3" pipe and 1/4" thick, I welded up the 90 elbows on each end and they came out great, was very impressed with the welder once I had the correct wire, didn't even have to do much grinding to make the welds look good.

[McWilliams]

but I'm almost positive i have the proper wire because I just bought it from a welding supply store that sales alot of supplies and its the wire that both guys recommended.

Always took to heart what My Granddad said. "Just because They stand behind the counter does not make Them an expert."

Good luck Buddy, I jumped off into welding not to long ago with a MIG wire feed welder and have never looked back!