MIG wire size

[LEverard]

I'm relatively new to welding, just bought a cheap Titanium Flux 125, and i'm really happy with it so far. The welder is able to run .030 and .035 wire. When i would want use one wire vs the other? is there general guide lines for when to use different size wires?

 

[bplayer405]

I have the same welder and generally use .030 hobart or lincoln wire with it. Multi-pass wires are a real benefit for flux core welding. Generally, .030 will be good up to 3/16" material where .035 for 3/16" up to max recommended thickness of the welder. They will overlap considerably though. .035 gives a thicker bead compared to .030. I've had good luck with my Titanium flux 125, hope you have good luck with yours.

 

[dstig1]

The thinner the wire, the less current it can carry and vice versa. So if you need to weld something thick, you are going to need more amps, and therefore thicker wire. Conversely, if you are trying to weld thin sheet metal, you need very little current and to get any degree of control, you will want thin wire. The common sizes in the US are .023/.025", .030", .035", .045", and 1/16" (.063). There isn't a ton of difference between .030 and .035. .023 is best for very thin/sheet metal. I run .035 in mine (hardwire with C25 gas), but have the rollers to run all of them except 1/16". Have never needed to change so far, but most of what I do with the MIG ends up being 1/8" to 3/8" steel.

 

[sonny580]

I only use .035 in my Century 200. ----works o.k. for what little I use it ----99.9% of my welding requires the stick welder, but I still "play" with the wire jobber----its something different.

 

[Yomax4]

I only use .035 in my Century 200. ----works o.k. for what little I use it ----99.9% of my welding requires the stick welder, but I still "play" with the wire jobber----its something different.

200 amp welder with 035 is pretty capable. Curious why you opt for the Stick 99.9% of the time.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I too prefer stick to FCAW or even MIG when welding thick stuff. I think it is cheaper and does a better job, less likely to have porosity, cold lap (non-fusion) between beads or between base metals. Also less spatter to clean up compared to FCAW.

 

[sonny580]

stick is quicker for me, less mess, I still have not mastered the wire process to use it on important stuff, just mess with odds and ends with it for now. I dont want somebodys tractor hitch to break off after I have just welded it on so til I can get the wire thingy figured out, I use stick. ---- People are always bringing me broken parts that were wire welded and broke, ---just re-welded a complete new bale spear for a guy----3 of the wire welds broke the second bale he moved with it and several other welds were cracked so I went over every weld on it with my stick welder and 6013 rods. ---- He couldnt believe how shoddy the company that made the equipment welded.
I told him to take the spear back to TSC and get another one.---he said all of them they had in stock looked the same and he needed to move hay now and really needed me to weld it for him so I did.
Wire might be o.k. but I still prefer stick.

 

[dstig1]

You can do stick badly too... You know where the bad welds largely come from - not enough amps (and bad technique...). Trying to wire weld thick stuff on a 110V wire feeder is going to make nothing but bubblegum on the surface. With a proper professional grade wire welder, you can make anything work that you would prefer to use stick for. I don't know the Century unit you have, but perhaps it is just not heavy duty enough to weld thicker material. But that would be an equipment limitation, not a process limitation.

 

[Lis2323]

. But that would be an equipment limitation, not a process limitation.

So...an equipment limitation would require a process of elimination , correct?

 

[California]

From the perspective of an amateur - just repairs and occasional fabrication on my farm equipment: Stick is the brute force, simple, get-er-done solution. While the various flux welders I've tinkered with over 15 years are more of a hobby to try various settings and learn the results. But then forget what worked, before the next similar project months to years later. Where I start all over again testing on scrap before going to the actual item that needs repair.

More than once I've set aside the flux rig in frustration and knocked out the project with the stick welder. No time for that!

This is far different from the pro who has learned his equipment well and instinctively sets it up close to what's needed for a project. But it does describe my usual, very intermittent, work environment. I have stayed with flux not gas because all welding is outdoors. Tanks would add complexity - filling, transport, storage, a rig on wheels to take them out to the worksite. KISS here.

Everything I've ever welded has stayed welded, I'm experimenting long enough to turn out solid welds after I find the 'sweet spot'. I guess what I really need is an expensive modern welder where you twist the dial and watch the display to preset it for material thickness, what wire is loaded in it, and phase of the moon. Not cost effective for what I do.

 

[Yomax4]

Lets not compare 115v Flux cored welding to 230v stick welding. No comparison. Fact is, All of your tractor buckets and implements are welded with Mig, 71T-1 or larger diameter solid wire.. We can't just say stick is for the heavy stuff when stick is not used for any heavy welding in manufacturing.

 

[sonny580]

The century 200 is a heavy 220 volt welder. ---- No stick is NOT used for welding in todays manufacturing ------ tHAT is why the welds break and I have to re-weld them.

 

[California]

Fact is, All of your tractor buckets and implements are welded with Mig, 71T-1 or larger diameter solid wire.. We can't just say stick is for the heavy stuff when stick is not used for any heavy welding in manufacturing.

In the hands of a pro, sure. No question that's the modern way to crank out quality product at predetermined cost.

But along with the employed pros on here there are amateur occasional welders like me, and a number of 'what welder should I buy?' beginners. Look how many Titanium 125 and 175 new owners have posted. My own opinion is stick will result in more reliable welds (on heavier material) when the amateur operator with inexpensive gear has a minimal idea WTH he is doing. Well at least in my experience.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a 250 amp Miller stick machine setting in my shop. A friend and I just finished a repair job on my brother in law's bush hog. The welds at the back corners had broken and the sheet metal was bent badly (likely hit a lot of big rocks or stumps) and due to mowing with the bush hog too low to the ground, the slide rails on each side at the front of the frame were worn completely away at the front 6-8". We used my Titanium 125 FCAW from Harbor Freight to weld up the seams in the frame (both back corners) then decided to put some new rails on the bottom. I had some scrap iron so I cut out some pieces and welded them under the bottom as sacrificial slides. This entailed horizontal and over-head welding. We welded pretty much non stop for over an hour with the machine set on G7 which is about 75% of full power. The heat overload never cut out and it welded non stop without a problem. My friend owns a Hobart 140 and he says the Titanium welds much better than his $400 Hobart. It was also loaded with the free spool of wire that came with it from Harbor Freight. We burned about 3/4 of the 2 pound spool of wire.

My friend looked like a welder in a 3rd World country what with his flip flops, shorts and T shirt but we got the job done and no one caught on fire. Instead of welding sleeves, I had to rig up some cover for his legs and feet. What a hoot we had with the little 110 volt welding rig.

Prior to fixing the bush hog, we hooked up my new Everlast 206 SI plasma torch and TIG rig. It smoothly cut a piece of 1/2" plate with the plasma cutter with very little slag on the underside.
The TIG welder worked better than any rig I used in construction. I loved the finger control to turn it on and off plus the high frequency start was great. I use it to wash weld a bead in the plasma cut that I made without using any filler wire. I got about 3/4 of full penetration in the cut in one pass. I had a big shop fan blowing on high speed right on my back not 2 feet from me and the TIG rig worked flawlessly. That fan was producing about a 15 MPH wind but the argon didnt blow away. It was set on 60 CFH. I later turned it down to about 20 after turning the fan down to low and reducing the post flow purge time to about 5 seconds.
I really like both machines. Next project is to get a bottle of 75/25 and check out my little MIG 100 by Airco. I wish I had one machine that would run both MIG and FCAW like the Hobart Handler but I have what I have. If I were doing projects all day long, I would have a 200 amp wire feed welder but for now things are working well with the cheap(er) machines.

 

[Gary Fowler]

In the hands of a pro, sure. No question that's the modern way to crank out quality product at predetermined cost.

But along with the employed pros on here there are amateur occasional welders like me, and a number of 'what welder should I buy?' beginners. Look how many Titanium 125 and 175 new owners have posted. My own opinion is stick will result in more reliable welds (on heavier material) when the amateur operator with inexpensive gear has a minimal idea WTH he is doing. Well at least in my experience.

You are totally right about in the hands of a pro BUT, many of these "fabricators" and I use the term very loosely, just hire someone with a hood to weld. NO test, NO quality control and very loosely supervised. THAT is why many times you buy a product and then have to fix all the welds that break due to lack of fusion, porosity, undercut, lumpy and ugly welds and bad paint jobs to boot.
Even an ugly stick rod weld will many times hold as much as the base metal. With auto feed wire welds (MIG and Flux core) you can have a lovely weld that is just basically laid on top of the base metal like a big ole fat worm and it holds just about as much.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You can do stick badly too... You know where the bad welds largely come from - not enough amps (and bad technique...). Trying to wire weld thick stuff on a 110V wire feeder is going to make nothing but bubblegum on the surface. With a proper professional grade wire welder, you can make anything work that you would prefer to use stick for. I don't know the Century unit you have, but perhaps it is just not heavy duty enough to weld thicker material. But that would be an equipment limitation, not a process limitation.

I have a bit of thick plate that I am going to cut and prep to weld with my 120 volt wire welders. I will use my Titanium 125 and post some pictures if possible. I am a bit curious to see how it turns out myself since I have not used it to weld thick stuff, only 1/8" sheet metal so far and it does a great job on that.

 

[California]

A friend and I just finished a repair job on my brother in law's bush hog. The welds at the back corners had broken ... the slide rails on each side at the front of the frame were worn completely away ...

We used my Titanium 125 FCAW from Harbor Freight to weld up the seams in the frame (both back corners) then decided to put some new rails on. ...

My friend owns a Hobart 140 and he says the Titanium welds much better than his $400 Hobart.

That is great to hear, that HF finally offers a competent 110V DC FCAW!

Their previous blue 110-AC ones were hopeless.

 

[Aczlan]

The century 200 is a heavy 220 volt welder. ---- No stick is NOT used for welding in todays manufacturing ------ tHAT is why the welds break and I have to re-weld them.

Welds break because the person doing the welding did not weld it properly.


Stick is used for welding when doing steel piping and other structural work, as you say it is very rarely used on a manufacturing floor.

Aaron Z

 

[sonny580]

What do you expect from third world terrorists? ---certainly NOT quality products! ----More than likely underage slaves doing the welding in their factories!

 

[California]

What do you expect from third world terrorists? ---certainly NOT quality products! ----More than likely underage slaves doing the welding in their factories!

I liked to joke that HF's 110v AC flux welders were a clone of whatever is used all over China to make the bad welds you find underneath furniture from Walmart ant Target.