Welding wire

I own a Craftsman gasless wire welder and I have a question about the two sizes of wire it can take.

I know what most of you welding folk feel about a 110 mig but I really like it for doing small stuff. It works pretty good for welding the cracks at the top corners of my rear hatch and around the door pillars. It also does a bang-up job for replacing the sheet metal on the floor. I realize that it is limited in it's capabilities, I have a professional welder that handles the heavy stuff. He's making me a really super tuff cross member right now.

I've been using the 30mm wire for everything and it holds fine. I see that it can feed 35mm wire too if I just change the tip. My question is does the heavier wire give you more penitration if you're welding 1/8" or 3/16" steel?

Thanks, Steve

By using the 35mm you can crank the heat up more and have better penitration with a bigger bead for strength... I personally use 35mm on everything except if the metal is really thin or there is a chance of burn through due to not going fast enough

I SERIOUSLY doubt you folks are using 35mm or 30mm wire.

More like .030" or .035".

It would take a heck of a welder to melt 30mm wire <that's about an 1.25" thick>



Personally, My Lincoln Weld-Pak 3200HD with .030 works great on thick and thin stuff. Even better, it runs off of 110- so I can use it anywhere.

burntkat said:

I SERIOUSLY doubt you folks are using 35mm or 30mm wire.

More like .030" or .035".

It would take a heck of a welder to melt 30mm wire <that's about an 1.25" thick>



Personally, My Lincoln Weld-Pak 3200HD with .030 works great on thick and thin stuff. Even better, it runs off of 110- so I can use it anywhere.

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I reolized that I was just to lazy to correct my self and Im at work ... My Hobart is also 110 and I also love the idea that I can take it any were plus I can run it off of a standard generator

I just got a small mig welder and I'm planning to do some work on the rear fender wells, would .025" wire be the way to go? What gauge is the body steel? If I'm measuring correctly it appears to be 20 gauge, but I'm not sure.

Robert

At the house I use a Sp-175 (110v 175 amp) and love it. I use .030 wire, I like it a lot better then .035 because I can use it on a variety of thicknesses

-Red

I use a 90-amp Harbor Freight welder and I run .035" almost exclusively. I can weld 1/4" with it, but it's right at the welder's limits and the duty cycle is pretty short. 3/16" is still a little tough but not that bad, 1/8" is easy with this wire. I tried using .035" on the fender wells, and even on the low setting, it just burns through, so for body work, I have to use .030" and just blast it really quick.

While were on the topic, has anyone found a good web page with general welding information? Terms, what you need for what materials, how to, etc....

I have a Lincoln 110 volt convertible (can be used with or without gas) I usually run gas because its much cleaner but for sheet metal I run .023, for general fab I run .030 and I did run some .035 when I welded up my rear bumper.

Thanks!

Thanks for the info XtrmXJ and everyone else. Also, Kudos to Burntkat for pointing out my incorrect terminology. I was posting that in a hurry this morning so my boss wouldn't see me on line. Sure would take one hell of a welder to run 30+MM!

Steve

MattBlack,

Try this site:
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/etraining.html

LincolnElectric.com has a lot of info too, but most of it is harder to get to on their site. They have an outstanding welding handbook, though. Well worth plinking down the $$. Miller has a lot of general info and tips if you look around just a little. You might try the AWS site for more technical info and papers, but that in-depth coverage might not be what you are looking for.

-Rich

MattBlackXJ said:

While were on the topic, has anyone found a good web page with general welding information? Terms, what you need for what materials, how to, etc....

Click to expand...

You can also get a wealth of info here

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/