Thread: MIG preferrence

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I started welding some holes in an old caddy hood I have, But I have had problems getting my weld to stick. I have some welding experience, but I'm wondering if I'm using the wrong wire. I believe the wire is copper and is flux cored (no gas needed). Should I be using the cooling gas and wire of a different metal??

I think your copper colored wire is mild steel. I never tried flux core wire with my mig. It's important to clean off all the rust and paint before welding. Another thing that might cause this problem is useing an extention cord on the welder. If that doesn't help I'd get a tank of argon and regular wire without the flux core.

I'm not a fan of flux core either. maybe a slight bit more heat and then cycle your stiches a little longer so you don't burn through. I got the heaviest guage extension cord I could find and dedicated it to the wire welder. Had an electrician friend tell me I could damage my welder if I use one that's too light.

There is a book that you could buy on welding that tells you about all the different temps ,speed ,kind of wire ,with different metals. But it cost some bucks and you still have several choices to choose from,so what I do is go in to a welding supply store tell them that I don't much experince with this and ask what do the guys at the body shops use for what I'm doing. And they hook me right up. I personally use the steal wire, the thickest I can get and push the speed up a little. It's hard to fill in holes or cuts with a thin wire. Hope this helps you out.

~ Vegas ~
PS prep the metal real good that could be a problem too, Make sure its real clean this will help the welds to take better.

That sounds like a plan. I'll see what happens and let you all know the outcome. Thanx for your help. With the extension cord thing, if your welder puts out between 15-20 amps you want use a #12 AWG extension cord. 20 - 30 amps use a #10 AWG cord. I don't see and extension cord hurting your weld unless it's longer than 100 ft. then you will have voltage drop problems, but electrical appliance will accurately work +/- 5% of output voltage.

That copper wire is for mild steel. I am thinking that you can try some of that wire for alluminum because you hood isn't too thick is it? A 75%argon tank would be a better welder though. But yeah just make sure you don't go too hot either and mess the hood up.

I use .030 wire and either CO25 or Stargon for tin work. Flux core wire doesn't do well at all on tin work.

Fellas Ive seen a welter of differing opines and home bakes here
????aluminum wire to weld mild steel well i guess that was the wildest dream .if you want to migweld on panel steel,Practice
first on some scrap of the same thickness,go for the smallest wire your machine can handle,set it up for spot welding /or spot it every 6 inches and then work back to 1inch intervals between,dont weld more than 2inches continuous ,ie work in different postions on the weld to minimise heat distortion,be prepared to hammer and dolly as you go,most sheetmetal in vehicles these days is no thicker than a beer can and in the older classics will still distort beyond your wildest nightmares,take it slowly,DO NOT use flux cored wire .....you have to burn it in faster as the volume of steel in the wire is less and that will allways equate to more amps /heat Go for a solid coppercoted wire with some sort of shield gas ie argon (my preference out here given
the cost of CO2,)CO2/argon mix,talk to your gas suppliers in the area and find out what the pros are using,it will allways be good and the cheapest option for them,and yes clean the weld area ,
a 4inch grinder with a 120grit sanding disc works jest dandy (on
steel sheet) have fun