Wire Size?

[snotzalot]

What wire size are you folks using for your all around GMA (MIG) welding?

Any particular brand that you prefer?

[snotzalot]

What wire size are you folks using for your all around GMA (MIG) welding?

Any particular brand that you prefer?

[Kerry Pinkerton]

I use .030 on both sheet metal and heavier stuff. My new 210Amp Miller came with 30 and will go up to 45 but the 30 works fine on the up to 1/2 inch stuff I've been welding.

I got a 30 lb roll from Harbor Freight and to my surprise I really can't tell the difference between it and the ESAB I'd been getting for half again the price.

I tried the .23 on my smaller 110V miller and was not happy with it. It kept jamming and creating a rats nest inside the box.

Kerry

[Kerry Pinkerton]

I use .030 on both sheet metal and heavier stuff. My new 210Amp Miller came with 30 and will go up to 45 but the 30 works fine on the up to 1/2 inch stuff I've been welding.

I got a 30 lb roll from Harbor Freight and to my surprise I really can't tell the difference between it and the ESAB I'd been getting for half again the price.

I tried the .23 on my smaller 110V miller and was not happy with it. It kept jamming and creating a rats nest inside the box.

Kerry

[oldgoaly]

i agree with Kerry, i used the same sizes, but haven't tried the HF
stuff yet? i also use the cleaner /lube its a little roll of material that
you saturate with a cleaner/lube, i dont use it on the aluminum.
i do spray the roll of wire with a little oil as its in the unheated part of the shop, if i dont it can get some rust forming on the outer edge.

tt
see Kerry that didn't hurt did it??
Kerry Kerry your ok you just fainted!
< big smile >

[oldgoaly]

i agree with Kerry, i used the same sizes, but haven't tried the HF
stuff yet? i also use the cleaner /lube its a little roll of material that
you saturate with a cleaner/lube, i dont use it on the aluminum.
i do spray the roll of wire with a little oil as its in the unheated part of the shop, if i dont it can get some rust forming on the outer edge.

tt
see Kerry that didn't hurt did it??
Kerry Kerry your ok you just fainted!
< big smile >

[Pedalcar]

Hi Gang,

i am using 0.6mm(.23) on my mig welder ever since i bought it.

You need to adjust the transport wheel pressure and have the corrct transport wheel with a .23 grove in it .

It works fine for me.
:D
Ben

[Pedalcar]

Hi Gang,

i am using 0.6mm(.23) on my mig welder ever since i bought it.

You need to adjust the transport wheel pressure and have the corrct transport wheel with a .23 grove in it .

It works fine for me.
:D
Ben

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Well yesterday after I posted my email, I ran out of gas on the new 210A miller. I have two 90 cu ft tanks that I own, Nexair swaps them out for me when they get empty. The other tank was also near empty but I swapped it over to the new mig anyway. I ALMOST finished welding my frame when it went dry. Realizing that I had run through the gas in a short time made me decide to lease a larger tank and while I was at it I got a 35lb roll of .35 MIG wire. It works great on the 1/4 plate I'm welding but will probably be too thick for sheetmetal. Don't know yet.

Kerry

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Well yesterday after I posted my email, I ran out of gas on the new 210A miller. I have two 90 cu ft tanks that I own, Nexair swaps them out for me when they get empty. The other tank was also near empty but I swapped it over to the new mig anyway. I ALMOST finished welding my frame when it went dry. Realizing that I had run through the gas in a short time made me decide to lease a larger tank and while I was at it I got a 35lb roll of .35 MIG wire. It works great on the 1/4 plate I'm welding but will probably be too thick for sheetmetal. Don't know yet.

Kerry

[Wray Schelin]

Hi Kerry,

On the Yahoo lists I must have said that .035" wire works better on thin or thick stock at least 4 times. It was true when I was using my 100amp mig or my new 250 amp mig. Upgrading to the biggest bottle size is a part of the learning curve as well. :wink:

Concerning the wire spools, as long as your machine can handle the big 30 lb spools of wire they are the best choice as well.

Wray

[Wray Schelin]

Hi Kerry,

On the Yahoo lists I must have said that .035" wire works better on thin or thick stock at least 4 times. It was true when I was using my 100amp mig or my new 250 amp mig. Upgrading to the biggest bottle size is a part of the learning curve as well. :wink:

Concerning the wire spools, as long as your machine can handle the big 30 lb spools of wire they are the best choice as well.

Wray

[jackiebigmike]

Hi Guys,
Most of the people in auto body repair are using .023 wire to keep the warp and heat down in the high strength steel. Bigmike Ohio

[Wray Schelin]

Hi Big Mike,

Most of us here are making are own panels we would not be using a high strength steel. You might be right about .023" wire working better in the example you cite. I use a tig 99% of the time on cold rolled 19 and 18 gage but once in awhile I'll mig something, and if I do I use the .035" which works better for me than .023". I used to mig more years ago and I always used .023" until one day I tried the .035" because that was all I had to finish a job. I never went back to .023" . :D

I haven't tried the same test with modern high strength steels.

Wray

[Butch Duke]

Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!
I use .023 in my old wire feeder for sheet metal. Mostly now I just use it for tacking pieces together & use my torches or my tig.
In my new miller 251 I will be using .023 for sheet metal & for the heaver plate I will use .030 or .035 depending on what plate thickness I will be welding.
Kerry on your 210 model you can use .023 wire without changing the liner, but you will need to change the drive roll & tips out. I have done this many times with other friends welders. I learned this at one of Millers road show demos. No problems doing it. Just thought you might want to know that little trick!!!!!!!!!
Specialty Interests
Metal fabrication
& Painting
Butch

[Dutch Comstock]

Good morning,I have owned and heavily used mig welders in body work for 25 years.Thre has been a tremendous amount of experimenting with methods and wire sizes over the years.With .030 wire I seem to get the best smallweld mound as I can. The people with older small machines will do better with .023 as there machine does not have the power for the heavier wire. I can also do almost as good with .035 wire. Allmost all of the new wire feed machines regardless of the size can easily handle .030 wire. If they have rheostat controls instead of the preset stops you can adjust them to do a super low bead weld. For welding sheet metal you play with the wire spped and amperage control to get the hottest controllable weld bead that you can weld with with out burning through.You only use dot welds on sheet metal to keep the amount of heat down.
The most important thing to worry about is figuring out what you can do with the welder you have. If you are doing good with the wire size you have, just try and improve your techniqe to improve your weld. When you get to where you think you can do no better then try another wire size and see where you can go now. With Ben only doing small projects such as pedal cars and not very large fabrication projects .23 wire is fine for him. If you are doing a lot of sheet metal and fab work you can upgrade to .030 or .035 and do as good with either or with practice even better.
The quality of the wire is important at different variables as to your use. The two most important things on wire quality are wire stiffness and the protective copper coating. Lincoln wire is considered one of the higher quality wire overall. If you are having problems with ratnesting of your wire or your wire is getting rusty here is where to go. If you are in a humid area you need a good copper coating on the wire or you will be throwing away 20 lbs of wire out of 30 when it gets rusty. The other wire type is called easygrind and is more expensive to buy and does not seem to work any better in the body type of work we are doing. Dutch

[snotzalot]

Dutch,

As usual a bery good answer, thanks for your comments. I have a 10 year old Hobart and all I have ever used is .023. I agree with your suggestions about wire, it's important to use a quality wire.

[Jvarnell]

I use .35 for tubing and heaver welding and .23 for sheet metal. When you use the .23 wire you have to readjust the tention on the wire spool.

[Rob Murray]

Paul......with even a few more mig and tig years than even Dutch......i am very opinioned about this. i have a lincoln sp-125plus that is for only sheetmetal and i use .030 wire. i used .023/.025 years ago. but i thought it absolutely sucked...they can't even decide what size it is anymore! i don't know if .030 carries the right amount of heat or what...but it makes a crisp INSTANT tack which i've never seen .023 do on my machine or any other. when a friend convinced me to try .030 years ago i didn't think much about it until i tried it....i am still amazed at how good it works. i also have an sp-200 that we use for fabrication. it's the same as the 255's they have out now except mine has a bigger duty cycle....it's a monster! i used to use .035 way back and for some reason changed to .045...with the machine not even cut halfway up you could CUT 1/2 in. steel!...and you had to GRIND the spatter off!(welding)...no wire brush would touch it. but thankfully i changed back to .035 which works great....and the best "no-spat" is wd-40....it works exellent and it doesn't smell horrible(and you can paint after using it...no actual lubricant in it) after using many differrent wires..salesmen come in all the time pushing new stuff....i feel that lincoln L-56 wire welds the best- grinds easy - draws the least - and although there are cheaper wires out there i don't think it is expensive. this is just my opinion......but i do it for 2 shifts a day - 6 days a week...for decades!(wheew!).....also...like Wray said buy big it's cheaper for gas and wire. i use 44lb. spools in the big machine and 10lb. spools in the little one. for sheetmetal only machines you might use small spools because of rust.....welding sheetmetal would be more sensitive to this. also.....for allpurpose fabbing and thicker/bigger stuff...c-02 works great....but for sheetmetal - 75/25 makes a big difference(BIG difference!) thats quite enough said...hmmm?
later.......Rob

[jackiebigmike]

Hi Wray :D I do have to agree I like using 35 better but high strengh steel and insurance companies rule. Tig is a nice way to go but slower. The old gas welding is out for new car repair. We use to repair cars using it for years. Funny now days you can't find a bodyman that can use torches as us old boys use to.

Now alot glue is being use in the business door skins and even replacing quarters panels.

[GunLocators]

I use .035 I have some .023 a full roll nearly. I just seem to like the .035 . Plus it runs great in my MillerMatic 251