Comments on: Gasless Mig Welder, Part 2. Mig welding and gasless mig welders, part 2.

By: TSorovanMHael

TSorovanMHael — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:39:29 +0000

A 50 lb spool of “self-shielded” flux core wire typically costs $85-$150 U.S. or more. A spool of low cost ER70s-3 is about a third of that. A bottle of Argon+17%CO2 costs about $30. Just take a look at any of the truly scary welds produced by that “self-shielded” garbage, and you would have to be insane to allow this stuff in your welding shop.

By: learnhowtoweld

learnhowtoweld — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:55:00 +0000

@TSorovanMHael
Yes the gasless mig wire is more expensive, no doubt about that.
There is nothing wrong with this wire though. It can produce welds as strong as normal mig wire with gas. I have people who use this stuff at home for DIY, for on site structural welding and full time in the workshop welding where they use this all the time as opposed to ER70S-6.

What the issue is I think is that people who don’t know how to weld get hold of this and make bad welds, and give it a bad name…….

By: TSorovanMHael

TSorovanMHael — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:47:21 +0000

@learnhowtoweld Seriously, paying 50-100% more for consumables in order to make welds which there should be every reason to doubt as to their quality…all because you can’t afford a decent wind screen? That seems truly crazy to me.

It’s my understanding that self-shielded wires have been implicated in a number of serious earthquake failures in California, as the welds produced by the same typically lack fracture toughness.

This is all just my personal opinion though.

By: TSorovanMHael

TSorovanMHael — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:36:36 +0000

@learnhowtoweld Thanks for the reply. I could list a dozen serious weld quality reasons why not to use self-shielded FC wires. As far as the welding outdoors in breezy conditions issue, I believe Lincoln just developed a hi-tech new device it calls “a cut-in-half cardboard box” which, when combined with the well known “duct tape” process, makes drafts a non-issue for MIG welding outdoors. (mild sarcasm…… As IF Lincoln would ever spill the beans on THAT little trick of the trade…)

By: learnhowtoweld

learnhowtoweld — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:07:41 +0000

@TSorovanMHael
Should we go out an get a patent for the product and market it ourselves? I did get your other comment the you deleted just above this one. And I did too see/read an article about what you mentioned, I can remember what grade of wire it was though.

By: serpentslayer213

serpentslayer213 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:56:16 +0000

By: learnhowtoweld

learnhowtoweld — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:14:24 +0000

@serpentslayer213

Cheers mate