Welding wire size difference

jentzschman

Well-Known Member
Location
Sandy, Utah
What are the differences in the different wire sizes on wire feed welders?

Most that I have seen come with .30

I was looking over spec on the Handler 187 and it said it can weld 1/4" flux on .30 with multi pass, but with .35 and .45 single pass?

How does this effect penetration?
 

MikeGyver

UtahWeld.com
Location
Arem
For these little welders the .045" wires are usually flux cored (not solid metal). FCAW wires usually burn hotter and penetrate more because they run at DCEN polarity.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I use .030 and .035, unless I'm working with sheetmetal, then .023. For some reason, the .030 seems to weld a bit smoother with less spatter than the .035, but for thicker metal the .035 is probably a better choice.
 

4x4_Welder

Well-Known Member
Location
Twin Falls, ID
It all really depends on what you are welding on and what machine you are running. The flux core wire is good if you'll be in somewhat windy areas, as shielding gas will just get blown away. You need more amperage to handle thicker wire, and more heat is generated at the weld so it's best to use thinner wire on sheet metal. You can use thicker wire if you do small welds and let it cool, but you will also need to do quite a bit more finish work.
The most common welding wire is .035. I run that all day at work welding stuff from 16gauge sheet to 1" plus thickness. Larger welds get multiple passes, so really the only limit to the thickness you can weld is the time it takes to do it.
 

MikeGyver

UtahWeld.com
Location
Arem
So the thicker wire gets hotter?

More heat, not necissarily "hotter" (think of 1 match vs 2 matches).

MIG welding being a constant voltage process, leaves the amperage dependant on the feed rate or deposition rate (wire speed). Cranking the wire speed requires the amperage (and therefore wattage) to increase since the machine is maintaining a constant voltage.
In my experience, small hobby/light mfg welders such as these run .030" ER70s-6 as the "standard" solid wire.

If you need more penetration for thicker structural type welding, then you do not want to use a solid wire like ER70s-6, especially using a small machine. Gasless flux cored wires are just messy, so I don't care for those. What I recommend you try is a dual shield wire (gas and flux cored) such as Lincoln Outershield 71M or ESAB 7100 Ultra. I have literally hundreds of hours under the arc on these wires and it is an awesome wire to work with on materials thicker than 3/16" or 1/4". If you're already running shielding gas, then get yourself a 10 pound roll of .045" 71M, the required knurled drive rolls for non-solid wires, and the larger liner for .045" wires, and give it a try. Your welder will burn into thick material like a stick welder and make beautiful welds and you'll be able to quickly change between thin and structual jobs.
 
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jentzschman

Well-Known Member
Location
Sandy, Utah
More heat, not necissarily "hotter" (think of 1 match vs 2 matches).

MIG welding being a constant voltage process, leaves the amperage dependant on the feed rate or deposition rate (wire speed). Cranking the wire speed requires the amperage (and therefore wattage) to increase since the machine is maintaining a constant voltage.
In my experience, small hobby/light mfg welders such as these run .030" ER70s-6 as the "standard" solid wire.

If you need more penetration for thicker structural type welding, then you do not want to use a solid wire like ER70s-6, especially using a small machine. Gasless flux cored wires are just messy, so I don't care for those. What I recommend you try is a dual shield wire (gas and flux cored) such as Lincoln Outershield 71M or ESAB 7100 Ultra. I have literally hundreds of hours under the arc on these wires and it is an awesome wire to work with on materials thicker than 3/16" or 1/4". If you're already running shielding gas, then get yourself a 10 pound roll of .045" 71M, the required knurled drive rolls for non-solid wires, and the larger liner for .045" wires, and give it a try. Your welder will burn into thick material like a stick welder and make beautiful welds and you'll be able to quickly change between thin and structual jobs.

Thanks for the great info.
 

bobdog

4x4 Addict!
Location
Sandy
More heat, not necissarily "hotter" (think of 1 match vs 2 matches).

MIG welding being a constant voltage process, leaves the amperage dependant on the feed rate or deposition rate (wire speed). Cranking the wire speed requires the amperage (and therefore wattage) to increase since the machine is maintaining a constant voltage.
In my experience, small hobby/light mfg welders such as these run .030" ER70s-6 as the "standard" solid wire.

If you need more penetration for thicker structural type welding, then you do not want to use a solid wire like ER70s-6, especially using a small machine. Gasless flux cored wires are just messy, so I don't care for those. What I recommend you try is a dual shield wire (gas and flux cored) such as Lincoln Outershield 71M or ESAB 7100 Ultra. I have literally hundreds of hours under the arc on these wires and it is an awesome wire to work with on materials thicker than 3/16" or 1/4". If you're already running shielding gas, then get yourself a 10 pound roll of .045" 71M, the required knurled drive rolls for non-solid wires, and the larger liner for .045" wires, and give it a try. Your welder will burn into thick material like a stick welder and make beautiful welds and you'll be able to quickly change between thin and structual jobs.

Duel shield is great especially the anti gravity properties when going vert up, but you failed to mention that a 250 class machine is the bare minimum to run it. Jentzschman mentioned in another thread he has a Hobart 187 on the way. It will not run the .045 DS, not even close.
 

MikeGyver

UtahWeld.com
Location
Arem
Duel shield is great especially the anti gravity properties when going vert up, but you failed to mention that a 250 class machine is the bare minimum to run it. Jentzschman mentioned in another thread he has a Hobart 187 on the way. It will not run the .045 DS, not even close.

My mistake, I just checked my roll of 71m and it's .035". My Millermatic 175 runs it beautifully (C25 gas).
Well within sugested specs http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/c3101.pdf
 

UNSTUCK

But stuck more often.
Just burned up half a roll of 1/16" dual shield today! That stuff lays a bead like no other, though, I wouldn't weld Jeep parts with it.
 
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