The etching really sends the message. The terminology and differences in penetration are making different types of welding more important. Years of experience in one little video is so worth watching again and save for later viewing to etch it into memory. Lol

The algorithm finally graced me with this channel, in between the gazillion "most welders don't know" videos. Very glad to have found you, Greg. Undoubtedly one of the absolute best English-language welding channels on the tube, and criminally underrated. May you get the audience you deserve.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

3 күн бұрын

Thanks for the super kind comment. I am happy to be part of helping people improve their skills 😀. It’s a lot of fun testing things and seeing what happens. I had a lot of worries about doing KZread because it’s saturated with welding channels and I just wanted to help people out. I definitely learned that I can still make a difference for people no matter the channel size, and if I can get even a few people to believe in themselves it’s worth it 😀

I appreciate the fact you show and explain your mistakes and things you’ve learned. A lot of people would edit that out.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

4 ай бұрын

Yeah I have been pretty good about making mistakes lol. It’s like a friend of mine said to me once: There are two kinds of people in this world, those who make mistakes and those who lie about never making them. Lol

@Festerman50

4 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg if a person never makes a mistake they never learn anything or as you said they’re a liar. Lol

With the info you put out so often, this channel has to blow up soon. This is invaluable for starting and experienced welders alike. Hopefully this becomes your full time job and pays you in spades. I don't known where you're from, but I also can't help but love the Yooper/northern Wisconsin accent being a Michigander, but unfortunately only a troll myself. Good luck Greg!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for the kind words 😀. I actually create a lot more content than I post. I have a backlog of 20 or so videos not including the 3-5 I will shoot this upcoming week. That also doesn’t include jobs I get involved in that I don’t bring a camera along for (like I just worked on a diesel generator that wouldn’t work). I am going to be switching “careers” soon and will have more time to post content, so that’s a plus. Honestly my dream is to just build stuff, help people out, and somehow pay to have a roof over my head. The hard part with doing that is how much BS I have to navigate to do that. For example, I would love to just go around my city and do jobs for free/cheap for the sake of teaching how to do them and to help people. Sounds great until the reality of needing tons of licenses, a legit business, insurances, etc, which cost a fortune. I even looked into a non profit and realized that’s not feasible since there has to be multiple people involved. That’s honestly why I like KZread, I can just post a video up for people to learn from, I have virtually no bs to deal with, and it’s simple 😀. I am from Wisconsin (Milwaukee county) so not to far from you lol. Many people think I am from Michigan or Wisconsin lol.

The last one is about what I would expect from a single pass flux core. Chamfer the edges and multipass the joint, and it's golden.

Loving the cut and etch Greg. Im mostly a stick guy, but it was eye opening to see that flux core has superior penetration compared to solid wire.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

On 1/4 inch steel there is no doubt that flux core is far superior to gas mig. I have run into issues with over 1/4in where the flux core has porosity issues I can’t eliminate. That’s why I too like stick and use that anytime I need to weld 1/4inch and above steel, it produces clean welds, great penetration, and is reliable. I have ordered dual shield wire (.035) to try and that will be very interesting to see how it runs on thicker plate. It should solve the porosity issue I have seen, and allow a 200 amp MiG welder to safely weld 3/8th plate, or atleast that’s my hope. Testing will show if that’s true or not lol.

I'm getting up there and never had any supervision on a mig. I bought a Lincon 185 when I was 15 . It cost me 125 dollars and came with wheels. I still have. About 15 years ago I go a 145 Hobart shortly after that my son borrowed it and I never saw it again. He burnt it up. So I bought a mig and a tig that can stick. I torch weld, braze and stick. I went to school to learn these. I am so glad I watched you. I'm in the process of up grading a very low side-by-side. It had a 6 horse predator I'm installing a 60 horse Honda. And I am welding to fast , wrong polarity and to far from material. I will fix that thanks to you. I thought I had lost my touch ! I had to lengthening it for the Honda and I was getting concerned with my welding ,but I will remedy that in the morning . Thanks again. 👍👍🏍🙉🙈🙊

@makingmistakeswithgreg

7 ай бұрын

No problem 😀. It’s amazing how well things can go when a few small details are correct. Flux core wire In particular has to have specific things exactly right or it works terribly. The cool thing is once you do those things the results are instantly better and quite good at that. Most welding just comes to a few small details being just right for the results to be acceptable. The key is knowing where things are going wrong and adjusting accordingly. Since you’re researching knowledge on how to become better, the great thing is you will likely get significantly better fast. That’s what is the great part, once you master a few things like making simple weld beads that are really good on a flat plate, you can build cool stuff like you’re talking about 😀.

So I bought the dual shield from Amazon. I will have a video out soon with it. Having never ran .035 dual shield (I have only ran big stuff with a engine drive) it’s been a learning curve. I will share a bit of a “sneak peak” to what’s going on thus far with the dual shield: I couldn’t find reliable setpoint data because it’s so uncommon of a wire in .035. I have experimented with a stupid amount of settings, everything from 18 to 26volts, 260 to 430 in/min feed. So far I have found a lot of interesting things. It makes perfectly clean welds with zero porosity (internal or external). The welds are perfectly flat and very good looking. It runs really good and is easy to work with. The process 100% operates as spray arc, it’s very quiet and has very little spatter. With all that said I have ran into a issue where I am not seeing solid root fusion. The higher the voltage the less root fusion is present. Since it operates on DCEP it’s not too surprising it would have less penetration than Gasless flux core but it’s significantly less. Running 1/16th dual shield wire on a big engine drive has no issue with 3/8th plate when it comes to penetration, but .035 at 200 amps isn’t quite getting there. I will be doing a big bend test coming up and I have a feeling it will fare better than Gasless flux core despite having less penetration. The porosity issues with the Gasless and brittleness of the welds will be a issue I think. Time will tell 😀

@G5Hohn

3 ай бұрын

Greg, my Sanrex 250 only has settings for 3/8 if you go up to 045 wire for dual shield. It suggests 360ipm and 25v- with 045! So I think with 035 you’re probably going to want something of similar 25V range, but much higher wfs- probably in the 420-450 range.

As usual another great video with a lot of useful information. It's a lot of work but you are putting out great stuff for anyone thinking about getting into welding (home gamer or full-time profession) and you make it fun with the strange accent! 🙂 I'm really glad you went over the "circle e" vs. straight in bead on the root as I found the same thing when I cut and etched or tried to break the weld with unshielded flux core. Anywho, many thanks for these videos!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words 😀. I have done a bunch more off camera testing with the stringer vs circle-e and have seen consistently the same result, loss of root penetration. I think it comes down to the wires limitations of how much molten metal it can make it through. For a fill pass on a multiple bead weld I think it would be fine. As a root or single pass I definitely wouldn’t recommend it. There is one exception to this, mig welding vertical up is a situation where you don’t have much choice but to do a form of a weave to make a proper weld. I shot a bunch of fillet weld break tests that will be rolling out soon. Those results have been far more interesting than I expected. So much so that I am going to spend a whole day welding up some test pieces to break Inorder to really clear things up with the first set of results I have 😀

I am just starting on my welding journey so I don't know a damn thing but what you teach in your videos almost always connects some dots and gives me practice goals. Thanks.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

No problem 😀. There is so much to know with welding that it takes a while just to retain all the info. The key thing to remember is it’s just like learning to ride a bike, take your time and practice consistently. It won’t take long before you can ride a few feet, and not long after that you will be able to go miles. Focus on being consistent and understand being frustrated is part of learning something that is hard. You’ll get it 😀

Satisfying lesson. Thank you

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

You’re welcome 😀. I will be doing break tests with torque gauges to compare strength soon, those will be real interesting since there will be actual numbers. Since I have done a bunch already, I know the results are quite interesting to say the least 😀.

Another really helpful vid . Thank you . You flux core vids came out at the perfect time for me as I had just bought a cheap 200amp multi process machine. After years of stick it was a pretty easy transition to flux core. Hell I use it for almost all my work now . Been using it to weld 12mm round bar to 5mm angle when upgrading sliding gate tracks 12m long . Was a bit dubious at 1st but it works well and it looks like I get good penetration ( 20v / 22v on my machine seems to do it ) .

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

No problem 😀. Flux core is very handy and can produce really good welds. It is far easier for vertical up and limited access welds that’s for sure. Far less frustrating lol. Flux core has a bad rap primarily because of 99$ welders with unskilled people. It’s actually a real viable process that can do a lot. Glad you found a new useful process 😀

Thank you great video!!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

5 ай бұрын

No problem 😀

Just a few minutes earlier I had presumption that weave is usually better :-) Very interesting results in both videos, thank you!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

I have done a bit more testing on the weave vs stringer that I will eventually get around to filming. From what I have seen, doing a weave in the flat position universally bites in the side of the plates more at the cost of the root penetration. This is on fillet welds, on other joints it may be less of a issue. The problem is the wire can only “penetrate” so much molten pool. When you weave on a fillet weld the sides of the weld don’t have as much weld pool thickness as the center therefore it makes sense as to why the center of the weld doesn’t gain penetration. That’s also why higher wire feed speed doesn’t seem to improve penetration of a weld with Mig much, it just ends up depositing more metal above the plate.

@kfmutrus

9 ай бұрын

My train of thought was that more time I spend in roughly same place more heat input it gets and so bigger puddle of molten metal...bit counterintuitive that it just wider and not deeper :-) Thank you for clarification!

As a hobbyist, I will try flux-core and then stick weld with 6011 and compare. Cheers.

I’ve been thinking of learning to weld for years. Your videos are great, you missed your calling as a MATC instructor. I haven’t watched all your content yet, so forgive me if you’ve covered it. What about a video on buying used equipment from marketplace? I’ve been looking and I have no idea where to start. I think a Lincoln or Miller ac/dc stick unit is where I should start, and they are available for a bit more than the Amazon stick specials, but I’m not sure the thunderbolt ac/dc with 25 ft leads for $250 is where I need to begin. The other kick in the pants is running a 50amp 220v to my garage. That’s a used welder worth of wire cost these days. Maybe the 100 dollar yes welder is worth it on a 20amp 110 that I already have. Anyways, that’s my video idea/question. Please continue the good work, you are a great educator.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

I haven’t covered buying used equipment, but that’s a great video idea, I will cover it and have a video out within a week or two at most. I will give you some advice now, hopefully it helps. For certain circumstances a cheap Amazon special will cut it. I own a 100$ Amazon stick welder that I bought because at the time it was annoying to haul my big brick of a miller dynasty outside of my shop. It did the job but honestly the quality of what it could do had more to do with me than the welder. It’s setpoints were off by as much as 20% from what it said, which is very common with cheap welders. For me, I could just work around it because I knew if it was “hot or cold”. For a inexperienced person they might not know what to do to compensate, become frustrated, and not realize their equipment is making things so much harder than it has to be. It does pay to buy better stuff. I would buy a solid used welder for a bit more than a cheap new one every day of the week. There is so much you don’t realize is different between cheap and good welders until you use them. Cheap stick welders won’t weld with 6010, and often barely run with 6011. They don’t have hot start, or arc force control. Their set points tend to be off which makes it hard to adjust settings. As a experienced welder I can compensate and stick weld with almost anything (even two car batteries lol) but a novice/beginner will have a much less frustrating time with a better welder because they tend to be more forgiving. As far as actual used welders, a thunderbolt ac/dc is a great option, it does have limitations though. It’s a bit harder to adjust its output vs a lcd screen setup. It’s big/not very portable and draws a ton of power. It’s duty cycle is somewhat limited on DC because of its simplistic bridge rectifiers duty cycle. But it does weld with 6010 and 6011 well. It does have zombie apocalypse level of reliability. It also is available for reasonable prices used. Pretty much if it runs a bead it’s safe to buy used because it works and will work. I would take a thunderbolt ac/dc over virtually all cheap stick welders out there, unless portability is a concern. The only cheap stick welder I have found to be worth the money is everlasts stick only units. Everlast doesn’t lie about their specs (aka max output or the ability to run 6010), their digital displays are fairly accurate, and they have actual adjustable features like arc force and hot start. The best home hobby stick welder out there (in my opinion) is the esab rogue 180. I have owned the 180 and I now own the rogue 200. It welds perfect, it has all the settings that you want, and is very small/ portable with is great. It also has power factor correction so it runs on 120 while pulling less amperage so you get decent output, unlike cheap welders. If you could find one of those used that would be the best option (in my opinion). Otherwise look at everlasts stick welders, or that thunderbolt would be a good option. Like I said, it’s not that the esab rogue, or some other higher end stick welder will make you a better welder over a cheaper one necessarily. The better welder will make it far less frustrating to learn to weld and will make it easier to achieve higher quality welds.

@WeldingForJesus

8 ай бұрын

I started out with a Telwin Force 165. I was happy with it, until I got the Rogue 180 Pro. Having the same make and model electrode on the same base material, the Telwin did a decent weld and the Rogue blew the base metal to oblivion as soon as the arc struck! That means that the Telwin was running VERY much lower than the settings... Worst part is, the price wasn't insanely different, the rogue being not twice the price.

@williamheitl8941

8 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for taking the time to write a detailed response. I'll keep my eyes out for the used buying video and hunt down one of the units you suggested. Thanks again.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

8 ай бұрын

@@williamheitl8941 I just uploaded it a couple hours ago 😀

I have used fluxcore but in the end I use dual shield fluxcore ,I find it better in many ways especially out of position. How about doing a cut and etch with dual shield vs reg fluxcore vs short curcuit. I can use 045 dual shield on my machines when needed.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

Great idea. I bought a spool of dual shield .035 because it’s available in the states for people. I think it will solve a lot of issues I have been dealing with. Gas shielded mig has poor penetration on thick material, Gasless flux core has more penetration but on thick metal I can’t get clean welds (always have some porosity above 1/4in plates). .035 dual shield should provide the penetration of flux core with the clean porosity free welds of mig.

Did you say you are running these off your generator still? Have any plans to do a video on installing the power in your new shop? Thanks for doing all these videos and sharing your knowledge and advice!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

So I am still in a temporary shop for a bit until I buy or rent a new one. I have been on the lookout for a suitable location but it has been a struggle to find what I want. Soon I should have something 😀

@Justforfun-ek7et

9 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg I can imagine, the market is still messed up and prices have yet to come down to a more reasonable level. Maybe you have some content you can make on finding and going through the process of buying a home. I hope you find the perfect place soon. Again, thanks for all you do.

This exactly describes why my first attempt to weld my own miniexcavator bucket years ago with a quite insufficient 160 Amps welder still holds together. I used selfshielded fluxcore wire (more a lucky accident then knowledge). Now i have a older but much stronger Mig welder capable of 420 Amps (and thankfully just enough Power from the provider). welding on high Amps was scary as hell! From the days I had only fluxcore I was used to drag not push and catch me sometimes to drag the solidwire and it feels like it helps with penetration a bit. Could you please figure out if there are differences in penetration dragging vs pushing with Solid wire? As always great Video and many thanks!

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

I definitely will do a comparison with the push vs pull. Honestly I don’t think there will be much difference on thinner material, however thicker material there probably would be. Mig welding with a powerful welder makes all the difference in the world when it comes to welding thick steel. For most people limited to 200 amp wire welders, the best hope is .035 dual shield flux core wire for welding much over 1/4inch. Even then there will be limitations still. Once you cross over the 240+ amp wire welders many doors open up for capability, provided the power exists to run them lol.

Do you have to weave when you are welding with flux core wire?

@makingmistakeswithgreg

8 ай бұрын

Weaving with flux core has limitations. Generally speaking a single pass “stringer” weld is stronger (weld grain structure is better). When you weave you also lose penetration, which is undesirable. Weaving is best suited for fill and cap passes, not single pass welds that require strength.

BTW. Is dual shield flux core with added gas? Or is that a wire I could buy? If so...I would like to know what wire or brand to buy or look for on amazon or the local weld store.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

So the wire I used in the video is .035 self shielded (Gasless) flux core. T11 spec (so not -gs) and was either Hobart fab shield 21b or American forge brand. True dual shield (so gas shielding on top of the flux core wire) in .035 wire does exist (far more common in larger sizes) and has a few differences. So straight flux core is run DCEN polarity, dual shield is typically run DCEP. True dual shield wire is rarely available in smaller spools than the big 10-12lb spools, and are not generally sold at any local box store outside of a welding supplier. The flux composition is different as well. I just bought a spool of .035 dual shield to try, I have never personally ran .035 dual shield wire (only larger diameter). I will have a full video on it and how effective it is as a option for home hobbyists within a week or two at most. It may be a viable option for people to weld thicker steel at home with a “smaller” MiG welder. Straight flux core is a solid process but porosity seems to be a issue in my testing when welding thicker material. A 200 amp class MiG welder isn’t really designed to be burning .045 flux core wire so the .035 dual shield may be a solid option. Testing will surely find out how effective it is 😀

@thegarbagegladiators4735

9 ай бұрын

so where do you buy your dual shield? I just wanna see how thick of metal I can possibly go with flux core. And be reliable of course.@@makingmistakeswithgreg

If you were limited to a 120v 20amp outlet and needed to weld two sections of 3/16” wall square tubing together in a T joint, would you prefer stick or flux core? Or do you think that’s outside the scope of 120v machines

@makingmistakeswithgreg

8 ай бұрын

Great question and I can answer it confidently. If it’s a dedicated 20 amp circuit (or other things aren’t turned on that are on the circuit) and it has a 20amp breaker, it is possible to weld 3/16th no problem. I did testing with the titanium 125 flux core welder and on a 20 amp breaker it made super solid welds on 3/16 (1/4in was possible but 3/16 had cleaner welds ie no porosity). Flux core wire will weld it with less power from the wall depending on welder. Many stick welders on 120 will only output 90amps, with a bunch being 70-80. A 3/32 7018 runs around 90 amps so you may or may not be able to run that on a stick machine on 120. 3/32 size 6011, 6013, 7014 will all run on sub 90 amps no issue. With stick you’re burning off a 3/32 rod, at higher voltage than flux core, which uses small .035 wire. You have more room with flux core when it comes to welding thin material and generally less current draw. The trade off is flux core is far more prone to weld defects (porosity) than stick, especially on thicker material. It also has less penetration generally speaking along with more brittle welds. Both are capable of doing what you want though. Gas shielded short arc Mig will have a very hard time welding 3/16th steel on 120, definitely use stick or flux core. To see the limits of what flux core can do on a 20amp circuit check these two videos out. They are show 1/4in being welded on 120v. kzread.info/dash/bejne/pH58t8mbnMLfltI.htmlsi=iS-0EVkzzORUsfyV kzread.info/dash/bejne/gmyGz7COYNK_g8Y.htmlsi=Ydolm7FxdJ2-EDFP

@trucksimfan2687

8 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thank you so much for your thorough reply. I was watching part of those earlier. Really enjoy your videos

@makingmistakeswithgreg

8 ай бұрын

@@trucksimfan2687 no problem 😀. Luckily we live in a time where inverter welders can actually weld that thick on 120v. It wasn’t that long ago you would have needed a 30amp 240 as a minimum lol.

Hello Greg. What about flux core vs stick welding ? Differences and when to use SMAW and when to use flux core arc welding ? What are the pros and cons of both methods ?

@makingmistakeswithgreg

6 ай бұрын

I am planning on doing a “overview” to welding in general soon. I will definitely be covering that in there. For the mean time I will share this info: Flux core and stick have a lot of similarities but at the same time have a lot of things that are different. The both produce slag, they both have good penetration, they both can weld through sub par surfaces (rust) decent, and they are fairly economical to use. In actual use flux core wire tends to be by far easier to learn, easier to actually weld with (especially out of position) and far easier to weld thin material with. Where flux core falls apart is thicker material. When you use .035 wire the practical limit is 1/4inch thick material. I have done extensive testing and on material above 1/4 the welds tend to have issues with porosity. Switching to .045 wire tends to fix this, however most home hobby level machines can’t run .045 wire. In general self shielded flux core has far more porosity than stick, which is not good for weld strength. It’s very common on 3/16th to 1/4in steel to cut and etc a perfect looking flux core weld and find a small bit of porosity inside. Flux core also tends to produce porosity on spot welds and anytime you try to fill a hole on something. Stick welding produces a stronger weld than flux core, however flux core can produce better penetration (if you compare 7018 vs flux core). Flux core gasless also has far less availability to handle vibration/shock loads than 7018. Gasless flux core would be my pick on sheet metal to about 1/8th in thickness. It produces strong enough welds on those materials and it’s so much easier/faster. At 3/16th and thicker steel I would switch to stick and stick weld it. If a person has a big enough wire welder to weld with .045 (or bigger) wire, then thicker steel wouldn’t be a issue. .045 dual shield flux core wire will also perfectly weld 1/4in + material without issue too. Hopefully that info helped you out a bit. There is a lot of overlap in capabilities between the two.

@wujekradzi

6 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for the answer. I asked because I can buy accessories for fcaw welding: .035 feed roller and contact tips. maybe I'll buy it and let it sit on a shelf in the garage. It's always an additional option👍

Wire Brand? size wire? Does technique matter? Like weave,stich,E's.ect?

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

The flux core wire was .035, t11 (not -gs wire) and was either Hobart fab shield 21b or similar. Technique matters, straight in will achieve the most penetration. Weaving and circle e will produce a wider weld with less root penetration. I do a stitch motion from time to time and that works ok but if you “ride the puddle” you will loose penetration as well. I will have a video out in about a week that covers a comparison to all of common methods to put down wire with cut and etches. This should provide a ton of insight to how well certain methods work.

So I don’t know if you mentioned it RE: flux core was that GS single pass rated or NR211 multi pass… I know you mentioned that you believe its made in the same place (which I would agree) however does it penetrate as well as the NR211 … In other words am I spending extra $$ for nothing. Around here you can save up to $20 on a 10 lbs roll with the GS flux core wire and the Kicker here would also be if you took GS wire and ran multiple passes .. what happens seen as it is Not rated for that.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

So a bit of info regarding the -gs. Flux core wire has issues with running multiple passes, -gs specifically state single pass only, mp or just t11 wire can be run multiple pass (typically only up to 3 passes total). The issue with multiple passes seems to surround the fact that the flux core wire mixed with the base metal (like what happens in a weld) has acceptable properties in a single pass. When you weld a weld on top of a weld, that second weld is alloying with not the base metal but more of the weld metal. This can produce a weld with undesirable properties (like hardness/brittleness). I can tell you I have done some actual break tests (which videos will start coming out soon) on single pass with -mp wire with interesting results. The break tests on flux core wire result in snapping of the weld more so than slow bending of it like with MiG/stick which to me suggests a brittle weld. Based on my simple testing I would definitely not take my chances running a -gs wire multi pass on anything that mattered. Also keep in mind-gs wire has very little specification testing compared to -mp or t-11 multi pass wire. One of my favorite weld consumable supplier (Washington alloy) has spec sheets for both -gs and t-11 wire, and there are alloy level differences between the wires and more testing requirements with the -mp. As fas as what would happen with a -gs, I believe a multi pass weld could be more brittle and possibly fail easier than a single pass. I will have to test this to see what happens.

@ajkiviaho7212

9 ай бұрын

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks for taking the time to explain just learned something new (again) from this channel. Keep up the teaching … have you ever though of becoming a welding instructor?

@makingmistakeswithgreg

9 ай бұрын

@@ajkiviaho7212 the thought has crossed my mind. I have looked into the schooling requirement to work for the local colleges, and I am capable of getting the credentials needed (I already have most of them). The truth is a rather enjoy just doing the teaching thing on KZread thus far and I am unsure if I will find it more fulfilling to teach in actual classroom. I think I will ultimately purchase a old building of some sort and open a collective to teach skills. In a rather ironic twist of fate I actually owned a 10k square foot school I sold earlier this year, but the city wouldn’t allow me to do anything with it (zoning issues). I am still on the lookout for something that will more “suit my needs”. 😀

I'm an 25 year experienced in all trades . I can fix basically whatever. I'm self tought I've never been to any colleges and iv been doing and started what I was just born with at about 8 years old. Now this is the only time I've ever ran into a problem that is giving me question marks and making me very worried about welding . I have an f150 that I'm building all most finished but my 155 argon and co2 mix Lincoln mig welder. I need to weld the 3/16inch plate steel notch to the frame of 2012 f150 short box . I want to use a bigger mig. I'm wondering if flex core would be a good idea for structured tough and I will have no worries in my mind after it's done . Cause my 155 220v Lincoln will weld fluc core but I'm not satisfied. But I can't find a bigger mig with gas . So what do I do . Fluc core

@makingmistakeswithgreg

3 ай бұрын

I thought I responded to this, maybe I did in another post. So flux core is capable of welding 3-16th thick material with a 120-140a machine. There are some limitations however. Flux core has a bad tendency to produce hidden porosity inside of welds with zero indication of anything on the surface. Gas shielded mig rarely has such issues. If I had a choice I would use gas shielded mig. If flux core is to be used I would setup a test weld plate (same thickness and same position) and make a weld. With a cut/etch or break test, if the weld looks good you should be ok. If it has porosity you must get it dialed out before you weld the frame. It also will pay to use quality flux core wire like Hobart fabshield 21b. Don’t use cheap -gs wire, it’s not suitable for things requiring strength.

@MeMe-wp4to

3 ай бұрын

Thanks . Ya it's junk . It's needs to be welded with shealding gas.

Please do some vids on different brands of wire. Amazon sells 2 E71T-11 wire from Blue Demon & PGN. They both get great reviews & cost half the price of the Lincoln wire. Somebody needs to let us know if it is any good. Your elected.

@makingmistakeswithgreg

8 ай бұрын

If it’s labeled t-11 wire it should meet that spec and perform good. The -gs wire is what you generally want to avoid. Basically the specs it has to meet are very limited. I will be testing a bunch of flux core wires on 1/4 and bend testing them in multiple ways (including multi passing -gs wire) to see what happens. I have a feeling there will be a huge difference between -gs and t-11