Welding Wire Quality

[RonMar]

I agree that a lot of problems can be attributed to the operator. But I believe the quality of the wire will have an effect also. We may be mixing experiences here in this thread also. For my experiences, I am talking about innershield wire only as I believe the person who started this thread was also. My solid wire/gas shield experience is 20 years ago and I never supplied or compared wire, I just ran beads.

On the last ship I was on(2 years ago), the DC's were about to get rid of an almost new miller portable MIG welder. The shop Chief said it didn't perform all that well and that surprised me. I asked to take a look at it and he was right, I ran a few beads with it and it was pretty nasty with an unusual looking flux residue and not at all what I was used to on my own equipment. The wire in it had a Miller label on it and probably came with the machine. I could find nothing wrong with the machine itself or it's power source.

I happened to have a new spool of lincoln wire out in my truck and we loaded that into the machine. It was an immediate night and day difference in performance.

We went from a porus unstable bead with excessive spatter to a smooth flowing bead with no changes in the machine settings. I don't think it is really an issue with the metal alloy of the wire, but more an issue with the process used to install the flux core and the quality of the flux used. it may also be an issue of theage of the wire or the way the wire was stored before purchased which may have an effect on the innershield.

Instead of the metal flowing into the bead, it was explosively being ejected from the weld puddle leaving a real nasty porus weld. I believe the flux was causing it. I have used other wire at different times on other peoples machines with mostly good but varying results. The results I have had with Lincoln innershield wire have been consistently good. They say that it is produced in an ISO certified facility, so perhaps that has something to do with it. Perhaps I have just been lucky and gotten fresh/new spools. but so far so good.

 

[Dargo]

I've honestly never used any flux wire with any of my MIGs. I don't have a clue as to how they would vary between brands. Personally, I like not having to deal with slag.

 

[RonMar]

Unlike stick welding, The slag from innershield MIG is very thin and easy to remove. I usually use a wire wheel on a die grinder to clean up my welds. It just takes a single pass and you are down to bare weld metal in a few seconds. For places I can't get the die grinder into, I use a tooth brush sized wire brush.

 

[kenmac]

I'am with dargo . I have used flux core wire in the past but, I prefer to use the gas. I just checked on the type wire that I bought from the welding supply & it is lincoln brand, same as my machine.The next time I'am in H.F. I will buy a roll of their brand & try it.I just have always bought from my welding supplier without any thought of the brand he was selling me.

 

[dfkrug]

Based on my usage, I could see no difference in the wire characteristics, the quality of the weld and bead, or the mechanical feeding of the welders, between the two wires.

This is my experience, too. I now buy the HF 10lb rolls of .035 ER70S
and they have worked identically to the Lincoln wire I used to buy....

 

[ohiooutdoorsman]

Can`t help but comment here, I happen to work for Lincoln Electric in their consumable division, I have been making welding wire for about 20 years now, I have made millions of pounds of it and put my code on it, mig, flux, I have made just about all of it with the exception of stick. One of the reasons our product is top quality is we use quality materials, state of the art machinery, quality checks throughout the processing from start to finish and also we are payed piecework for everything we make,if we make a poor quality product we don`t get payed for it, if it comes back from the field it is traced back to the individual that made it and we are given points that go againest the bonus we get at the end of the year, bottom line is if we make garbage it costs us money as an individual! if you have a problem with Lincoln wire return it and Lincoln with replace it.

 

[yomax4]

Like the guy above, I do not make wire but I have sold Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds of all types of welding wire you can imagine. One of the easiest to duplicate is ER70S6. Most average welders can not tell the difference between mid grade and premium grade because of the variables that are involved. From what I read, Most people on here have Medium grade type of welders which is all good. Top Shelf Equipment asks for Top Shelf Wires like Lincoln L-56. Sure you can buy HF wire and it is fine but try to run it on a Robot or in Pulse or Twin Pulse Mode. If you dont use Pulse thats ok but there is a huge difference in wire out there. Your Cored Wires have a Shelf Life. If they lay around in the humidity they will perform like the post above. If you have a $300 welder buy cheap wire. If you have a $8000.00 welder you " Will " buy better wire. Anywhere in between, Gravitate to the best wire you can afford. It's all about what works for you. People don't use expensive wire because they don't know about the cheap stuff. They use it because of what it is..It's all fun, Weld Away!!!