Difference in welding wire ?

[Smokeydog]

Welded a piranha toothbar onto well worn bucket cutting edge. Used Miller 211 mig, set at max auto set amp, 0.035” solid wire. Original cutting edge 5/8”, new 1/2”. Beveled from wear so fit up not ideal. Took me a little time to try to improve technique. 60” weld. Ran out of wire 6” from end. Usually get wire from my lws, this time I ordered it from weldcity. Without changing anything else the new wire welded so much better. Wetted the legs better and final appearance better. Never have notice much difference in wire before. Had to stop and rest let the duty cycle of welder and myself catch up a few times. Had some end welds and back of blade welds to do after and seemed less weld splatter. Both ER70S-6 wire. LWS wire was Kisswell, no brand on weld city wire. Two 11# spools delivered was $34.95. After hours of use/abuse from trees and rocks welds are good. Big improvement in bucket performance.

 

[zzvyb6]

My 211 on .035 wire does a really nice job on long stretches, so I'm surprised that you found a difference. I always use the 240V adapter and made up a 50' extension cord to avoid the need to run it on 120V. I did get some beads once that looked similar when I forgot to turn on the gas. I'm still on the full sized spool that I bought from TSC 10 years ago. Transferred over from my 120V Lincoln 100 (with gas kit).

 

[JNA]

sometimes the wire will get a little rusty

 

[Smokeydog]

I have used over a dozen 11# spools of 0.035 wire. Always on 240v. Same gas flow. One bottle of gas last 2-2.5 rolls. Run kleen wiper pads and change them every two rolls. Reused the wipers this time.
There can be other variables beside wire, like taking a break, oxidation or skills. I like to weld and fabricate but I don’t consider myself a welder. Know a few welders and I’m not in their league.

 

[JNA]

Can you show me how you have your wipes set up?

 

[Smokeydog]

Some welders swear by them, some swear at them. I think lot depends on shop environment and equipment use. Cheap and make me feel better. After two 11# spools they are very dirty.

 

[WranglerX]

Yes there is difference in welding wire per manufacture... Have tried several brands and settled on Praxair Prostar ER70-S6 for my needs, advantage is its available where I buy my gas.... Others will have different preferred choice varying on their situations...

For wire cleaner I folded over a piece of Scotchbright pad over wire and hold it in place with binder clip...

(image ripped off GOOGLE images)...

Dale

 

[JNA]

View attachment 591168
Some welders swear by them, some swear at them. I think lot depends on shop environment and equipment use. Cheap and make me feel better. After two 11# spools they are very dirty.

now I know. I use pad w/clip. I have bad shop enviroment

 

[yomax4]

The AWS Classification for ER70S-6 wire is pretty broad and outdated to boot. Most every brand will run different from the last. Some S6 wire will not perform on Pulse and some will only perform on puse so it's all over the map. If I remember correctly ( as an example ) AWS Inches per minute IMP for 035 is from about 160 - 360. Depending in thicknedd, Gun angle and skill level. Pretty broad. Auto Set usually needs a little tweeking as well. At least you found your brand to burn !!

 

[yomax4]

The AWS Classification for ER70S-6 wire is pretty broad and outdated to boot. Most every brand will run different from the last. Some S6 wire will not perform on Pulse and some will only perform on puse so it's all over the map. If I remember correctly ( as an example ) AWS Inches per minute IMP for 035 is from about 160 - 360. Depending in thickness, gun angle and skill level. Pretty broad. Auto Set usually needs a little tweeking as well. At least you found your brand to burn !! Lube matic does what it's supposed to do although you will likely go through a liner or 2 more than you would without. The ones with the lube are controversial but like stated. Some love them !!