Harbor Freight

[grsthegreat]

I bought 5# of rod from my local welding and gas supply shop (7018) was not impressed. I have to chunk off some shielding to continue a weld everytime i stop. They lay down nice bead, but hard to restrike. Went to homedepot and got 5 pounds of their 7018 Lincoln brand rod. No issue restriking theirs. Still lays a nice bead. I think im going to toss the other stuff. And i keep all my 7018 in a rod oven. I usually only use Lincoln rods. Never tries HF, but im scared off by most of their junk.

ive never used an inverter welder. I have a mig welder and a miller thunderbolt xl stick welder. I learned many years ago on an old Lincoln tombstone unit, and the miller is so much easier to use. Easy to fine tune the welds. Im thinking of getting a newer mig unit, but honestly just dont do much welding anymore that requires anything more than i have. last year i fabbed up 20 wrought iron fences for a friend. Man, the mig got a work out on that one.
and then he wanted some artwork welded to the tops. So i had to make 20 panels 12” x 8’ to attach to tops.



my problem, while i enjoy doing these jobs, i get bored real fast. Kind of becomes a production line.

 

[GeneV]

Yeh, I only ever stick welded with my inverter Amico welder, and mostly with them harbor fright rods. So now I know, I'm actually an awesome welder, all my problems are just the result of using the wrong equipment!

 

[5030]

This wire?

I've settled on INE's flux core wire as best-available. I wonder if HF's flux core also comes from INE?

YEP. I used to order 4 spools at a time direct until I found put HF was selling it. Don't use FC wires only solid so I cannot answer that question. Kind of wish I could get it in 50 pound spools but I cannot.

One thing I do it, I take an unsmoked filter cigarette filter and cut it off and put it on the wire in front of the pinch rolls. Keeps the wire clean. You can buy them pre made but why bother.

 

[5030]

Lincoln makes the best SMAW rod in my opinion, always has.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

I use the weld-aid red and black pads and lube on my machines, keeps the liner clean. My favorite FCAW wire is .030 Forney. Forney flux core wire seems to run hot and fast.

 

[California]

I use the weld-aid red and black pads and lube on my machines, keeps the liner clean.

Me too. But dry, to clean the wire as it comes off the spool.

My favorite FCAW wire is .030 Forney. Forney flux core wire seems to run hot and fast.

I found Forney FC ok. It does seem hot.

And PNG's E71-T11 is the cheapest (Amazon, Ebay) FC wire I've found that works well. It's level-wound on the spool so it feeds flawlessly - in contrast to several varieties of generic cheap FC wire that came with the welder I bought used. It welds great.

Any T-11 wire is going to be similar to Lincoln's FC, a standard in the industry, since T-11 is an explicit standard.

Since -GS means 'whatever the manufacturer wanted to spec' I steer away from -GS except for INE's made in Italy INETUB BA71TGS, in my opinion the best FC wire I've found. Less spatter and smoke, feeds perfectly, it simply makes me a better welder.

Yesterday I put back in the remaining half of a roll of Blue Demon FC wire I had yanked out of the welder in frustration during a project, a while back. It had not fed smoothly enough starting from new, to make a consistent bead. After discarding many feet of wire I got down to mostly feeding ok, but not flawless like INE or PNG wire. I had bought that Blue Demon for my first MIG welder (HF MIG-180 bought used) and I remember now the bad feeding was a PIA that made learning that welder harder than it should have been. Not much smoke but a lot more spatter than anything else I've used. Not recommended.

Has anyone tried a direct A/B comparison of INE's FC wire vs HF's Vulcan FC? I see good reviews on HF and I've read that some think HF's is really INE. If HF's Vulcan is the same thing, good for HF!

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Matter of fact my local welding store has been out of Lube-Matic welding pads for a few weeks. I emailed CRC who is the company producing the red and black cleaner and lube pads. They said they are out of material and have no idea when they will be able to start producing them again due to supply chain problems.

 

[5030]

I use the weld-aid red and black pads and lube on my machines, keeps the liner clean. My favorite FCAW wire is .030 Forney. Forney flux core wire seems to run hot and fast.

Cut off cigarette filters are FREE and do the same thing.

 

[arkydog]

Cut off cigarette filters are FREE and do the same thing.

used to do that at home and shop. what i save on cigarettes now since quitting i can buy a new welder