Perhaps, a Dumb Question

[dstig1]

2 very different processes. The thing to note about wirefeed is that the wire is constantly being fed into the puddle, so you are getting more material fed in constantly keeping the current up. Also MIG is constant voltage vs Constant current for Stick and TIG which behaves differently. They both have their place. The reason MIG is so popular in industry is that the feed is constant, unlike stick where you have to stop every 5 min to load a new electrode. So you can keep on running. Plus no flux to stop and chip off for regular MIG. There are different size wires you can feed also, and the bigger the wire the more current it can handle for thicker material. In big production environments, you can feed in drums of wire that will last a long time before you need to tend to it.

But a lot of MIG operations use inert gas to shield the weld, which does not work so well outdoors or where there is a breeze. In those situations stick works much better. ...But then again, there are versions of wire that have flux in them and can be used like stick. Then you get the benefit of both - use in breezy locations like stick and the non-stop feed of wire. Stick does not need much in the way of fancy equipment, so it is very portable and easy to use in the field.

When I am using thicker steel like 5/16" or 3/8" I turn up the wirefeed to around ~250+ amps on 0.045 wire and it melts in great. You will hear people say that it is easy to make a pretty-looking MIG weld that has no penetration into the base metal, which is very true. You need to make sure you are up in the current range needed for the thickness you are welding on. Using 0.023 wire on 1/4" steel isn't going to work so well as it does not have the current carry capacity needed at that thickness.

And an 1/8" stick rod is 1/8" metal with flux outside that, not as you described it.

 

[rangerfredbob]

sort of, in stick welding the rod size is the size of the steel on the inside, the flux on the outside dictates the other properties. For wire welding the amperage is transferred in the arc like in stick welding but the feed rate of the wire is varied and changes the amount of filler material is added per time and less picky on stickout of the wire than on stick welding where the gap is more important. There are limitations on both but for general use between 1/8" and 1/4" material both processes are just fine and choice is more up to the operator... for ease of use flux core welding is a good go to for general use but so is stick welding with 6011 3/32" rod (or 1/8", either way).

Watch some videos on youtube I particurairly like the weld.com videos as they explain things well then get yourself a welder and some scrap metal and try some things, you can be smart and educated but the best teacher is practice practice practice...

 

[WranglerX]

With stick welding the rod size if the inner "stee' diameter, NOT the outer diameter of flux.... And ARC rods come on many different sizes for I believe 1/16 up to hughe....

And With MIG its more how you focus your heat/bead to get proper penetration, and no wire size though with bigger work and bigger machine you can use bigger wire..... I only have a 140 AMP MIG and do almost all my welds with .030 wire, and I really don't have a problem with welds breaking, my problem I something I don't use materials large enough for item I am making so its more structure failure than weld failure....