I have a few questions about flux-cored welding. I have not done much flux-cored welding with the exception of just playing around.I recently purchased a suit case feeder to use with my engine drive. I am looking to get some wire to run and practice with. I was just wondering what wire people recommended for general work, mild steel, 1/2" and under, all position. I was looking in the Lincoln Electric catalog and thought that the Innershield NR-211-MP .045 and the Innershield NR-203MP sounded like a good choice, but I was not sure and figured I would ask people who have used flux-cored more. I was reading other posts about flux-cored wires and alot of people were talking about the Innershield NR-212. I was a little confused when I looked it up in the catalog. It is in the Low Alloy section but in its description it says "Accommodates a wide range of mild steels." Why is this wire not in the Mild steel, All position section. This sounds like a great wire for repair/ general work. I did not know which wire would be the best bang for the buck.
I also had a question about the Pipeliner flux-cored wires. I know nothing about pipelining except for what I have learned on here. When you go out to do a job can you use flux-cored wire or stick? Who makes this decision, the welder?
Any and all information is appreciated. I am just trying to learn more. Thank you for your time and info.
As far as the Pipelining goes, those wire are generally for the automatic welders. The project engineers would make the decision on what process/procedure to use, not the welder.
NR-211 & NR-212 are both good wire for general fabrication (non-code work). 212 Can be used on mild steel it just contains higher alloys making it limited to 3/4'' thickness (I think there might be a pass/layer limit also?). As far as the 203 I've never used it but I have often wondered about it, Lincoln says it is suppose to fill gaps pretty easy with no backing.
In my opinion .045 would work for the lighter stuff, but to really see the benefit in FCAW-s jump up to 1/16 or .068 if your base metal can handle it.
My two all time favorite wires and NR 211 and NR 232. For sheet metal up to 3/16" or maybe 1/4" I like NR 232. For over 1/4" I prefer NR 232.
211 is nice in that it can be run down hill... which is good because it has a very light slag which limits is suitablility for uphill progression when carrying much metal. 211 also runs OK on CC output (in a pinch) whereas 232 definitely has a strong preference for CV.
232 is great when you want to put down a lot of metal in hurry. It is not prone to undercut, can be welded in very flat, and the slag comes off easily, frequently self-peeling. It starts to show signs of moisture pick up pretty quickly though. 211 is does run much differently when fresh v. been on the machine a while.
However a lot of guys seem to have problems learning 232, exspecially if they have a lot of 7018 experience. 232 has a relatively narrow operating window for any given set of conditions and requires a firm grasp on basic variables like stick out, arc length, wire speed, electrode angle, base metal temp, joint geometry, etc.
211 is way more forgiving but slower. It also has a Lincoln specified thickness limitation of something like 1/2 or 3/4 inch.
Tested on 1/16" NR 211 1" unlimited once and QC guy told us to use a 30 degree "pull angle" on 3G uphill!!
It really did work, and laid down some serious pounds per hour. Weave width and heat input were not issues.
Years ago, (early 1980s) I was on a job where we ran NR-203 Nickel, All I remember is stick out length was critical. And it was somewhat slow.
I think of NR-211, and NR-212 as the 6010 of Innershield. You can run it over some rust, and mill scale with no ill effects.
Forum
