Niekie,
Thanks! I found the other thread and you've now got my interest up on trying the FCAW-G wires. I went over to the ESAB site and looked at what they had available and found several (70 Ultra, 7000, 7100 Ultra) that looked like they would fit the bill for me. Most of my work with the MIG will be light duty repair and home project stuff on sometimes pretty rusty material (I'll use the stick for the big stuff as my MIG is only 125 A) so I'm wondering what your recommendation would be for that kind of application? I'm mostly concerned with getting easily cleaned welds and getting rid of all the smoke so I can see the weld better. One other question ... I spent some time trying to find an online retail source for the ESAB wires with no luck so far ... do you know of any?
I want to thank you, and others on this site, for helping out us amatures. It saves us a WHOLE LOT of effort and aggrivation trying to get our act together.
Thanks,
Bob
ok, i have a question now...when I tested on FCAW-G, it was .045 wire and it ran at not much less than 130 A. it ran the best in the 160-230 amp range. and I know that 1/4" steel was just about the thinnest stuff I could weld w/o it getting too hot. anyway, my question is, can you use .035 wire for FCAW-G on 1/8" steel? he only has a 125 A welder. most of the fence posts i've seen were 1/8" steel. Just asking, 'cause I haven't done much research on a FCAW-G application for low amperage projects.
and I agree...FCAW-G is great! even better than stick in some situations!
I must say, that I did not realise you were looking at welding at low currents on thin material. Under these circumstances, FCAW of any description is not ideal. You may however try the following:
ESAB Dual Shield II 70 Ultra; 0.035"; 75%Ar 25%CO2; 90-180A; 16-23V.
As a general rule, FCAW gives a deeply penetrating arc. As such it is not ideal for thin materials. Under those circumstances, use GMAW(Dip transfer) or possibly SMAW(stick) instead.
In general, the low amperage GMAW machines are actually made for welding thin materials in the dip transfer mode. They are not really made for FCAW wires, which generally require currents of between 130 - 400A.
Hope this helps
Regards
Niekie
Hmmm? I've seen FCAW wires on the market rated done to 40 Amps that claim to weld down to 18 to 22 gauge. The ESAB Coreshield 11 & 15 are rated from 40 to 160 A in .030 dia. and 80 to 200A in .035 dia. I realize that GMAW is the prefered method for the very thin stuff but most of my work is on 1/16 to 1/4 inch material and often not too clean. I thought FCAW would be a better process for that type of work but I'm on a steep learning curve here and apparently didn't understand some of the material I read correctly. What is the weakness of FCAW compaired to GMAW for this type of application?
PS. I forgot to mention that all my welding is done outside and I was concerned about the wind with GMAW.
Thanks,
Bob
the weakness w/ FCAW on thin materials is, you can weld down to 1/8" thick steel...any thinner and it requires a bit of skill to read the puddle. FCAW on a small machine like your's is great for portability and fast welding. and it's good for when you're by yourself...you can hold the parts together and tack weld them easily w/ a FCAW (or a GMAW for that matter). i have a small machine like your's...a Hobart Handler 135...i've used it for FCAW and GMAW, and i think it performs better w/ FCAW in the 1/8" - 1/4" steel range than it does using GMAW. that's because FCAW penetrates more than GMAW and the bead spreads out like butter. if I had a machine w/ more amperage capability, I would use GMAW for a lot of things, but then again, a larger machine wouldn't be as portable.
and you're right...since you're outside, wind can be a factor. also, you don't have a gas cylinder to be messing with.
just find some nice clean 1/4" plates and run some beads...play around w/ the variables. wire feed machines are great once you get used to them!
You are right, that the Coreshield 11 and 15 can be used with these low amperages. They are of course self shielded wires and not gas assisted. I personally have never seen these wires in action, so I can not comment on their capabilities.
They are typically used for dirty material. According to the catalogue, coreshield 11 can be used up to 9.5mm thick deposits while the coreshield 15 is purely a single pass wire. This is important because if you try to weld too many passes with it, you will end up with a brittle weld deposit.
If wind is a big issue, then your self shielded wires would be your first choice. Obviously with too much wind, nothing will work properly.
Regards
Niekie
Iowabob,
Undercut and irregular bead profiles will also contribute to making the slag adhere. As far as the rust issues go, have you thought about removing the rust before you weld?
Hope this helps.
Dale Simonds