By -
Date 08-27-2005 19:48
Hi Bob,
Right off hand, I can't think of the brand name of the non-shielded FCW. I can find out Monday, though. I'm the Welding Engineer/Technical Service Manager for Avesta Welding Products and all we make is Stainless Steel welding consumables, so we also make a very good SS FCW. Actually, Avesta made the very first stainless steel welding electrodes over in Avesta, Sweden back in the late 1890's. A good FCW, using a 75Ar/25CO2 mixture should produce a weld with no splatter. Straight CO2 will give a less than attractive weld bead compared to the Ar/Co2 mixture with a greater chance of splatter. When using a gas mixture to weld FCW, the mixture should be 75-80%Ar, with the remainder CO2.
Our 25# spools of .045" 308L FCW is also around $170-$175/lb., but the .035" diameter is about 25% higher due to the difficulty to mix the flux in the smaller diameter wire with the consistency to make good coverage.
Chuck