grumpyvette Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 (edited) Practice, practice, practice... I have 2 welders here in my garage, lincoln 110v 140, and lincoln 220v 180. I have successfully welded as thin as 22ga mild steel with .035 fluxcore, it does take a bit more experience than welding with gas, but I am happy welding with fluxcore for everything. I use .030 now (much easier than the .035 I must admit), I can run nice clean beads on 18ga no problem, and I don't change wire when welding anything between sheet up to 1/4" plate. For slag, I use a wire wheel on my 4" angle grinder, works excellent. I really wish you were local so I could let you play with a thinner wire , gas shield MIG and see the difference, its not that flux core is bad, its just that true mig is SOOOO MUCH BETTER and BTW MIG is not my favorite welder, I grab the ARC or TIG or GAS welders far more often Edited October 19, 2009 by grumpyvette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HLS30-08077 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 The only thing I've used on the 260Z build has been a .032?? Flux-core welder (Harbor Freight Tools Special) and it kinda sucks but at the same time, it's not THAT bad. I've learned to keep the nozzle as close to the weld (about 1/4" away) as possible. On 22 to 18 guage, I use the LOW setting and turn the speed up to 6 or 7 (On a nine scale dial) And when I welded the diff cross member peices together (pictures below) I used the HI setting and kept the speed at about 7. It welds 12 to 16 gauge beautifully, in my opinion. Especially on a tight budget. Would love to be able to afford a gas though, but I'll stick with the FC for now, it works. Dave. As you can see, the welds aren't that bad and after a little grinding and POR15, they turn out nice. ALL this in prep for the R/T mount that I'm hoping to see soon. (Hint Hint RoostMonkey) I cut out the center to make room for the dual 2" exhaust that will be added later, using the 4"x9"x22" muffler shown, which will sit hight in the tunnel due to the crossmember alteration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 http://www.millerwelds.com/swf/flv/flashvid.html?swf=welding_al_foil.swf&w=330&h=250&v=8 I thought you might get a grin out of this video, welding aluminum foil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z2go Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 No joke. That's crazy. I guess that means the possibilities are endless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeleriousZ Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Man that guy is like the Bob Ross of welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggz00 Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Hey guys, First post here Just wanted to mention another welding tidbit in regards to polarity settings. When you run a FCAW (flux core) setup, you will run on what is called DC straight polarity (a.k.a. DC negative). When running a GMAW (MIG/Metal Inert Gas) setup, you will run DC reverse polarity (a.k.a. DC positive). An easy way to think of the two is this: DC(-) Straight = more heat in the base metal (the metal melts faster) DC(+) Reverse = more heat in the wire (the wire melts faster) That should give a good indication as to what the best sheet metal setup is. You can use FCAW, but you will melt your sheet metal fast, which isn't really what you want. Heat equals distortion, which is why professionals use MIG. Less heat on the sheet metal equals less distortion. Bottom line with sheet metal is go slow and keep heat to a minimum. Continuous welds longer than 1/2" is a no-no without some serious bracing for distortion control. All you guys welding metal 1/8" and thicker, like frame rails, sub frames, or engine mounts, by all means use flux core. Just try your best to watch your molten puddle and keep it clean. Trapped slag, and porosity (tiny holes in your weld caused mostly by dirty base metal, trying to weld over paint, etc.) means a weak joint. Hope everyone found my first post useful! -Avi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z2go Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 Hey guys, First post here Just wanted to mention another welding tidbit in regards to polarity settings. When you run a FCAW (flux core) setup, you will run on what is called DC straight polarity (a.k.a. DC negative). When running a GMAW (MIG/Metal Inert Gas) setup, you will run DC reverse polarity (a.k.a. DC positive). An easy way to think of the two is this: DC(-) Straight = more heat in the base metal (the metal melts faster) DC(+) Reverse = more heat in the wire (the wire melts faster) That should give a good indication as to what the best sheet metal setup is. You can use FCAW, but you will melt your sheet metal fast, which isn't really what you want. Heat equals distortion, which is why professionals use MIG. Less heat on the sheet metal equals less distortion. Bottom line with sheet metal is go slow and keep heat to a minimum. Continuous welds longer than 1/2" is a no-no without some serious bracing for distortion control. All you guys welding metal 1/8" and thicker, like frame rails, sub frames, or engine mounts, by all means use flux core. Just try your best to watch your molten puddle and keep it clean. Trapped slag, and porosity (tiny holes in your weld caused mostly by dirty base metal, trying to weld over paint, etc.) means a weak joint. Hope everyone found my first post useful! -Avi Thank you for that! That is a good way to describe the way the current works in each situation. It helps get a mental picture of what application is needed for the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 I really wish you were local so I could let you play with a thinner wire , gas shield MIG and see the difference, its not that flux core is bad, its just that true mig is SOOOO MUCH BETTER and BTW MIG is not my favorite welder, I grab the ARC or TIG or GAS welders far more often Its not that I think fluxcore is superior... I'm just letting the OP know that welding sheet with it is NOT fruitless. Its doable, and the results are acceptable. When I learned to weld sheet metal, I had to use an ARC welder, and OXY-ACET. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenwafer Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 I'm in the same boat. Got a cheap Harbor Freight 220v welder with flux core and I'm blowing holes in most of the stuff I try to weld with my 0.030 wire. I'm debating getting gas and welding MIG- so it makes that big of a difference? I'm also looking at the Harbor Freight TIG welder- is this a good buy or should I just save my money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterzed Posted October 30, 2009 Share Posted October 30, 2009 I'm in the same boat. Got a cheap Harbor Freight 220v welder with flux core and I'm blowing holes in most of the stuff I try to weld with my 0.030 wire. I'm debating getting gas and welding MIG- so it makes that big of a difference? I'm also looking at the Harbor Freight TIG welder- is this a good buy or should I just save my money? Using gas gives you a cleaner weld. You still need to set it up correctly and know how to use it so you don't blow holes in stuff. Simply changing to gas or TIG won't stop you blowing holes in the metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z2go Posted November 1, 2009 Author Share Posted November 1, 2009 Just as an update, I went ahead and got hooked up with some C25 and did some test welds, MAN is that nice! It doesn't blow holes through the metal, doesn't splatter everywhere, and leaves a nice, clean, easily controlled bead. Also went down to .023, and that helped a lot. Looks like this project will be a success! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Just as an update, I went ahead and got hooked up with some C25 and did some test welds, MAN is that nice! It doesn't blow holes through the metal, doesn't splatter everywhere, and leaves a nice, clean, easily controlled bead. Also went down to .023, and that helped a lot. Looks like this project will be a success! CONGRATS!! , Like I told you the smaller wire, that limits heat and shield gas, that cools and removes oxygen would be an improvement, RUNNING the welder like a MIG vs use of flux core is usually a big improvement, most guys are reluctant to get involved due to the increased cost until they try it that way and see for themselves the difference in the quality of the weld results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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