Mig welding materials

[Spln_Hrd]

I would like some information on wire selections for shielded mig welding wire.

I am looking for wire for mild steel and stainless personally, but if we could get a whole list compiled that would be awesome.

Also I was looking for information on shielding gases. I know co2 is popular because it is cheap. And you need an inert gas for aluminum welding with argon being the most popular. But I need to pick out what kind of gas I want to use with my new mig welder. I will mostly be welding mild and stainless steel. I am thinking of using the argon with 3-5% co2 mix, but I would like opinions.

 

[bpestilence]

75%Ar/25%CO2 is the best gas for MIG welding steel. Tri-Mix is also available and burns hotter but not worth the extra coin IMHO.

As for wire, that's easy. You need stainless wire for welding stainless and mild wire for mild steel. I use ER308H for stainless and ER70S-6 for mild, both in 0.035" wires.

For aluminum (and TIG) you need 100% Argon. But good luck welding aluminum with a MIG welder. You need a dedicated setup with a different type of feeder gun.

 

[SpeedAddict62]

You can also run 100% CO2 on steel. It is cheaper, gives deeper penetration, but with more spatter and a "taller" bead. 75/25 gives less penetration, less spatter, and a flatter bead. Those are your two main choices.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

You can also run 100% CO2 on steel. It is cheaper, gives deeper penetration, but with more spatter and a "taller" bead. 75/25 gives less penetration, less spatter, and a flatter bead. Those are your two main choices.

the 75/25 works with both mild steel and stainless steel?

 

[bpestilence]

Yes.

My welding setup is simple. I have a 125 SCF tank of Argon hooked to my TA185TSW, and a 20 SCF tank of 75/25 hooked to my Clarke MIG.

These days, though, I use the TIG about 99% of the time. MIG only for those hard to reach places or when I need to fill in bad fab. But since getting the vertical bandsaw I have a lot less filling to do.

 

[turboglenn]

although 75/25 (C25 is it's name) will work on stainless, it will NOT give you a quality stainless weld. When MIG'ing stainless you're supposed to use "tri-mix" gas, it's helium, argon and Co2 combined. The helium that's added is to aid in penetration of the material as t helps raise the "heat" for lack of a better term, this allows it to penetrate a little deeper (just like using pure Co2 on mild steel) . I'm sure there's probably even more reasons than these, but MIG is best suited for mild steel work and is good for LIGHT Stainlessand aluminum work in a manufacturing setting. Other wise there's TIG and ARC/Stick. You'd be surprised that most of todays welding is still done with good ol fashion stick welders, at least in structural work which has the highest use of consuamble (welding rods, wire etc...) per hour than all other uses for welding. (weird little fact i read somewhere while studying TIG)

Now in TIG welding, because of the way you can control the arc and the way the arc is used and filler applied,. you end up using pure argon on most everything. When you start getting into thicker aluminum on TIG you then start adding helium to your mix to increase your heat because aluminum disperses heat so fast it takes a ot more current(or heat) to get a good solid weld on larger pieces of stock, pre-heating is also common on any AL aboive .250 thick (1/4 inch)

it would be too easy to make this post a book so i'll cut it short with that...there's a lot more reasons for everything explained above i'm sure, but the information i gave is accurate

 

[Spln_Hrd]

I am wanting to be able to mig up some stainless exhaust stuff. What kind of shielding gas do I want so I can do stainless exhaust with my mig?

I would like a gas that I can use for light duty ss and some heavier mild.

 

[bpestilence]

I had great sucess with C25 on both mild and stainless.

 

[awdrst]

Tri mix is what is supposed to be used on stainless with mig. It will weld with c25 but it's not the proper gas for that application.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

My book, instructor, and welding outfit are recomending the 95/5 mix. My instructor says that the tri mix is the best but the 95/5 will work fine.

The place I'm buying my gas lists the 95/5 under "stain mix".

 

[99gst_racer]

I had great sucess with C25 on both mild and stainless.

x2.



What MIG wire is best for welding stainless pipe to mild pipe?

 

[turboglenn]

x2.



What MIG wire is best for welding stainless pipe to mild pipe?

get some wire with the stainless designation of "309" in the name. IN TIG rod it would be listed as "ER309L" You will want a spool of MIG's equivelant wire. It probably won't have the "ER" in front of it but should have the "309" (the alloy) and the "L" (for low silicone IIRC)

For the setup recomending the 95/5 mix...is that a puled MIG like a miller 350p? For some reason the pulsed MIG's seem to want/recommend the different mix.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

get some wire with the stainless designation of "309" in the name. IN TIG rod it would be listed as "ER309L" You will want a spool of MIG's equivelant wire. It probably won't have the "ER" in front of it but should have the "309" (the alloy) and the "L" (for low silicone IIRC)

For the setup recomending the 95/5 mix...is that a puled MIG like a miller 350p? For some reason the pulsed MIG's seem to want/recommend the different mix.

No my machine is not fancy enough for pulsed spray transfer.

 

[turboglenn]

No my machine is not fancy enough for pulsed spray transfer.

NO worries, i'm not that impressed by it anyway (probably because i've never taken the time to learn to use it correctly) But either way i still prefer to just have control of the main 2.. amps and wire speed is all i need

 

[e85_4g63]

I'm glad I saw this thread, maybe we can post some links to "good" welders (say under $1000) that would work for what 99% of us "regular" tuners would be welding. (i.e. aluminized steel exhaust tubing, mild steel, possibly 309 stainless, and maybe some light aluminum I/C piping). Also if someone could post the difference in welders (MIG, TIG, STICK) and so on... I'm new to welding but sounds like skill that would come in handy being the broke dsm'r that I am! hehe

 

[Imback]

I also agree with using tri mix for stainless mig welding. At my shop that's all we use.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

I'm glad I saw this thread, maybe we can post some links to "good" welders (say under $1000) that would work for what 99% of us "regular" tuners would be welding. (i.e. aluminized steel exhaust tubing, mild steel, possibly 309 stainless, and maybe some light aluminum I/C piping). Also if someone could post the difference in welders (MIG, TIG, STICK) and so on... I'm new to welding but sounds like skill that would come in handy being the broke dsm'r that I am! hehe

Unfortunatly you cannot just be a "regular" tuner or welder and weld aluminum. It is a very complex material to weld and takes alot of practice and knowledge to do properly. I commend anyone who can run a tig machin on aluminum, especially a thin pipe.

 

[All_Boost16G]

We always use Stargon, which works good for about everything. Its expensive,but burns very clean. Welding is not for just the average man in general, I can't say im the greatest, but I know I can atlest hold my own if I need to weld something. I would love to learn to Tig weld, that were its at right now. Tig welding looks to complicated, im not hand,foot,eye cordinated to run a pedal. But I think it would be fun to learn.

 

[Spln_Hrd]

We always use Stargon, which works good for about everything. Its expensive,but burns very clean. Welding is not for just the average man in general, I can't say im the greatest, but I know I can atlest hold my own if I need to weld something. I would love to learn to Tig weld, that were its at right now. Tig welding looks to complicated, im not hand,foot,eye cordinated to run a pedal. But I think it would be fun to learn.

Use a torch with a thumb wheel potentiometer, then its hand hand thump eye cordination .

 

[awdrst]

Those hand amptol units are such a pain to use. I had a miller inverter that came with one and I hated it every single time I had to use it. Getting used to the whole foot control adding filler and controling the torch takes some time but you will only get good at it by practice.