MIG Welding

[Circuit Rider]

I'm NOT a welder,but I can make a decent bead, not always pretty, but will hold. I have a Lincoln 175 with 220 volt. I usually use .030 wire with Argon gas. My setting for mild steel is the scale reading A thru E is C, with the numerical setting about 6 1/2 to 7. I ran out of .030 wire and had a partial roll of .035. I had to up the scale to D or E with my numerical setting at 8 or 9. I had open heart triple by-pass surgery a few months ago and my memory is just getting back close to normal. I honestly don't remember, and I didn't make notes of settings in the past. I'm hoping having to increase the power is from the increase in wire size and not my welder giving out. Also Home Depot has .035 Super Arc L-56 ER 70S-6 wire. Can I use that wire, I'm not familiar with the designation: (ER). Any and all advise is greatly appreciated. James C. (Circuit Rider)

[pworley1]

It is carbon steel MIG wire.

[jimlj]

I'm not familiar with THAT welder, but I'm guessing that the A-E is the amperage (heat) output, and the numerical setting is the wire speed. I always went with more heat with bigger wire, and adjusted the wire speed as needed. I always had better luck when welding steel with a co2/argon mix gas. This is coming from a retired electrician who no longer welds so take it for what it's worth.

[Winger Ed.]

I've got a Lincoln 170 T that runs on 220.
It and a smaller 120V (SP 100) one I used to have has a chart inside the cover that closes down over the wire spool.
It calls for various settings for different thicknesses.
All I've ever used in it is Lincoln or Hobart brand flux core wire that's either .030 or .035.
It doesn't like the thin stuff. It wants to blow it out. But 1/8th (10 gauge) up to 3/8, it does well on a single pass.

I've found the settings it recommends under the cover panel to be pretty good for what I do with mine.
I figure the folks that researched and wrote it all out know a lot more about welding than I ever will.

If you're doing really thin stuff, and gas, you might look into a thinner wire- like .020.
And check on the panel's chart, what you're doing may be too thin for your machine.

In the old days, I used a big Miller at work and with the series 60 or 70 wire I used on it,
I always used the CO2 and Argon mix. I think it's 75/25.

The only time I ever used pure Argon was with a TIG welding Alum. or Stainless Steel.

[littlejack]

Way back in the day (1974) building self loaders for log trucks we used argon gas for spraying. Makes a really hot puddle, and a really clean weld. 75/25 was the mix that was most often used with flu core wire, giving the puddle duel coverage. Straight Co2 gas with hard wire (no flux) was used for short arc. Sometimes if you switch wire diameters, you may have to change out the drive rolls.

[Three44s]

I prefer straight CO2 for the economy of it.

That gas will be liquid in the bottle and gas coming out so the price is lower due to the abundance of the contents and the longevity is dramatic. The downside is a much heavier bottle and your recent surgery might conflict with you wrestling with a cylinder with liquid contents vs a dry gas mix.

My most favorite wire is a flux core that also requires gas, so it is referred as a “dual shield”. It’s made by Lincoln and it’s called outer shield. I quit needing a book for notes on settings with that wire.

When I need more beans I just turn up the voltage. The opposite is true as well. It ain’t fussy like solid wire.

I tried the Hobart equivalent and it’s way more splatters. I went back to the Lincoln brand.

Three44s

[oger]

What are you welding that you need .035 wire? It's fine for large things but for anything that a normal person would do it is too big. Find some .030 or .025. 75-25 is the best gas for mild steel.

[farmbif]

argon/co2 blend or stargon, argon, helium, co2, will give you superior results mig welding steel. ive found that unless I'm welding very thin materials, .030, .035 or .045 will work just fine as long as I properly set voltage and wire feed rate. no matter what size wire when you get voltage and speed rate optimized for what your welding it make a distinct sound as well as welding very smooth. pure argon gas is used for welding aluminum and many stainless steel applications.

[DougGuy]

no matter what size wire when you get voltage and speed rate optimized for what your welding it make a distinct sound as well as welding very smooth.

Go to about 9:35 he gives the voltage and wire speed and the weld is an open butt vertical uphill double beveled test plate looks like 1/2" A36 carbon steel plate. Use 75/25% argon/CO2 gas for mig welding on carbon steel.

Pay particular attention to the "pinching" sound it makes, THAT'S the sound you want to hear, and also notice the near complete absence of sparks, and the weld is very smooth and pretty flat, evenly tied in on the sides, not blobby or globbing in the center.

He is likely using .035" hard wire.



I welded in a pressure vessel shop in the 70s, and our test coupons looked just like the one in the video except ours were 1" thick, but the root pass was done pointing the nozzle straight up, and filling in the open butt coming downhill rather quickly with no weave, then the hot pass was the uphill vertical weave just as you see in the video.

This passes x-ray, ultrasonic, and bend tests which are industry standard for high pressure and nuclear work. Pressure vessels are the same specs and procedures as nuclear, except nuclear is documented to the extreme and pressure vessels are just seriously documented, The welding procedures are pretty much the same.

[lancem]

I run a crew of MIG welders, and I'd say you are fine. I would expect to increase the heat and the speed with the thicker wire. All of our welding is outdoors so all we use is flux core but it's all the same in the end.

[PhilC]

It's really difficult to recommend wire type and shielding gas without knowing what you're planning to weld.