15 replies to this topic

[MiniMoe]

Hi everyone.

My question is what wire size should I be using and what would be the best gas for welding on my mini. I'm currently using 0.030 inch gasless wire from the you.S.
( My Mig welder is American). Any recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

[sonikk4]

Hi everyone.

My question is what wire size should I be using and what would be the best gas for welding on my mini. I'm currently using 0.030 inch gasless wire from the you.S.
( My Mig welder is American). Any recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

Personally i use .6mm wire (0.0236") with Argoshield light gas (Argon CO2 mix) from B.O.C. I have used .8mm wire (0.0315) as well for heavier welding (trailers etc)

[onefastmoke]

Hi everyone.

My question is what wire size should I be using and what would be the best gas for welding on my mini. I'm currently using 0.030 inch gasless wire from the you.S.
( My Mig welder is American). Any recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

Personally i use .6mm wire (0.0236") with Argoshield light gas (Argon CO2 mix) from B.O.C. I have used .8mm wire (0.0315) as well for heavier welding (trailers etc)

agreed I use the same, .8mm wire needs a bit too much power for bodywork

[MiniMoe]

Hi everyone.

My question is what wire size should I be using and what would be the best gas for welding on my mini. I'm currently using 0.030 inch gasless wire from the you.S.
( My Mig welder is American). Any recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

Personally i use .6mm wire (0.0236") with Argoshield light gas (Argon CO2 mix) from B.O.C. I have used .8mm wire (0.0315) as well for heavier welding (trailers etc)

agreed I use the same, .8mm wire needs a bit too much power for bodywork

Thanks for the response. B.O.C. ??? DO they also sell the valve attachment??

[Rich.]

Nothing wrong with 0.8 wire for bodywork, its all i use as it saves swapping the wire in the welders over every time i swap between heavy fab and bodywork (All the welders in the shop get used for both), it gives a larger bead, which depending on how you weld can mean more to clean up afterwards, but i generally lay really flat welds anyway as i weld with a high current, so it doesn't need all that much cleaning up afterwards.

Here's the generic weld photo i post 0.8 wire, admittedly this is under a sill so doesn't need prepping, but you can see it wouldn't take alot to do;



As for Boc selling regs, they do, but there not cheap. Plus with BOC its a bottle rental, so you pay per month for the rent of the bottle then a charge every time you fill. We only rent bottles of pure argon for TIG as no-where will sell you an argon bottle. However with mig you only need CO2, which is what pub's use for the drinks, so you can find places that will sell you a small Co2 bottle and fill it for a charge. We bought large full size bottles as we use the welders alot, but for my welder at home i bought a bottle for £40 and pay £12 per fill, you can see it just in this photo;



Rich

Edited by Rich., 18 January 2011 - 03:33 PM.

[minidream94]

whats the results for using co2 in mig welding? Im sure you need a shielding gas :S

[Rich.]

Co2 is the shielding gas, its shielding the weld pool from Oxygen and Nitrogen.

Other gasses are added to a Co2 base to give the weld different characteristics, with something like argoshield the mix is more like 80% argon 20% Co2. Theres no doubt it gives a smoother weld, but with practice i can honestly say i can lay a bead just as smooth with Co2 as anyone else can with a true welding gas composition like Argoshield.

The one thing i will say is that you certainly get more splatter if there's no argon in the mix, but other than that i am perfectly happy to keep using Co2, for any very neat welds we do we use Tig anyway so its not crucial for us at all.

Rich

[sonikk4]

whats the results for using co2 in mig welding? Im sure you need a shielding gas :S

I used CO2 for many years welding cars as a side line (used to get it from the NAAFI very cheap) and never had a problem with it. It is a shielding gas but not quite as effective as an Argon CO2 mix. I never suffered from splatter or anything else and because at the time it was easily available it was my gas of choice.

However over the years legislation has changed, you can no longer legally obtain CO2 from a pub or pub suppliers so you will need to go to someone like B.O.C.

To be honest i can no longer compare welds using CO2 or Argoshield light but when i first starting welding Project Erm i was using CO2 from a pub bottle that i had at the time and the welds were fine. When that ran out i then got a contract bottle of Argoshield light from B.O.C. I did have a few teething problems to start with but a few tweaks here and there with my welder settings soon sorted that out.

There have quite a few threads discussing the merits of using either CO2 and Argon CO2 mix, have a search through those.

Edited by sonikk4, 18 January 2011 - 03:52 PM.

[DAVEY_C]

the argon mix gives better results and a few welding topics i read online do not recommend pub based co2. i changed to argon mix with much better welds.... i also use .8 wire but as soon as its gone i will be going back to .6 because its much easier to use on sheet metal, doesn't take so much heat and therefore won't blow holes as easy.... as said above though it stops the need to change when i do heavier work.

welders differ setting wise so if you can fine tune enough to use .8 on sheet then it makes no difference which wire you are using, otherwise you will need .6 for a decent weld.

[Rich.]

It depends what you get used to, i can make an identical weld with Co2 or an argon mix, it makes no difference to me.

People that grow up using an argon mix then swap to Co2 instantly hate it, because there not used to it, these are normally the guys who bash it in the forums when this topic comes up.

[MiniMoe]

It depends what you get used to, i can make an identical weld with Co2 or an argon mix, it makes no difference to me.

People that grow up using an argon mix then swap to Co2 instantly hate it, because there not used to it, these are normally the guys who bash it in the forums when this topic comes up.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I was thinking of getting Argon light with .6 MM wire. I have a hard time now with .8 mm I blow holes constantly. and my welder has only 4 amp settings 30, 50, 70, and 105 amps. Thank You everyone.

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

i dont know anything about my mig welder as its my neighbours but im using 0.8 on a telmig 100, whatever that is lmao and i went straight to using old bits of my wing and im getting good welds with it lol and hardly blowing any holes

[Rich.]

Unfortunately blowing holes when welding has far more common problems than wire size.

Too much heat, moving too slow, bad technique.

If you have taught yourself so far then it may be worth getting someone local to you to give you a hand.

I weld 1mm ish pate with 0.8 wire and 50-60 amps, which is alot higher than most, but the technique i use allows me to not put too much heat into the steel, so i get a neat strong weld without much distortion to the panel.

Rich

[MiniMoe]

Unfortunately blowing holes when welding has far more common problems than wire size.

Too much heat, moving too slow, bad technique.

If you have taught yourself so far then it may be worth getting someone local to you to give you a hand.

I weld 1mm ish pate with 0.8 wire and 50-60 amps, which is alot higher than most, but the technique i use allows me to not put too much heat into the steel, so i get a neat strong weld without much distortion to the panel.

Rich

Hey Rich,

I agree with you. I've lately been welding at 30 amps using .030" wire which is about .8mm and I'm doing okay. All I had to do was speed up the rate of wire.

[MiniMoe]

Hi everyone.

My question is what wire size should I be using and what would be the best gas for welding on my mini. I'm currently using 0.030 inch gasless wire from the you.S.
( My Mig welder is American). Any recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

Another question is What brand is recommended?? I've been told of certain wire brands that aren't the greatest. Any recomendations?