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flux core welder questions

3K views 9 replies 10 participants last post by  YJSXJ 
#1 ·
I bought a cheap flux core welder of ebay to try it out i have had a stick welder and thought it would be nice to have this to. Well i can not get a good bead going with this thing i dont know if its the wire that came with it or not. It spatters all over the place and is tough as nails just doesnt look pretty at all and someone give me some tips on this and what is some good flux core wire to use for just general welding duty
 
#2 ·
some good wire from my experiance is ether hobart or lincolin also make sure the contact tip isnt bored out from the wire going through it. Because this can cause starting and stopping. just experiment with your wire speed and voltage.

when you are running a bead make sure the sizziling sounds remotly like frying bacon. thats how i was told to dial my welder in.
 
#4 ·
Unless it's a Lincoln/Hobart/Miller machine more than likely it's crap.

If it is absolutely crazy crackling you may have your polarity set wrong. Check the manual to see if the ground clamp goes to - or + in the machine(I forget off the top of my head).

Is the gun pushing back? If so lower your wire speed.

If you can see the wire burning back to the tip try increasing wire speed some.

Also go slow and take your time. I'll estimate I weld about 1in of material in about 5-6 seconds.

I go in circles while pulling w/ my 140A Hobart Handler 110v machine.

Here are one of the better beads I've laid... try to take pics of your own so we can see what's happening.



Physically watch the PUDDLE of the weld as it's melting, don't let the bright sparks/flash distract you.
 
#5 ·
im by NO means a bonafide welder.. but do weld everything i need,
coming from an X "sticker" i switched to FC a couple years ago and havent looked back, once you get the hang of it and its charecteristics, youll love it, MUCH easier to weld with a wire feed unit, only thing i miss (??) is the hardcore penetration of a 400 amp stick when welding 1/2-1" metals, but those times are gone for me so in all reality, i dont miss it that much, but ive welded up to 5/8" on my 125 amp Lincoln FC, V and double pass , and thats been holding up great (16 months now) on the debri shield on the bucket of a payloader, very capable units
 
#8 ·
OK. . .are you talking about a MIG process GMAW machine or an actual FCAW MIG machine because they are too different animals and I don't think that FCAW is the way to go for off-road fab work. . .FCAW puts out some serious metal. . .when I was in school and we learned to flux core we welded 3/8" material and you could fill a 3/8" test plate with a 1/4" open root and 45* V-groove with one root pass and two cover passes (one left and one right). . .that was welding horizontal or vertical (flat too). . .by comparison when welding with 1/8" 7018 SMAW it would take me one root, a set of intermediate filler passes (one left and one right) and then 3 cover passes (left, middle, right) to fill the same test plate for horizontal and for vertical it took an extra set of intermediate passes to fill the test plate. . .

FCAW usually pushes some serious ampereage and generates a TON of heat in the process. . .if you have an actual flux core machine you don't have to worry about not getting enough penetration but you will have to worry about the heat input to the material and it won't be suitable for any really thin stuff. . .

With more info I could help some more. . .
 
#10 ·
yea man, listen to these guys, they helped me a bunch...................thank you everyone



sorry for the jack.
 
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