Hello all, I have been considering getting a MIG welder for the last few years for simple projects and repairs. I thought I had narrowed it down to a cheap flux cored one because I have to work outdoors and my thinking was that any shielding gas might get blown away. However it seems that flux cored wire for stainless is not available or at least I couldn't find any on Lincoln's website. Is this correct? Then to make me more confused I saw some gas shielded- flux cored wire. Can this be used without the gas? Thanks for your help, Gene
The above string of text looks like a bunch of phrases from Lincoln's web site that were cut and pasted into a paragraph without understanding what they mean. You ought to take an introductory welding course at your local collage before you run out to purchase any equipment.
There is such a thing as dual shield wire. It is a flux core wire that requires a gas shield. The flux in the core works to produce a specific chemistry in the admixture and provide a shielding effect as it burns off, while the gas shielding prevents contamination to the weld puddle. There is such a thing as flux core wire for stainless steel. A simple google search will lead you to the myriad of companies that manufacture it.
I would recommend learning quite a bit more by purchasing some of the books from the Lincoln Electric welding school and reading quite a bit more before your purchase a machine. Try hanging around a welding shop, learn from the old timers. Someome might teach you some basics. Then start thinking about proper training. Lincoln Welding School, Hobart, Catepillar all have welding schools.
Or you can be like the thousand of other people that watch Monster Garage, go to Home Depot and buy a Weld-Pak 100, realize it's not as easy as Jesse makes it look, they can't find any steel to build anything with, figure out they don't like sparks and sell the machine on eBay in a year or two.
Most of the welders I know have spent thousands of dollars learning their craft, months and years in training and work tirelessly to improve their craft everyday.
Sorry if this seems like a rant, but I own a fabrication shop and answer these same questions everyday from people that come in, waste 15 mins of my time at a clip, get angry when I tell them that I won't set their WeldPak
100 up for use and teach them how to weld for nothing and that welding lessons cost $50/hr, which is quite a bit cheaper that I paid at welding school for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 3 months.
There is an infinite amount of information on the Internet, in librarys and in schools. Read. Learn. Expend some personal effort. Please don't come here and ask the same question that 1,000,000 other people ask. "Which MIG machine should I buy?" Try searching the Usenet Groups archive and reading the 100,000,000 answers to that same question. Too many people expect to be spoon fed information.
Come here and ask which is better, a vertical up weave on a cover pass on a
1" bevel cut butt joint or a triangle vertical up. I'll be happy to have a thorough and polite discussion of both techniques.
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