gas or gasless mig

Hi

I have been using mig welders for longer than i care to remember but this is at work with 3 phase industrial equipment. I am going to buy a diy set to keep on top of the rust on our mini.

What experience does anyone have of the gasless sets, are they any good. I know the wire is more expensive but how does it compare with the gas sets using the small canisters and plain wire. Anyone know how much welding you get out of one (gas canister).

Any advice appreciated.

Gary

Reply to
geepeetee
Loading thread data ...

I have 2 large wire feed machines that I use for production work. A few times a year I teach classes in my shop and for that I get four small gasless machines so we have 6 stations.

The gasless machines work very well on small sections. My only problem is that they smoke a LOT more than standard wire feed.

If you can deal with the smoke and are only doing thin material there is no reason not to go with the small gasless machines.

Reply to
Sculptor (John R)

I like to a few more things,

fluxcore (gassless) can handle a slightly rusty or dirty material becasue of the cleaning action of the flux. MIG ( solid wire + with gas) preffers clean material

fluxcore tends to run a bit hotter than solid (MIG) wire

examples: fluxcore should be used witha back hand technic, moving away from the weld _____/ ( you travel from left to right)

solid MIG can be used with forhand traveling _______\ (you travel from left to right) which allow you to see where you are going.

solid MIg = no slag to clean , less spatter fluxcore (gasslaess ) slag should be remover after welding , before painting. also more spatter.

Reply to
acrobat-ants

Since no one has addressed this one yet I'll throw in my $0.02 worth. :-)

Normally you'll run your gas flow at about 20 CFH (Cubic Feet per Hour) and a few of the cheaper welders use a regulator that is preset for that and can't be changed. At that rate you'll empty a 20 Cubic Ft cylinder in about an hour but that's an hour of actual welding with the trigger pulled.

Also, one downside to using gas is that it can't handle a breeze because it blows the gas away. You can increase your flow for a slight breeze but anything worse and you just can't get a decent weld. If you'll normally weld indoor it doesn't matter but if your garage is so full of junk that there isn't room to work inside (like mine) you may be better off with flux-core.

Gas gives a smoother weld with less cleanup but fluxcore is more portable. The best choice is probably to buy one that can be used either way. Then you can start with flux-core so that you don't have the added expense of buying or leasing the gas cylinder up front and then you can upgrade if you're not happy with the flux-core.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.