Newbie with a mig wire question

go with a 30lb. roll. its much more economical in the long run and you wont have to change it nearly as often. as for the brand, i like lincoln wire.

I have had trouble with some generic hard wire. I tend to buy Hobart solid wire, and ESAB Dual Shield wire.

It comes in two major flavors, E70S-3 and E70S-6. I believe the 6 is the common wire, but I don't want to walk all the way out to my shop and look. Whichever is the most common is what you should buy. The other, be it 3 or

6, is a little harder, and a little more expensive. No difference in performance, only price. Tensile strength will still be 70,000.

If you buy a brand name wire, it will be freer of rust and dirt, and will run better in your machine over the long run. There is a fleece cleaner you can clamp on your wire before it enters the rollers or gun that will wipe off the wire before it enters the liner of the gun. Get one if your machine didn't come with one.

Go to the welding supply store, and buy a pack or 3 or 5 tips for every size wire you will use. This will keep you from being shut down if you fry a tip. Get one extra shielding nozzle, and unless you really do something stupid, one should last for a very long time. But if you have a brain fart and fry one, you have an extra.

As for dual shield wire, you will only need it for welding thicker stuff, and things that you really want a lot of penetration on, like solid pieces of metal, and thicknesses greater than 3/8". Dual shield runs a lot hotter due to different polarity, and the solid core will do thinner materials. But you can crank up the solid core wire, or run .045 solid to do thicker stuff. Or do multipass welding.

A autodark helmet is great, but buy the best you can afford. A NexGen EQC on a Huntsman helmet is what I have. The NEXGEN setup on a Jackson is too heavy, and has a harder time staying up.

E mail me if you need more info.

Steve