Rusted Welding Wire!

Hello all, I have not used my welder for awhile now and looked at my welding wire (flux core, I'm not using gas) and it has some rust on it, can I still use it with rust on the wire?

Thanks,

Eric

Reply to
CDC
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If it's for anything critical like trailer or load bearing stuff. Well anything really, I'd peel off and buy a small roll of what you really need to do the job with good clean wire. Sort of like using old shitty rod if you had to drop stick. I may be way wrong but any oxidation going in can't be good.

Rob

Fraser Competition Engines Chicago, IL.

Reply to
RDF

The only issue Ive noticed with my rough welding and rusty wire, is the tendency to snarl because it doesnt go through the contact tip easily when it hits a rusty spot of any note. So Ill pull off 20 or so feet, tie off one end, and run a Scotchbrite pad down the wire to knock off the rust (the big chunks) and respool it. Then it works fine.

Guner

"Considering the events of recent years, the world has a long way to go to regain its credibility and reputation with the US." unknown

Reply to
Gunner

CDC wrote: (clip) can I still use it with rust on the wire? (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Rust melts at a lower temperture than steel, so the light rust coating on the wire is likely to end up in the flux/slag on the surface of the weld, and have no effect. As Gunner pointed out, it could interfere with the smooth movement of the wire feed. If the spool still contains lots of wire, and is not TOO rusty, I would go ahead and use it--maybe spray it with WD-40 to help it slide and inhibit further rusting.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

God no- don't introduce a foreign element into the wire, that is a disaster in the making. Scrap it. don't even think twice.

Rob

Fraser Competition Engines Chicago, IL.

Reply to
RDF

I have the same problem with my MIG welder. The arc becomes very erratic when the wire gets rusty. The electrical contact at the tip is poor, adn it doesn't feed as well. Been there a couple of times - th eonly solution is buy a new reel. Keep it in a bag in a warm cupboard when it is not in use, so condensation doesn't make it rust Geoff

Reply to
Geoff M

A tiny bit of rust won't hurt much with an ordinary mig wire but I'd wonder if the fluxcore isn't harmed by that much moisture.

Any rust that can be shucked off will give feed problems by staying in the liner, but you can usually blow that out if it's dry.

Any sort of lubricant on the wire is sure to cause trouble, it'll hold dust/dirt and leave it in the liner and it'll be difficult to get out. Rinsing the liner out with acetone may solve that problem, but it's better to not make the problem in the first place. As suggested by another poster, adding oil to your arc will not give ideal results.

John

Reply to
JohnM

"JohnM" wrote: >(clip) Any sort of lubricant on the wire is sure to cause trouble, it'll hold dust/dirt and leave it in the liner and it'll be difficult to get out. Rinsing the liner out with acetone may solve that problem, but it's better to not make the problem in the first place. As suggested by another poster, adding oil to your arc will not give ideal results. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm the one who suggested the WD-40 idea. I had not considered the possibility that it would carry dirt and deposit it in the liner. I was very dubious that a microscopic film of lubricant on the wire would have a bad effect on the weld, so I just completed the following test: I vee-d the ends of two pieces of 1/8 x 1" mild steel--sprayed them with WD-40 and made a weld, using flux core wire with my Lincoln 120 volt MIG. After this, I flipped the piece over, Vee-d the other side, sprayed it with WD-40 and welded it. I then bent the piece double. It did not break.

If others know more about weld contamination than I do, I will defer to them. However, WD-40 doesn't leave much of a film after it dries, and I would not expect a problem. But I do not suggest that anyone else do this on my say-so alone.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

How about putting a piece of scotch brite pad around the wire after the spool and before the rollers. That would clean off light rust wouldn't it?

Reply to
Mickey

"Mickey" wrote: How about putting a piece of scotch brite pad around the wire after the spool and before the rollers. That would clean off light rust wouldn't it? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The trick would be getting enough pressure between the Scotchbrite and the wire without stalling the wire.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Nothing like some practical testing, eh?

It may be that there would be no harm in a light oil such as WD-40 being applied to a roll of wire, but I'm going to be suspicious of it. If it were acceptable (even for non-code work) then it seems wire would be sold with an oil on it.

I'd also make the point that it's common to MIG steel that's got a bit of oil or saw lube on it and get acceptable results. A travel speed of a fraction of the wire speed may allow the oil on the steel to be burned off much farther from the arc than oil on the wire. Although the oil burning off the wire would contaminate a MIG shield gas there may be little or no effect on a fluxcore. As you say, those are just my thoughts on it and I'll allow someone with direct experience to expand on the issue and correct me.

John

Reply to
JohnM

On the subject of cleaning out liners, I found using a solvent gun worked great for cleaning out liners. I would attach a short hose from the solvent gun to the welding nozzle tip, put the other end of the liner in a can of acetone/naptha or such, and blow the solvent into a large 5 gal can or such. The solvent gun will pull a steady stream of solvent through the liner, and I did so till liner was clean. Then I'd pull the gooseneck off, blow out the liner with a rubber nozzled blow gun. On the larger liners I would also cut a length of round weed wacker line,that was longer than the liner, cut a small slit (like a sewing needle)in the end with an xacto knife, (It's a bit tricky doing this, but possible) and put a piece of cotton string through the slit, then push/drag it through the liners. The weed wacker line trick would probably not work on these smaller 110 volt liners, as they are to small, but the solvent gun trick should work on them, then blow them out with an air gun with a rubber air nozzle.

Kruppt

Reply to
Kruppt

I had a large spool of wire that got rusty after only 10 years. The local welding supply sold me a small bag of felt pads, about 3/4" diameter by 3/4" long cylinders with a slit in them and one spring-clip to go around one. They were to be used with a little can of MIG wire cleaner and lubricant.

Before putting the gizmo on (up against the incoming wire guide for the feeder), the arc was erratic and I was getting more than the occasional spatter. Afterward, it seemed to work like normal wire.

I can't remember the brand, but I might be able to find it if anyone is interested...

Kevin

Reply to
kbm

We've used a heavy paper towel and one of those large sping clamps for holding tarps etc. It's sort of like a large clothepin. Just clamp it on the wire before the feed to the rollers. It takes care of minor corrosion on solid welding wire I don't know how well it'd work on flux core or how moisture affects the flux. Id cut some of the end just to be sure.

Reply to
Doug

Interestingly enough, I happened across a page today which answers this;

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Store it so it'll stay dry, pitch it if it gets rusted, the flux goes bad with moisture.

John

Reply to
JohnM

"JohnM" wrote: Store it so it'll stay dry, pitch it if it gets rusted, the flux goes bad with moisture. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'm curious to know how the moisture can get to the flux, which is contained inside a long, slender, small-bore tube. Your link takes us to a Lincoln website, which recommends that Innershield welding wire be discarded a week after the package is opened. I have great respect for that company, but I have been ignoring that admonition for years (with no ill effects that I can detect.)

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Glad the link worked, it was a wacky one and I wasn't sure.

I figure the moisture would go through the seam down the length of the wire, I don't know that it's not airtight but it seems it'd sure be a job to make it so..

I also fail to take their advice a lot of the time, just depends on what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for. I figure it's a case of them covering their asses, just in case.

I'm a little surprised at the lack of option for recovering the wire after it gets stale, apparently baking it doesn't work. That sucks, I was thinking of picking a roll up from ebay but if the package is torn then it'd be a waste.

Anyway, that page came up while I was looking into fluxcore so I thought I'd pass it along.

John

Reply to
JohnM

"JohnM" wrote: (clip) I figure the moisture would go through the seam down the length of the wire, I don't know that it's not airtight but it seems it'd sure be a job to make it so..(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I had never noticed a seam on my wire, so I looked at a piece of it under a microscope. Sure enough--there is a very fine straight line running along the length of the wire. Doesn't look like it would leak MUCH, but then, like you say, we don't really know. I'd sure like to see the process they use to make that stuff. They must draw a thin narrow ribbon through a die while filling it with powdered flux.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

replying to CDC, charlie wrote: the flux core welding wire used to be bright and shinny but no longer as every thing we have found is garbage == unless the wire is clean and shinny or bright do not use it // we believe one foreign manufacture is making wire for all of the major suppliers and because most are covered in a covering you don't see it until you get it out to use == every manufacture we have looked at is the same leaving us little people with no wire == does any know where or who to buy from == we require clean bright and shinny wire and with out it we can not lay down a decent weld

Reply to
charlie

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