Thread: Small Welding Rods

spray transfer is real MIG but as dave says not going to be used on light guage
Point being i guess, mig gas is never going to be one size fits all.

For light stuff i use the boc trimix you speak of because my local guy has it. It gives penetration, a nice flat bead and tidy wetted out toe.
On 10mm and up i run straight argon and significant herbs, and result in a full penetration spray transfer weld. If you run straight argon on light material at low power settings you get a ropey poorly wetted out weld.

In some ways, for the glueing that i do i should have bought a good tig unit at the get go

Mig is fast and versatile but for essentially small run work tig has many benefits

S

Wot Incisor said.

Having purchased a D sized Argo shield bottle I have recommissioned the old Mig which is now working OK. I still need a bit of practice and I need a better auto helmet as my eyes have been getting a little burnt when welding in low light - response time is good during the day but too slow at night.

I have had the Smootharc Inverter BOC - Smootharc MMA 130 for a couple of months now and used it with 1.6mm rods and the main issue is that the amount of amps to strike an arc is too large to weld effectively with thin metal so the Mig will have to do this. To be honest I really don't think there is much of an advantage stick welding with the inverter over my 40yo AC stick welder. Is much, much lighter though.

I have read a lot of negative comments about the TIG capabilities of the small inverter welders but I would be interested in comments on weather it would be worth getting the Tig attachments for my Smootharc as I wouldn't mind doing some lightweight stainless and aluminium work.

Cheers

Garry

Hi Garry.
Argo shield is good to use for what you want.
It will last a very long time and 15 LPM is the norm.

For rust holes and super corroded thin stuff I use the normal .9mm wire for the MIG.
Using thinner wire is OK for welding thinner sheet steel, but not for plugging holes or supper thin corroded stuff.
The thinner wire in the MIG will tend to burn though, whisle .9 mm wire will drop off the end of the tip as blobs and on the metal surface without burn though.
Quailty of the MIg and operator skill helps greatly here.
The stalwart I am working on is a great example.
First pic is previous MIG repair and new rust holes in thin corroded metal.

This is my repair using MIG only and .9mm wire, argo sheild.
It was paper thin and with poor inside access.
The spot welding in place as a part of the cabin structure was not going to let me easily weld in a new piece of metal plate as was the access.

Naturally the rust is always worse than you think and you will be following the rust holes with the MIG and the MIG will find the the thinest metal.
I find if you get a blob of metal on the side of the hole, work from that blob as it is thicker that the metal it landed on.
Let that blob cool and add another blob to it, or to the side of it and slowly close in the rust hole.
You may have to place a series of metal blobs right around the hole even though you might make it larger in the process.
Once done you can then put the heat in a bit and fill the hole.
If the hole is really big you will need to find some metal sheet and cut it to size and weld it in.
Ron

Another trick I use is a air die grinder fitted with a large diameter tungsten carbide cutter.
It smooths the surface with alot more control than a grinder with less heat too..
A small diameter cutter can be used to rough out a rust hole for welding too.

Back to the original question. 1.6mm electrodes are available on e-bay ,as pointed out in post 5. They are advertised as Zirconated, Thoriated or Lanthanated tungsten.Does it really matter what I buy ? Is there a difference if so what is it? .W.

Originally Posted by B.S.F.Nut

Back to the original question. 1.6mm electrodes are available on e-bay ,as pointed out in post 5. They are advertised as Zirconated, Thoriated or Lanthanated tungsten.Does it really matter what I buy ? Is there a difference if so what is it? .W.

Zirc......Thoriated.....etc is tungsten electrodes for TIG ( for use on the welding hand piece)welding and not for stick welding.


Electrodes for stick welding form part of the weld metal .
Two completely different things and types of welding.