mig wire

hey i have a question about what kind of mig wire is the best, are there diffrent grades of wire that fuse better. And im talking about mild steel nothing special THANKS

There is a difference. My favorite wire is Lincoln L50. It is very consistent and just seems to weld cleaner than the rest, but if you ask your local welding supply house, I'm sure that they can turn you on to something a bit cheaper that is almost as good.

iv wonderd the same thing whats the differenc besides the diamiter of .24 .30 .35
i know with your welder set right anny wire will weld very well but does it matter about the metel thickness? the thicker the metel the thicker the wire??

I like the Lincoln Wire too, but its hit or miss at the welding shops. So I stock up when they have it. If they don't have that, I get the Weldmark ER70S wire. Thats the next best thing IMO.

Originally posted by FullSizeRST



iv wonderd the same thing whats the differenc besides the diamiter of .24 .30 .35i know with your welder set right anny wire will weld very well but does it matter about the metel thickness? the thicker the metel the thicker the wire??

In some cases yes. The .023 is more for sheetmetal. But if you have a 110 welder .023 is a good all around wire, because it takes less power to melt it you can run a hotter bead than you could with .030. Generally I run .030 and I can weld pretty much anything with it, which is nice because I don't care to switch spools all the time. I use .030 up to 3/8". If I get bigger I go to .035. Anything above 3/4" thick, I switch to .040 dual core wire, but that is ridiculously expensive wire.

at our shop we usually match wire size to weld size.... the smaller wire is easier to run 1/8" welds with and .045 is easier when we are doing 3/8" or 1/2" or larger welds, or filling huge V groove joints in 1.5" plate....

as far as wire brand, when you sometimes go through a couple hundred pounds in a week, you look for the economical choice, and i dont notice much of a difference between lincolns wire and the brand we now use, washington alloy, except the price difference, 30 lb roll of washington alloy-about 30-35 bucks, 30 lb roll of lincoln- alittle over 100 bucks... the only times we notice a big difference is the lincoln has a better arc stability when running 250+ amps.....

Washington is still a good brand tho. It's not Harbor Freight.

I don't think that I have ever paid more than $70 for a roll of L50, but that's still twice that of the Washington stuff.

see i learn somthing knew every day

Originally posted by FullSizeRST



see i learn somthing knew every day

ill teach you something else... its "new" not "knew"

haha just messing with you man... i learned something as well which was seths running the smaller wire just running it hotter... it makes sense but ive never changed wire seize yet so i will use his peice of information one day im sure.. i love learning these types of things

see i learn all kinda stuff haha i hear ya man

im the worlds worst speller

as long as you dont buy your wire from walmart or harbor freight, you should be good!