On any of the MIG welders, can we use flux core filament to weld?
And pricing is listed on the machines?
As far as I know, the only thing Metal Shop charges for at the moment is MIG gas. I don’t know if there’s any flux core wire provided, so I would recommend bringing your own…
If you choose to Flux Core weld, please use the Hobart under the table. We’d prefer to keep the Miller for MIG so as to not confuse people.
*You must be qualified in MIG at DMS to use the Flux Core welder
*You MUST use the fume extraction, and also turn on the plasma exhaust (same rules as welding stick/arc) because of the fumes
Why are you wanting to Flux Core instead of MIG?
When I first learned to weld, I was most comfortable with the fluxcore. I guess you can say old habits. I know the gas shield would give me a better finish but I figured if I’m going to do that I should improve my TIG skills and swap over to aluminum. This will just end up being a garage work station shelf.
Just make sure you keep the exhaust running as the fumes from flux are no good.
I’m happy to help in that regard if you like.
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Or outdoors on a windy day.
I’m thinking that there isn’t much to learn to transition between the two.
Personally I didn’t care for flux core, it makes a lot of smoke, lots of spatter, have to chip off the hardened flux when you are done. I thought flux core was for welding outdoors in windy conditions where the shielding gas gets blown away. If you have access to gas, and are welding indoors, are there any advantages to flux core?
Another mention it that flux core will leave a layer that will weep through paint no matter how you clean it mechanically, cant say for chemical preparation.
Guess I should have said when exposed to the elements. Several of my friends in the past I did welding for on their Jeeps, after a few months there would be a white ring that would seep through the paint. I cant tell you how they prepped it other than it was mechanically cleaned.
Guys, I used the hobart last Tuesday and noticed the trigger seemed to have a break in the line. Sometimes the relay would engage, sometimes it wouldn’t. It might explain why it was placed below the bench seperate from the others. Anyone else have this issue? I also noticed it had aluminum inside of it, not on a spool gun(interested about that, but another time). Am I free to attempt to fix the issue with the trigger or has this not been addressed?
Hobart makes a spool gun for the welder when using aluminum (and gas). The spool gun is needed since the aluminum wire is so soft.
If is possible to use aluminum w/out the spool gun if you take care to keep the welding gun as straight as you can to minimize the chance of kinking.
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I’m gonna start a PM thread for this, with some others that have been handling our welders to keep track, since I’m out of town.
It’s not below the others on the bench because of problems, but because it’s not typical to use it outside of windy conditions etc. MIG and TIG are generally better processes for the things our makers do. Generally when I see the flux or stick used it’s brought outside for something like welding a trailer.
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