tortron Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 5 minutes ago, cubastreet said: When I was at tech, some rep brought in a roll of Flux core wire that also used shielding gas. It's party trick was the beautiful welds in all positions even with me holding the torch. Anyone know this voodoo wire? gas-shielded flux-cored wires. https://www.thefabricator.com/thewelder/article/consumables/all-about-gas-shielded-flux-cored-arc-welding-wires 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubastreet Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Surprisingly cheap at boc https://www.boc.co.nz/shop/en/nz/mig-flux-cored-welding/mig-mag-welding-wire/flux-core-welding-wires-fcaw/magmate-71c-mild-steel-mig-wire%3A-15kg-spool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 While painful to weld upside down, inside a boot, I never had any issues with plain wire + gas. I wouldn't do that with flux wire unless I was going to drink a lot of milk afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizzl Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 9 minutes ago, Bling said: While painful to weld upside down, inside a boot, I never had any issues with plain wire + gas. I wouldn't do that with flux wire unless I was going to drink a lot of milk afterwards. Respirator helmet for the win. i use one for alloy welding now, probably 10 years too late for my lungs. mainly got it for cool air flow during summer. its nice to go home and not feel like shit. galvanic poisoning is worse than being kicked in the nads 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bling Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Yeah one of those helmets would do the trick for sure. I just rolled 18V fan blowing all the goodies out of the car and outside the environment. Can't really justify such luxury when I only weld once a year on average. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geophy Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Have done a few nights for the local structural/ heavy transport fella and he gas flux core for everything. Shits amazing for 5mm and up just melts in, heaps of penetration and no splatter. Weld speed is about twice that of solid wire, great for positional too. I brought a 5kg roll for home which I have played around with a bit, ill take a pic of the label tomorrow. Not something a normal person would need at home but for reskinning a truck bed or smashing out some portals for a building, super invaluable. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubastreet Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 12 hours ago, Bling said: While painful to weld upside down, inside a boot, I never had any issues with plain wire + gas. I wouldn't do that with flux wire unless I was going to drink a lot of milk I was welding 12mm steel vertical and upside down, it's not like the gasless stuff or plain wire with gas. It doesn't seem to sag or drip. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muncie Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 I've fucked around with gas shielded Flux core did around 90 metres worth on a big meatworks shutdown then had the thankless job of laying hard face on top. By middle of job I was as good as the old timers. Been experimenting with 8% co2 argon mix on tig lately mainly because a free G bottle is worth a squirt, no real ill effects thought it would kill the tungsten not really any different though im back about 5 amps from normal settings. Saving my pure argon for the stuff that needs it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsinclairx Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Supercheap has a special on now for the Viper welders. $500 seems like a good deal for the mig, tig and Arc combo? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty360 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 43 minutes ago, xsinclairx said: Supercheap has a special on now for the Viper welders. $500 seems like a good deal for the mig, tig and Arc combo? That 165 @ $719 IS good buying 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsinclairx Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 My other option was Bossweld 150 mig… is it better than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty360 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 47 minutes ago, xsinclairx said: My other option was Bossweld 150 mig… is it better than that? The 165? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsinclairx Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 I’ll rephrase; is the $500 unit from supercheap considered better than the Bossweld mig only… It’d be nice to be able to learn to Tig for similar money to Mig only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubastreet Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 The tig torch is extra. Scratch start isn't the easiest way to learn tig but better than nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickJ Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Lift arc was super annoying for me as a learner, having a foot pedal and 2t/4t options really helped to let me focus on the task than trying to learn all at once under constraints, I found I enjoyed learning on work's fancy machine way more than persevering on an arc welder with lift tig tacked on. Foot pedal helped learn settings, just added 20% to what I thought and could ramp up or down if wrong. 2t/4t meant with harder geometry I could hold the torch in a few more ways and the ability to back off if settings were way off. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrstar Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 ^^ yeah 100% hf start if you are learning tig. Otherwise you will give up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearded Baldy Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Damn good deals those, just shits me as i was about to list my little arc welder with tig kit for $550. Might just hoard it in back shed instead, out of sight out of mind etc etc. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raizer Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 1 hour ago, mjrstar said: ^^ yeah 100% hf start if you are learning tig. Otherwise you will give up. I persevered for a couple years or more, but now I've got a decent hf start machine with pedal etc I'd never go back. I found starting the arc with lift tig easy enough, but having to try to speed up as things heated up and then breaking the arc at the end sucked!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmulally Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Is scratch start TIG a thing? I know for my one I have to get super close but wouldn't scratch start fuck up the tip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raizer Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 19 minutes ago, dmulally said: Is scratch start TIG a thing? I know for my one I have to get super close but wouldn't scratch start fuck up the tip? Yeah it's a thing, predating lift arc start. You want to be real good at sharpening tungstens with a scratch start machine as you will be sharpening a lot of them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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