[hey_allen]

I had one order from Welding City for some 9/20 and 26 gas lens cups, and while not great, the packaging was adequate for the task and they all arrived intact.

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, you can get passable filler rod for practice reasonably cheaply. 1lb of ER5356 ran $10, but no hazmat like the local Air-Gas likes to tack onto all my purchases there, including TIG gloves, and filler rod...

[Thatkid2diesel]

I had one order from Welding City for some 9/20 and 26 gas lens cups, and while not great, the packaging was adequate for the task and they all arrived intact.

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, you can get passable filler rod for practice reasonably cheaply. 1lb of ER5356 ran $10, but no hazmat like the local Air-Gas likes to tack onto all my purchases there, including TIG gloves, and filler rod...

I ended up placing an order from Welding City. Below is the prices I paid.
1lb ER308l 3/32x36": $4.89
10lb ER70s-6 3/32x36": $15.99
5lb ER4043 3/32x36": $17.99
5lb ER70s-6 1/16x36": $11.99
5lb ER70s-6 1/8x36": $9.99
Shipping was $15.41

If divided equally shipping would be $3.08 per unit. I thought this was pretty reasonable in total. I didn't have to order the 4043 or the 308l and really didn't have to have 1/16 er70s-6, but I kept adding wire to the cart and the shipping didn't change much. I figured I would go ahead and buy a little extra just in case I need to use it though I don't typically weld stainless or aluminum. The wire came very fast via UPS ground and rod holder tubes were included for free which I thought was nice.

[TraditionalToolworks]

I ended up placing an order from Welding City. Below is the prices I paid.

Those are XLNT prices. I pay more, but use Washington Alloy, Harris, Blue Daemon or Crown.

I think most of it is made in China these days...has me worried if we continue down this trade war with China, I wonder if it will get hard to get filler and tungsten?

Can't hurt to be stocked up, IMO.

I use more 1/16" ER70S than 3/32", but aluminum could be the opposite, I haven't done enough with aluminum yet.

[Thatkid2diesel]

I ended up placing an order from Welding City. Below is the prices I paid.

Those are XLNT prices. I pay more, but use Washington Alloy, Harris, Blue Daemon or Crown.

I think most of it is made in China these days...has me worried if we continue down this trade war with China, I wonder if it will get hard to get filler and tungsten?

Can't hurt to be stocked up, IMO.

I use more 1/16" ER70S than 3/32", but aluminum could be the opposite, I haven't done enough with aluminum yet.

I didn't think about the China thing until you said something. Could be a possibility that it gets tough to get. I didn't compare prices from Weldingsupply.com but I thought the prices from WeldingCity.com were excellent and the quality seems fine at first look. I don't know how much 1/16th filler I will use, but for the price I figured what the heck. I also did purchase a 10 pack of 3/32 2% Lanthanated from Welding City while I was at it just to try, and I also ended up with a 10 pack of 3/32 2% Ceriated Miller Weldcraft brand tungsten on a smoking deal new on Ebay. So I should be set on Tungsten for a bit. I am really down to waiting on my dedicated Tungsten Grinder head to come in. I don't have to have it to get started, but may wait for it since I haven't had time to get everything setup. I have some aluminum scrap I can practice on, that is one perk of being outside IT for a lot of small businesses, namely a local fabrication shop. I get all the "scrap metal" that I want out of the aluminum and steel dumpsters. I know I have made a lot of repairs with that "scrap metal". I figured I should get some aluminum filler to practice on some in the meantime. The only piece of farm equipment we have that is aluminum is a newer featherlite trailer, and I do know that there is one weld my grandfather has not been happy about. So I may have an opportunity to weld it at some point.

[TraditionalToolworks]

Most of my projects are steel, but aluminum is something I've wanted for some tooling projects, just to save on weight.

I use ER70S the most by far. It's just good all around filler. I just got my 9# in, 3 x 3# tubes. Shipping was free, but prices higher than you paid. This is all Harris.

Wow, this is a surprise...I just looked on the tubes...my 4043 and 5356 are both made in Canada, and my ER70S-2 is made in Italy.

Harris uses pretty nice tubes I will add.

[Spartan]

I had one order from Welding City for some 9/20 and 26 gas lens cups, and while not great, the packaging was adequate for the task and they all arrived intact.

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, you can get passable filler rod for practice reasonably cheaply. 1lb of ER5356 ran $10, but no hazmat like the local Air-Gas likes to tack onto all my purchases there, including TIG gloves, and filler rod...

I ended up placing an order from Welding City. Below is the prices I paid.
1lb ER308l 3/32x36": $4.89
10lb ER70s-6 3/32x36": $15.99
5lb ER4043 3/32x36": $17.99
5lb ER70s-6 1/16x36": $11.99
5lb ER70s-6 1/8x36": $9.99
Shipping was $15.41

Those prices are suspiciously cheap. I'd have to see an independent content analysis from a third party before I'd use it. But I'm a cynic

[Oscar]

I ran the samples through my home-made mass spectrometer, and they definitely shows large trace amounts elements of hobbynium and garageium.

[Thatkid2diesel]

I ran the samples through my home-made mass spectrometer, and they definitely shows large trace amounts elements of hobbynium and garageium.

Bahahahaha that is hilarious Oscar. I literally laughed out loud. I'll post back after I use them to let you know how they do. If I had more money I wouldn't go so inexpensive and would buy good name brand stuff. Albeit if I had more money I would probably not have a primeweld either, likely an HTP 221, but one day especially if I get reasonably good and my kids are grown I can afford a higher end machine and wire [emoji23]. I could tell there were high levels of garageium from just holding it. [emoji23][emoji23]

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[v5cvbb]

I ran the samples through my home-made mass spectrometer, and they definitely shows large trace amounts elements of hobbynium and garageium.

That sounds dangerous. I'll refrain from making any medical devices in the barn.

At least they were cheap enough that I can run beads till I'm high on garageium.

[Thatkid2diesel]

Haha [emoji23]

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[TraditionalToolworks]

At least they were cheap enough that I can run beads till I'm high on garageium.

Cheap doesn't always mean it won't cost you more in the end.

I try to buy proven products when I can.

Recently I bought some Harris filler that is Made in Canada (4043 and 5356) and Made in Italy (ER70S-2).

So all filler is not created equal I 'spose.

[v5cvbb]

I don't have a mass spectrometer like some people. It tastes fine though.

[TraditionalToolworks]

It tastes fine though.

That's what matters at the end of the day.

My wife cooks for a living so she got me used to eating "gourmet".

[BugHunter]

The Weldmongerstore packs their CK alumina cups nicely.

Yup. My stuff has always come in a very nice box and it's almost impossible to damage things. Of course now that I say that watch my next order...