Welding Tips and Tricks

That's what I got with that machine I bought. Just wondering if anyone has worked with it. Its the smallest I have seen but I have never worked with it. Is it something to use with really thin metal on low settings? Seams to me that you would go through a pile of it to weld anything over 26 gauge sheet metal. Am I correct in that?

Greg,

I don't do a lot of Mig welding but I've welded up to 3/16" with it and it did just fine. Actually the last thing I welded was 1/4" angle and it did fine.

Len

Would eat a hell of a lot of wire using that thin a wire wouldn't it?

I wouldn't use .023 wire for anything over 1/8 inch.....
Anything bigger, use .030 up to 1/4 inch....
I've welding 1/16 wall gal pipe together with .035 on my HH 190, on the lowest setting....
All about volts timed with wfs....

Greg,

Might as well use it up.

Typically, a liner for .023 is actually sized for .023 to .035, so you need only change the tip and guide rollers (check them; you may be able to reverse them for .030/.035). I find .035 a good univeral size for 1/8" through 3/8", and it's far less likely to "bird's nest" in the feeder than .023. As John said, .030 is a good size for that middle ground, between 16 ga. and 1/4"

It all depends on what you intend to do with the machine (and it's capabilities), though.

.023 is pretty common in thin applications like auto body repair. As others stated, you can use it on heavier stuff, up to the point where your wire-feed is maxed out, but you will burn a lot of wire.

Steve S

Ok thanks Otto. I was thinking of thicker metals. But ya your right it would be great for auto body. Welding sheet metal and things like that. Thanks for the tips guys.

We use .030 on occasion and as a general rule and per specs 150 amps should be the max you want to use for that wire. On the .023 I would have to say do not exceed 100 amps+/-. Your wire feed speed will be a lot higher with the smaller wire thus you will burn the spool out faster. I agree to burn it out, as long as you are not welding thicker material than it can handle.
-Jonathan

My mig welder is in my shop at home and is there to use when I need something welded on a moments notice. It was set up to weld the bed panels on my son's pick-up and I just grabbed it and went with what was in there. I usually only weld under 3 or 4 small welds at any one time. I wasn't suggesting that the .023 wire be your go to wire for the sizes I mentioned.

Len

Ok cool thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Its all sold by the pound so size in that aspect doesn't matter. A 11 pound spool of .023 will make the same amount of weld that an 11 pound spool of .030 will. The wire feed speed will be faster but that is all that will change. .023 is meant for thinner material but can be used on heavier stuff.

I'd rather turn the wfs on a larger dia wire down, than turn the wfs up on small dia wire....
.030 is a very good comprimise....

Down here in Bunny Land everything is built of 1.2(.047) to 3.17 "structural" I love running .023 !
I run a ton of .023 w/ CO2. When I need to jump in some SuperDuty 3/16, I tack everything with El MIGelito 140 and bust out Mr. Stick. If it's more than 2 kilos of rod I go to the barn and bust out the MM200 with .035. Truss job, cattle trailer or something. I don't have much room at the house,30 x 20 indoor shop and a 14 x 18 Hawaiian carport outside with a little work pit for that fun overhead stuff and torch cutting/sandblasting over.

If I need more than that I send the work elsewhere. I haven't been able to wash my feet in 15 years and pop more pills than Rush Limbaugh at a Dominican brothel ! Heavy stuff. Young guys, thanks .

I just bought a MIG dedicated for autobody/automotive work and it's loaded with .023 wire per SOP. My PM300 is loaded with .035 for heavy stuff. S/F....Ken M