Welding Tips and Tricks

just wondering i cant recal any posts for fluxcore. i weld with nr-233 fluxcore everyday anybody have anyexperince or comments on this electrode

well just all ship yards work with fulx core about every day

I weld with it quite a bit. What would you like to know?

I use it around the house all time on bikes and lawn mowers here in my neighborhood, I even built a trailer hitch ( class 1) with a .035 Flux core. Mines an old Century powermate 70.
I'm gonna replace it with a newer one come Feb.

I dont where i currently work but used to weld with esab dual shield 1/16" and .045" wire alot. also ran 316 stainless core wire which doesnt run as smooth but puts down a nice looking bead when its all said and done. This was for a place that built surface condensers. pressure vessel industry. just my 2 cents i guess.

i run it through a 110 mig machine. no need for shielding gas and it comes in very handy for material 1/4" or less. it does trip the circuit breaker if i get carried away. i'm a maint welder in a large detention facility.

I have no specific comments on your FCAW wire, but,I use a range of wires in my projects, and I find I can readily adapt to all of the good brands.
I think it "tricky" that many FCAW wires are single pass, and yet often this is not printed on the material or its packaging: you find out on web sites.
However, I weld nearly every day, a lot of light fabrication -- racks, shelves, garden frames, green house frames, trollies, planter box frames (for railway sleeper 2.4m, so quite heavy on steep slopes, etc -- and I do all my work with FCAW.

AnvilJack wrote:I think it "tricky" that many FCAW wires are single pass, and yet often this is not printed on the material or its packaging: you find out on web sites.

Single pass? No such animal. Knock the slag off, wire-wheel it, grind the toes if needed, grind a groove in it if you must, and weld again.

I'd love to read about this "single-pass" flux-core. Have any links you can share? In 30+ years, I've never encountered anything that I couldn't put multiple passes "on" or "with".

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:

AnvilJack wrote:I think it "tricky" that many FCAW wires are single pass, and yet often this is not printed on the material or its packaging: you find out on web sites.

Single pass? No such animal. Knock the slag off, wire-wheel it, grind the toes if needed, grind a groove in it if you must, and weld again.

I'd love to read about this "single-pass" flux-core. Have any links you can share? In 30+ years, I've never encountered anything that I couldn't put multiple passes "on" or "with".

Steve S

here's an animal you must have missed steve cause these lincoln innershield wires are single pass. nr-1, nr-5, nr-131 and i believe nr-152.

yes I too need to make sure the spools i buy have the MP at the end for Multi-pass.

I i find it confusing how people will interchangeably talk about FCAW in the Shielded and unshielded varieties. And "use it all the time in shipyards" and then "fixed my lawnmower" same technology, but not really the same practice. I have never personally seen anyone use FCAW shielded or for an industrial application or anything beyond a autobody/backyard repair.

I was even thinking Jody should do a video about more heavy-duty applications than 110 welders can do. In my area i only really hear about it for heavy equipment fab and dumpster building.

Oddjob83 wrote:yes I too need to make sure the spools i buy have the MP at the end for Multi-pass.

I i find it confusing how people will interchangeably talk about FCAW in the Shielded and unshielded varieties. And "use it all the time in shipyards" and then "fixed my lawnmower" same technology, but really the same practice. I have never personally seen anyone use FCAW shielded or for an industrial application or anything beyond a autobody/backyard repair.

I was even thinking Jody should do a video about more heavy-duty applications than 110 welders can do. In my area i only really hear about it for heavy equipment fab and dumpster building.

i used 3/32" lincoln innershield fcaw for welding "H" beam pile points (16 passes per point- 1 1/2 " material) and for column splices on more than a few high rises here in nyc. i also run it through my lincoln 110 mig at home cause i don't need a inert gas tank and have a 110 machine at work for the light stuff. it's very versatile.

jwmacawful wrote:

Otto Nobedder wrote:

AnvilJack wrote:I think it "tricky" that many FCAW wires are single pass, and yet often this is not printed on the material or its packaging: you find out on web sites.

Single pass? No such animal. Knock the slag off, wire-wheel it, grind the toes if needed, grind a groove in it if you must, and weld again.

I'd love to read about this "single-pass" flux-core. Have any links you can share? In 30+ years, I've never encountered anything that I couldn't put multiple passes "on" or "with".

Steve S

here's an animal you must have missed steve cause these lincoln innershield wires are single pass. nr-1, nr-5, nr-131 and i believe nr-152.

Thank you. I'll have a look. Not buying in yet... It's ALL steel, and you can grind it down, put a groove in it, and weld it again.

Steve S

All right.

It says "good for" single pass, not "only capable of" single pass.

Those BTW are for automatic and semi-automatic welding.

Steve S

Hey ,

we have a wire at work, 309 flux core, that has a down hand version and a out of position capable brother. the down hand one does awesome multi pass corner joints but if you use the out of pos one on the same joint it looks like complete crap.

Mick

Cigweld - 0.8mm Shieldcor 15 Flux Cored MIG Wire 4.5kg

Model # 721923
Self shielded flux cored wire, for single pass applications only

I don't use this wire, but is is just one of a whole bunch of single pass wires for FCAW.

I guess a further point is to ask, "If the weld filler is as strong as the original metal, why can't you make multiple passes on any such wire?"

I went searching in my reference books for information on the single pass issue, and found, just by chance, this comment in Welding Principles and Applications, 7th ed Larry Jeffus Delmar Cenage Learning 2012: "Although the process (FCAW) was introduced in the early 1950s, it represented less than 5% if the total amount of welding done in 1965. In 2005, it passed the 50% mark, and it is still rising." page 297

But among my friends very few use FCAW in their shops: all mig or stick or tig (mostly GMAW). Which I think is strange, but then they think I am the odd one out for using FCAW.

Single pass wire issue
OK, so, relying again on Larry Jeffus, in the AWS numbering system for tubular FCAW wire, EXXT - X, the T indicates flux cored electrode, and the final X indicates single or multiple pass characteristic (2, 3, 10, GS are for single pass welds only). It seems that the single pass quality is a consequence of high levels of manganese in the flux to help weld over mill scale and rust, but in multiple passes with this material, "there might be manganese-caused centerllne cracking of the weld". (page 701)

The multiple pass flux has a high level of silicon in it, as well as the manganese, is stronger, and so can be used for single or multiple pass welding.

Of course, most of the wires I have noticed for single pass use only are marketed by firms that do not use the AWS numbering system.

AnvilJack,

That's some great information.

This, also, is one thing I like about welding... I can always learn something new, even things that surprise me.

Steve S

Isn't is odd how, once a question has been raised, (sometimes) answers keep appearing, (like the 500+ proofs to Pythagoras Theorem).

"The flux cored arc welding process has become the most popular semiautomatic process for structural steel fabrication and erection." Fabricators' and Erectors' Guide to Welded Steel Construction Blodgett, Funderburk, Miller and Quintana The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation 1999 page 3

Must be some folk using FCAW.