# What flux core wire are you using?



## mickri (Oct 15, 2019)

I need to buy another spool of flux core wire for my little HF welder.  I use .030 wire.  The welder is used mostly on sheet metal on my 1966 MG Midget that I am resurrecting.  Would like to know what other people are using in their flux core wire welders.


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## Ulma Doctor (Oct 15, 2019)

Lincoln NR211


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## FOMOGO (Oct 15, 2019)

I wouldn't recommend Flux core for any kind of sheet metal work, especially auto body work. You would be light years ahead getting setup for 75/25 gas. Mike


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## mickri (Oct 15, 2019)

The flux core welder is what I have and there is no money in the budget for anything else.  This is what I was working on today.  This is in the driver side fender well.  You can only see a little of the rust cancer in this photo.  There was more after I got all of the paint removed.




I welded in a patch to cover the rusted out area.




I still have more grinding to do to smooth everything out.  Tomorrow's project is to work on the underside.  I will be removing most of the rust cancer and then weld in a patch.




This is the worst of the rust cancer that I have to fix.   A prior owner instead of fixing the rust covered it with undercoating.  I only discovered the rust when I removed the undercoating in prepping for paint. The remaining rust spots are a couple of small holes in the passenger side foot well that I will cover with an epoxy patch.  The other welding that I have to do is welding a new tunnel to fit over the transmission.




It turns out that I cut out more of the tunnel than I needed to.  So I will be welding part of what I cut out back in place and only have to fabricate a small portion of the tunnel.  

I don't really consider this to be body work.


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## mickri (Oct 15, 2019)

Deleted duplicate


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## jbltwin1 (Oct 16, 2019)

We used to use .023 in the shop for sheet metal but that was WITH gas.  It allowed the use of lower currents and made for easier welding with sheet metal.  I Do understand the need for using what you can afford.  I Also keep fluxed wire here in case I have to weld outdoors with the wind as a factor. It is .030  or .035--can't remember as I don't use it much.  Have to obviously change tips but if you have to go mobile,  it IS nice to not have to drag a tank around.  Mike


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## Old junk (Oct 16, 2019)

Been using blue demon .035 at my shop for years (auto repair) I think it works best for rusty metals,tried a bunch like it best.


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## mickri (Oct 23, 2019)

When I was searching for info on flux core wire I ran across a post somewhere about not needing the nozzle.  That poster opined that the nozzle on a flux core welder serves no purpose and you have better visibility without it.  I have not done this.  Any merit to this?


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## Dudemanrod (Oct 28, 2019)

There is a slender nozzle for fluxcore shaped like a cone. Local welding supply should  have it.


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## mickri (Oct 28, 2019)

Thanks for the info about flux core nozzles.  Home Depot has them.  I did some welding yesterday without the nozzle and it was much easier to see what I was doing.


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## mickri (Jan 19, 2020)

Well guys I finally was able to get back to some welding today.  I am making a cart for a 25 gallon garden sprayer tank out of an old bed frame.  I bought a spool of Lincoln NR211 and I got a magnifying lens for my helmet.  What a difference.  With the lens I can actually see what I am doing.  And there is no comparison between the NR211 and the HF junk.  My welds now look like welds should look instead globs of splatter.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow.


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## Shootymacshootface (Jan 19, 2020)

I used to use flux cored wire from NAPA, and had good results with it. I tried solid wire and CO2 with my little welder. I found out that it could not make enough heat for this to work.


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## General Zod (Apr 12, 2020)

mickri said:


> Well guys I finally was able to get back to some welding today.  I am making a cart for a 25 gallon garden sprayer tank out of an old bed frame.  I bought a spool of Lincoln NR211 and I got a magnifying lens for my helmet.  What a difference.  With the lens I can actually see what I am doing.  And there is no comparison between the NR211 and the HF junk.  My welds now look like welds should look instead globs of splatter.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow.



If you think the Lincoln NR211 wire alone made that much of a difference, just wait until you get rid of that Harbor Freight flux core welder!  I could be wrong since I don't know exactly which one you have, but if it's the one I'm thinking of, it's the same model that everyone (on other forums) always ask about "how to make their welds" better, even with the good wire.  And the answer is, you can't because it uses AC output for the wire!  AC I said!  LOL.   That is why it will always have tons of spatter, as gasless flux core wire needs DC with electrode negative polarity.


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## mickri (Apr 12, 2020)

I converted my welder to DCEN.  Wasn't hard to do.


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## delmenow (Jul 25, 2020)

New member here - total noob. 

So that nobody is in any doubt, I will immediately demonstrate my complete ignorance - things can only get better from there, right?

I have one of the much maligned HF AC welders - I can't afford to replace it, so I'm looking at improving both it and me. First task seems to be converting to DC.

All of the DC-AC conversions I've seen use a bridge rectifier, and most of them use a large electrolytic capacitor for smoothing. But I was thinking of something else. For the decorative welding I have in mind (garden ornaments etc), I find that the MIN setting allows me to lap-weld 3/8 rebar, but cuts through sheet metal like the proverbial hot knife through butter.

Has anyone tried using just a half-wave rectifier, thus reducing the voltage, and hence current as well?

My thinking is that this might allow me to weld sheet metal on the MIN setting, and still weld rebar on the MAX setting.

Any experience? Thoughts? Comments? Complaints? Insults?

Thanks!


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## Ulma Doctor (Jul 25, 2020)

you may only lose a couple volts through the rectifier, it really doesn't limit current.
simply put, if the voltage drops, current raises, to do the same work.
for example 22volts @ 80 amps = 1760 watts
if you drop the voltage to 20volts, the Amperage will raise to 88 amps to get the 1,760 watts


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## Shootymacshootface (Jul 25, 2020)

The smallest wire you could get your hands on will make a difference. How small of a flux core wire cane you get? I remember running. 027 thru mine, but I cant remember if it was flux core or not.


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## General Zod (Jul 25, 2020)

you will not be able to find mass-produced available-to-consumer gasless flux cored wire smaller than 0.030".


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## delmenow (Jul 25, 2020)

I'm using 0.030


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## mickri (Jul 25, 2020)

Welcome to the forum.  Lots of really knowledgeable people on here who will bend over backwards to help you. 

I hadn't welded in maybe 30 years when I got my HF flux core welder.  I did the conversion with the bridge rectifier and a capacitor. It was not hard to do and not expensive.  It made a world of difference in the welding.  I have also started using lincoln 211 wire.  It is a multi pass wire which to my limited knowledge means that I can make multiple passes when welding.  A lot of flux core wire is single pass.  When welding thin stuff I have found that it is best to make a bunch of tack welds spread about an inch apart.  Then go back and put another tack weld partially over the previous weld and so on until you are done.  Another thing that you have to practice with is the feed rate on the wire.  It makes a difference that I am still learning and don't have figured out yet.


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## delmenow (Jul 25, 2020)

Hi mickri.

Thanks - I can see that people are generous with their time and expertise here.

Have you any experience with or thoughts on the half-wave idea? I suppose I could buy the bridge rectifier, and wire it as a half-wave to see how it works, but I'm hoping that someone might have had the idea before me and will be able to tell me how/whether it worked.

I'm just playing with bits of scrap metal, an old rusty bedframe, and nails, screws, and washers. I've also tried welding nickels and quarters, and dollar store cutlery, and some of that wire that's used for highway crash barrier. I want to get an idea of what might be possible with this little machine. 

My wife is busy putting together a board on Pinterest with projects for me, but most of them look like graduate level stuff. So far I've made a flower with a nail and 7 washers, and a "horse" with 3 nails, and they look like something that a toddler with a blunt crayon scribbled on the living room wall.


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## mickri (Jul 25, 2020)

I do not know much about electronics and just followed instructions online to do the conversion to DCEN (DC electrode negative).  I have no idea how you could wire a bridge rectifier to make it a half wave.  The two wires from the welder's transformer go to the AC side of the rectifier and the other side has a negative terminal and a positive terminal.  Be sure to use at least a 150 amp single phase rectifier.  I originally used a three phase rectifier because people online said it was ok.  But the three phase rectifier burned out rather quickly.  When I went looking for a solution there seemed to be some dispute as to whether the amperage of the three phase rectifier got cut down to only 100 amps when used with single phase.  I have not had any more problems with the single phase rectifier.


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## Weldingrod1 (Jul 25, 2020)

Speaking from actually having a welder with one out of four diodes blown, the welding performance sucks! I dont think you can avoid dc in your transformer with half wave rectification, at least if you have a single winding. The transformer will act weird with DC. I'd have to do some figuring g to think about how it would misbehave, and it's too late at night for that...

Add a resistor in series, or run an excessively long and slightly undersized ground cable.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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