- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
- Messages
- 6,832
I'd expect you to be over 200 ipm for sure. If you normally weld with .030 or .035 ER70S plain mig wire, you should be selecting an .045 FC wire if you expect to deposit the same amount of filler to the work. Nothing wrong with excess feeding as long as you're getting the performance you want, but I'd go bigger in the future.
I keep MIG guns set up and ready for .026, .030, .035, and .045. The most expensive part about setting up like this is buying the knurled feed rollers from Miller. MIG guns are cheap on eBay, stick with Tweco and all you'll ever need is to match up your wire liner to your contact tip. By staying with the same Tweco series, the components are largely interchangeable and can be sourced as generic through your welding supply.
If you don't like grinding and scraping MIG spatter off of your work, try giving the welder a little shielding gas. C25 makes flux core act a lot nicer. If it is penetration you want, .045 flux core at 200 amps plus will provide beautiful spray transfer when using tri-mix 2% O2 shielding gas. It's a completely different process at that point, the welds are smooth, deep, and beautiful.
I keep MIG guns set up and ready for .026, .030, .035, and .045. The most expensive part about setting up like this is buying the knurled feed rollers from Miller. MIG guns are cheap on eBay, stick with Tweco and all you'll ever need is to match up your wire liner to your contact tip. By staying with the same Tweco series, the components are largely interchangeable and can be sourced as generic through your welding supply.
If you don't like grinding and scraping MIG spatter off of your work, try giving the welder a little shielding gas. C25 makes flux core act a lot nicer. If it is penetration you want, .045 flux core at 200 amps plus will provide beautiful spray transfer when using tri-mix 2% O2 shielding gas. It's a completely different process at that point, the welds are smooth, deep, and beautiful.