Which welder

Agreed, they are brilliant :-)

Ozie explained on 24/07/2010 :

I managed to weld car structure and body panels quite well using just CO2.

what coating? :>)

Jim K

Jim K brought next idea :

I assumed the gas was produced from some sort of coating on the wire, which I further assumed would not be conductive. Have I misunderstood how it works, I have never seen any?

That looks like it was welded with the gas turned off

That's inherent in the description, it's not inert. But then neither's argoshield

It's not that difficult though.

Especially if you're learning.

snipped-for-privacy@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...

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It's flux *cored* like electrical solder.

Cic.

Thanks. Next time I see some, I buy it and see how it goes.

I had thought of the 'flux core', but discounted it as impossible to produce with steel.

There's no distinction drawn.

Which is a bit odd really, because acetylene is a vastly more serious hazard than shield gas, propane or even oxygen.

I believe it's a coating on thin strip, which is then rolled up and drawn into wire. As far as the finished wire goes, the flux is pretty much internal.

By what process though? You can't do spray transfer with CO2, so that's a bunch of useful welding excluded. It also makes it more difficult to do dip transfer. Most industrial welders don't use it, even on thin sheet, unless they have a pulsed transfer machine.

Whilst most mixed shielding gases (apart from aluminium and stainless) include a little CO2, this is a minor component that provides free carbon monoxide, thus a little extra energy for polishing the edges of the weld bead. In terms of its bulk properties, particularly thermal conductivity, it's far more like pure argon than pure CO2 and so it handles like it.

A "test" where they don't even section, polish & etch the welds afterwards or do a nick-break test, is worthless.

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I was never really aware of this danger, probably because home welding (gas) was rare in the 1970s. I did most of my welding outside or in a rented workshop. Storing and using CO2 is a different matter especially as CO2 is far less hazardous and is actually used in fire extinguishers.

Cic.

er.....which for the OP means what exactly????????

did you copynpaste that from somewhere? it reads wrong...try it........

FFS welding a camper van is not Sellafield - my CO2 railings etc show no signs of failure - what degree of *can't use CO2* are you still defending???

Cheers Jim K

indeed my deoderant has propane, butane and someat else hugely

Cheers Jim K

it means the OP would need to turn his welder up past 200amp, and the effect on 1mm mild steel would be....... AD loves the book theory so much he swallowed it, but it just keeps coming back up when not needed. 

That's why I can weld, and the photographic evidence posted round here shows that at least person nearby can't.

As to Jim K, then if he thinks "good enough to weld railings" is good enough to repair a suspension tower, then I hope he has a careful MOT tester who fails what needs failing.

Well it depends on your insurance company. Mine doesn't mention it, I'veno idea how many do..

You still have to have a MIG that will run the gasless wire. The results are not so good but still work. Some welders have the option gas/gasless.

another point is the duty cycle and amps output. small welders (110amp) don't do a good job through rust, even a little bit, things have to be clean shiny metal for best results. I use an argon mix suitable for light metal.

Rob laid this down on his screen :

It was bought as a gas Mig welder, to do one single job I needed done at the time. I then used it few more times on other jobs, before loosing patience with the silly little expensive gas canisters. Apart from the gas problems it worked quite well, but because of the gas got shoved in a corner and forgotten.

So would I likely be able to buy a reel of gasless wire and use that?

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AIUI as long as you can change the polarity of the torch/earth any MIG welder can run gasless (flux cored) wire?

Cheers Jim K