Garbage MIG wire..any choices left?

Count me in as another happy Forney user, although I've heard a lot of good stuff about the "easy grind" stuff.

Also, to the OP, if you get a new roll of a name brand, please report back as to how well it worked. I'm curious to know if it was just a random bad roll, a poor quality product or a liner/drive roll issue.

 

I bought some Forney wire in a pinch on a Saturday. It is good.

 

Forney seems pretty good...only one you can get at ace hardware on a Sunday...usually i have been using us forge...both seem to work well in my lincoln...after i replaced the 15 year old liner.....

 

Scratching my head!!!! Blue Demon wire is Stainless Steel. Really shouldnt be used on mild steel and you need a trimix gas to use it!

Rod

 

here a link from esab about the "necessary evil" of copper coating and the down time because of the copper coming off and pluging liners. http://www.esabna.com/ca/en/Products/OK-Autrod-1250.cfm

 

I like my hobart, pick em up at tractor supply. 29.99 a ten pound roll.

 

Chances are guys like Miller and Lincoln probably don't make their own wire. Worse yet they probably shop around for suppliers and sometime crap happens.

I've switched to US Forge wilding wire. Better than the crap I was using. US Forge makes their own wire and are OEM manufactures for some of the majors.

 

Ricard Finch noted author on welding and highly experienced welder
and instructor states in one of his books. The copper coat on weld rods and wire is to facilitate the pulling of the metal through the forming dies
during the manufacturing process. I was surprised to read this. I thought the copper was a rust inhibitor.

 

As for liner plugging, I will back up slightly and say that yes with coiled steel liners the copper can sometimes scrape off and build up and cause problems.

That is why we have switched over to nylon liners for smoother feed. I had almost let that slip from my mind

Yes, the copper helps with the drawing process making the wire and helps with feeding through the rollers afterwards.

It is also a rust inhibitor as well so that is all true.

The other function as I mentioned is for good electrical conductivity when passing through the contact tip.

 

The company I work for recently switched to Airgas through a national account and we started using Radnor wire in .035 and 1/16 and we immediately started having jamming problems. We had been using Washington Alloy wire. It was the cleanest wire I have ever seen. It's silver colored but doesn't seem to rust. Here's a link.

http://www.weldingwire.com/

 

Maybe you just got a bad roll.I've been using a big roll of harbor freight wire for a while.

 

why does all the forney products say made in china on them ?

ive had good luck with m.e.t wire

 

I used to think the wire was the cause of bad welds but realised it was just me.

 

we use airgas but always insist that they order lincoln welding wire for us ( both mig and stick) they bitch and moan and try to tell me that radnor is the same, it is not.

I throw thr radnor shit back in there face and tell them to order the lincoln.

Lincoln has a big plant in cleveland that makes mig wire, it runs 24/7 to keep up,

 

We have used HOBART brand .035 for several years. Cost a little more but has worked well for us.
SPEEDY

 

After Airgas telling us we had feeder and Tweco mig gun problems we got Washington Alloy wire from our previous supplier and all of the problems stopped. When we told the Airgas salesman he suddenly can get Washington Alloy from their Chicago warehouse. It isn't much difference in price either. They must have a very high markup on the Radnor products. Don't use the Radnor mig gun parts either. We had some 1/16 tips that the wire wouldn't go through. We only use Tweco parts in the Tweco guns.

 

I live a couple miles from the Lincoln wire plant and I can tell you they receive a LOT OF WIRE delivered to the Mentor Ohio plant which is drawn into MIG wire. I also have a couple beers on occasion with Lincoln employees, as recently as an hour ago, and they will tell you they draw a lot of welding wire in Mentor

 

Another vote for ESAB "Easy Grind".

Also, I use wire cleaner/lubricant. Its a package of a can of liquid and a felt tube that rides on the wire just after it comes off the spool. You squirt the liquid on the felt regularly to keep the wire from sticking.