Best Gasless wire for IGBT welder.

[GRW]

I found the Clarke FC wire to be rubbish also.
For outside on the van I tried E71-TGS FC wire (0.8mm) that's commonly available.
I've no idea of its in the same league as that Lincoln 211 (it's a hellavu lot cheaper so perhaps not) but it was a quantum leap forward over Clarke's stuff (which IMO they should stop supplying - especially with any new Gasless Clarke welder - cos all it seems good for is to make both the user and the welder seem a lot worse than they are).

 

[JOEPRO]

Can I ask where you got it from? When I was looking for gasless wire I couldn't find Lincoln wire. I ended up getting this, which came in around £30 for 2kg

0.9MM EWM FCW 71T-11 SELFSHIELD FLUX CORED MIG WIRE X 2.0KG - R H Davey Welding Supplies Ltd

Unalloyed self-shielding flux cored wire electrode. Bright, layer wound. Very easy handling and controllability. High current carrying capacity and low spatter. Reduced barium proportion, observe safety instructions.

rhdaveywelding.co.uk

That is a quality wire.
I'd say it on a par with the the Lincoln, possibly even better.

I haven't use the EWM but I will probably get some the next time I need some gasless.
Last roll of Lincoln 221 I got came from TPS in Kilmarnock.

Please post back on how you get on, especially with the thin stuff.

Bumping this thread. I have gas Migs but playing with flux core on another welder I just picked up.

I would like to start with a decent gassless wire and shorten the learning curve somewhat.

The Lincoln wire I can only see at 5kg spools over £100 Mark. For my first spool I would prefer a smaller spool.

Have any members used the Lincoln and the above EWN wire and can give an opinion please?

 

[JOEPRO]

Update,

Considering my planned very minimal usage of gasless welding I just cannot justify buying a £120 odd spool of wire for it. Not yet anyway. It sure is a shame there does not seem to be 1kg or similar Lincoln rolls available in the UK.

In any case with some research I found this GYS wire on Amazon which gets very good reviews. Its made in Europe and GYS are a decent welding brand so I ordered a spool to try out.





I know my welder came with a roll of Parkside flux core in it from the PO so I'll run side by side comparison welds VS this GYS Toparc wire and post them here FWIW.

 

[Dcal]

The small reels of Lidl flux core are not bad.
For 2mm sheet and up it's very usable, for butt joints in 1mm, much less so.

I struggle to get any flux core to play ball on thin steel, but I've got an aversion to cold welds and if you run flux core hot, the wire just cuts through the open joint.
Lap welds are ok, but I just can't be bothered putting the time in to make it work, when solid wire is so much easier on thin stuff.

 

[JOEPRO]

The small reels of Lidl flux core are not bad.
For 2mm sheet and up it's very usable, for butt joints in 1mm, much less so.

I struggle to get any flux core to play ball on thin steel, but I've got an aversion to cold welds and if you run flux core hot, the wire just cuts through the open joint.
Lap welds are ok, but I just can't be bothered putting the time in to make it work, when solid wire is so much easier on thin stuff.

Yes that's all good advice thanks- I likely won't be using the flux core on car bodywork or similar thin steel.

Really for gate repairs or knocking up a box section frame outside on a windy day. So 3 -5mm steel range which seems most suited to flux core in general from research.

I posted elsewhere but it is this welder I picked up yesterday cheap that I will likely keep setup as my flux core / outdoor MIG




(I have 2x other gas inverter MIG welders which I use alot more + an AC DC Tig)

 

[Keithmac]

I may not have gone for the Lincoln NR211 if I didn't have an entire car to weld up outside. As it is it's paid for itself (and the welder) many times over.

There's a bit of a learning curve with gasless but you should be fine with what you have above.

Other reason I went gasless is BOC took the pee with bottle rental and I couldn't justify having a bottle of Argoshiel sat kicking around not in use costing money.

 

[Dcal]

Yes that's all good advice thanks- I likely won't be using the flux core on car bodywork or similar thin steel.

Really for gate repairs or knocking up a box section frame outside on a windy day. So 3 -5mm steel range which seems most suited to flux core in general from research.

I posted elsewhere but it is this welder I picked up yesterday cheap that I will likely keep setup as my flux core / outdoor MIG

View attachment 433645
View attachment 433646

(I have 2x other gas inverter MIG welders which I use alot more + an AC DC Tig)

3 to 5mm is perfect for flux core, at that thickness it really nice to use but it is very smokey.
A longer stick than solid wire helps as well.

 

[JOEPRO]

Update,

Considering my planned very minimal usage of gasless welding I just cannot justify buying a £120 odd spool of wire for it. Not yet anyway. It sure is a shame there does not seem to be 1kg or similar Lincoln rolls available in the UK.

In any case with some research I found this GYS wire on Amazon which gets very good reviews. Its made in Europe and GYS are a decent welding brand so I ordered a spool to try out.

View attachment 433630

View attachment 433632

I know my welder came with a roll of Parkside flux core in it from the PO so I'll run side by side comparison welds VS this GYS Toparc wire and post them here FWIW.

Update, got this reel today and gave it a quick test run.

Seems decent to be fair. Flux core on left and gas on right.



Definitely not my finest work but there you go. What I find most interesting is the reverse polarity and flux core wire definitely penetrate better. That can be seen above comparing both welds which were ran at the same settings back to back.

More practice required. It's definitely smokey stuff! Not for indoors use. But seems well suited to thicker materials.

 

[joneswoodcumbria]

Hello all, just a quick question to ask about best gasless wire to use on my VW Golf Restoration.

I've bought a Gasless Welder to replace my old SIP 130 Mig, and have been using SIP 0.8 Gasless wire (just a quick go at repairing battery tray).

I have a significant amount of welding to do (both sills, wheel arch repairs, rear jacking point/ beam hanger replacment panels etc).

The SIP wire is OK but just wondering if there was a better Gasless wire available for the job, or split into Chassis repair and Bodywork repair, (different wire for each?).

I'm welding outside so would like to continue with Gasless, plus I used to rent Argoshield bottles from BOC and the rental just got daft at the end £100 a year or more iirc?).

Anyone with experience of different wires feel free to chime in!.

Thanks for your time, Keith.

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Having tried several brands I was surprised that Amazon had the best, from Proweltec. I was unhappy with spatter on the others, but this goes very clean, not too much powder, great penetration and the least porosity of all. But still some porosity. I think that's one trade off vs gas. Good on everything including up to 6mm.