0.6 or 0.8 that is the question

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

If you can use 0.6 on new, clean steel and get into spray quicker though (as 8ob posted above) why not!

Haven't used any .8 yet.
.6 has done everything I need and welds beautifully at higher amps too.
Mostly sub 3mm though

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

When every i've tried it on the Kemppi the end burns back to the tip and then jams the feed....happened half a dozen times and that was me done.

With 0.8 it never happens!

I really wanted to use 0.6 as I was welding a jap car from the 1990s which is really thin....fresh steel is 0.7mm maybe so any corrosion and it becomes very difficult. Fortunately the Kemppi is really good on low power...but I thought 0.6 would make it even better.

So maybe the conclusion is 0.6mm is great for thin steel provided the welder can handle it....still could be operator error (maybe I should read the manual)

 

[Shedendman]

I thought the Kemppi had a burn back control,if so can it not be adjusted to suit?

 

[mechman]

I gave up on 0.6 very early on with my welder (migatronic 180 auto) put some good welds out on car stuff but was sick of the nests inside of the machine. Been using 0.8 since no probs.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I thought the Kemppi had a burn back control,if so can it not be adjusted to suit?

Yea maybe....but that would mean me reading the manual.

Think I just got used to 0.8....the machine loves the stuff and it never gives any problems at all....literally zero problems. I may give it another go on the next project...all I got was burn back....or worse a big nest of wires wrapped round the feeder rollers. It might be that I've just gotten lazy with the torch positioning....if I stretched the torch out that might help?

 

[ranchero]

.8 for everything tried .6 just could not get it to feed correctly made lots of rats nests and ended up binning best part of a 15k roll of wire.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Recon that says more about the wire feeder than the wire itself

 

[gordon stephenson]

I have used 0.6mm wire with a Kemppi 180 mig, no problem at all welding up to 3mm steel. Only ever use EWM or Lincoln wire, For the small difference in price its worth every penny.

 

[WorkshopChris]

Only ever use EWM or Lincoln wire, For the small difference in price its worth every penny.

I have had various wire problems in the past with generic white box or bulk wire, in all diameters. Now it's Lincoln every time for MS Wire or Esab for special wires depending on specifications.

 

[premmington]

0.6mm A18 wire - 100% CO2 - in my Miller set for patching up cars.


I have tried 0.8mm in Argoshield 5%.


I much prefer pure C02 and 0.6mm for patching up rusty cars...

 

[Turbo]

.8 for everything tried .6 just could not get it to feed correctly made lots of rats nests and ended up binning best part of a 15k roll of wire.

Are you swapping over the drive roller to the smaller groove for the thinner wire?

 

[Turbo]

I have had various wire problems in the past with generic white box or bulk wire, in all diameters. Now it's Lincoln every time for MS Wire or Esab for special wires depending on specifications.

I bought some white box wire from Lidl & it welded beautifully, should have bought more & it's never been for sale since then. We are limited on what we can get around here, usually sealey or super 6 which can be hit & miss quality wise. I buy a few rolls of Lincoln when I'm in the BOC shop, unfortunately that's an hour's drive away.

 

[addjunkie]

I used to use .8 for everything on my last machine 180 amp....tried .6 it was horrid.

Now swap between .8 and 1.0 depending what Im doing, though its not often I drop down, unless its a biggish job.

 

[chris y]

I think 0.6 is better for thin material.

However, if you imagine pushing the wire, it has much less column strength so is more likely to bend and buckle if everything isnt in good condition. It also has more room in the liner.
I think its important to have your consumables like liner roller and tip in good condition, and not have any tight bends in the torch cable while welding, you need to think about where to put the machine to keep the cable straightish.

 

[Bone of Arc]

0.6mm on thin sheet or car body type material and anything above and up to about 8mm I use 0.8mm. I have 15kg rolls of each loaded into different Migs so I go to the one appropriate for the job.

 

[Daz1968]

I used 0.6 on my mini project after using 0.8 for previous project, i found it easier for butt welding 0.8mm material.
I use an mb15 torch 3m and have a short gap between roller and liner, also have tension set so it slips rather than bird nests if anything goes wrong. Never had my major issues using either size though. I have always found the quality of weld and ability to weld thin material is reliant on the quality of the wire feed.

 

[DennisCA]

I got some .6mm but I haven't been able to give it a fair go, been running the wrong rollers. Amazed it worked at all. Will be using it with right rollers this summer doing body work on my cars.

 

[Onoff]

I THINK I prefer 0.6 over 0.8 where I'm playing at welding up this 25x25x2 box garden arch thing. Tbh I'm fairly useless with both!

I noticed that switching to 0.8mm stainless wire yesterday and it was a whole different feel...still useless mind.

Forced myself to watch some YouTube vids and I think I've actually learnt something.

I'm crying out for a decent big bench where I can get comfortable and practice. Lying on an uneven patio with the work eating on dodgy plastic trestles isn't exactly conducive to good results I guess.

Using the @Kram Ginour mask but I might try with the IFL one. Neither are true colour. I'm using that as another excuse!

 

[arther dailey]

Think it depends a lot on the welder (machine) as well as the welder (human) preferance.

I never got on with 0.6 in my old Clarke so used 0.8 for everything. Don't mind 0.6 now in a better machine but still use 0.8 almost exclusively.

I think I remember 0.6 for bodywork being a bit more fussy with not perfect (i.e. still a bit rusty) material. With 0.8, you can up the amps quite a bit, get everything molten and quickly dash off before you blow through. 0.6 seemed less forgiving

after using several migs I totally agree, some just dont run .6 good others work fine, going to the extreme I have 1mm in oxford 330 and it will weld 1mm tin super smooth ..which was a suprise to me , only tried as dont have the .8/.6 rollers for it and it was bottled up and easy to get at.

 

[MetalMonkey]

0.8 in my Oxford 270, comes with 0.8 or 1.0 rollers. Never tried 0.6 or 1.0. I had every intention, but found I could do everything from thin car panels to RSJs with 0.8, without changing the reel, and now I'm far too lazy to experiment.