'Easy grind' Mig welding wire.

[Pete Rodder]

Over in the States they have a Mig welding wire that produces a softer, easier to grind, weld that is ideal for car body work. I have a small roll of 0.6 wire, that I bought from welding supplies shop in Florida, made by Washington Alloy Co with a spec of: AWS A5.18.
Does anyone know of a source of softer wire over here?
A couple of years ago, at the NSRA Essex Swapmeet, there was a welding company who said they were bringing some in but they weren't there last year.
Any thoughts on this one?

 

[irondarren]

Softer wire normally means a weaker joint. I really cant see it making that much difference to the grinding, some good quality grinding disks and it normally grinds away easy enough. I havent heard of softer wire, but then i have never had need of such. Shenion might have a clue on this as he is from the USA and would certainly know if its common place there

 

[Pete Rodder]

In my experience using standard wire, the weld is much harder than the surrounding metal and harder to work with a hammer and dolly if you want to shape it.

 

[irondarren]

not so sure its harder, but a weld is normally thicker than the base material making it harder to work. try the esab site here http://products.esab.com/Templates/T095.asp?id=55599&MainHeadCode=Mild it might help

 

[Welderpaul]

As the deposited weld is a mixture of parent metal and the introduced filler wire, mixed when molton, surely this softer wire wouldnt make any difference to the hardness of the weld??

 

[nickburt]

In my experience using standard wire, the weld is much harder than the surrounding metal and harder to work with a hammer and dolly if you want to shape it.

Also too easy to grind away the surrounding parent metal if you're not careful.

Like the sound of a softer wire for thin bodywork.

 

[Richm]

if you want a "softer" joint and it is not structural braze it instead.

 

[nickburt]

if you want a "softer" joint and it is not structural braze it instead.

Good point, a lot of body panel joints are spot welded and/or brazed to fill the joggle flush.

 

[Pete Rodder]

But you would need awfully long arms on the spot welder to reach some areas and the heat needed to braze would cause distortion unless you are quick with a quenching cloth.
I suppose you could plug weld along the lap?

 

[Justme]

the heat needed to braze would cause distortion unless you are quick with a quenching cloth.
I suppose you could plug weld along the lap?

Not with mig brazing its quick & low heat input.

Justme

 

[IRN BAR]

I find if I make the wear in a hole it is very difficult to drill a new hole afterwards in the weld metal. Mig brazing please tell me more.

 

[Justme]

I find if I make the wear in a hole it is very difficult to drill a new hole afterwards in the weld metal. Mig brazing please tell me more.

Check out the "mig brazing" & the "cast Iron mig welding" links here http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/metals.htm


Justme

 

[Pete Rodder]

Has anyone used this method for patching car bodywork?
Where can I buy small rolls of Mig brazing wire?
what shielding gas should I use?

 

[simon718]

have a look at this Pete, hope it helps, know very little about the applications for it however

 

[issabella10]

Actually, I don't have an enough idea about that Mig welding wire. I only read that in a books. So, I try to search on the web and I am thankful I have found information such as MIG is one of the easiest processes to learn. Most people can learn to run good beads with MIG in just a few hours. And it is easy to learn and makes great-looking welds.