gas wire/flux wire

[PaulC7]

Trying to understand if there different or the same thing.

Got the use of a large mig welder if i need it but it will come with no gas or bottle... was told it will work fine with gas wire, but cant seem to find anything useful on google.

 

[hotrodder]

Covered in the tutorials, links at top of page and direct to the gasless-mig page. However told you you can use bare (gas) wire without shielding gas is an idiot

 

[PaulC7]

Wasnt told directly by the person, message was relayed so may of got lost in translation.

Missed the tutorials as i havent got round to start welding yet, and going by the tutorial my gasless mig isnt the best to start with either.

So with gas wire... the wled will oxidize and not we a very good strong weld... and using flux wire which is a bit tricky to weld with is only really good for outside welding...

so that leaves one thing really... to go out and buy gas bottles of CO2/Argon,

As i will only be doing the occasional welding are the cheap disposable bottles... more than suitable?

 

[hotrodder]

If you carry on reading the tutorials you'll find the cost of gas covered, for example... http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/wiki/Gas_Price_Spreadsheet, note you get a theoretical max of 11 mins welding from a disposable (based on flowrate of 10litres/min) and on a pence per litre basis it's by far the most expensive way. They also tend to run out without warning in the middle of something making a mess of it in the process. Click the gas suppliers list link in the left hand menu and hit the phone

 

[benham]

I've now got a HobbyWeld 5% cylinder, not sure what size it if but anything must be better than those dispodable bottles (I think they're also dreadfully wasteful, throwing away what looks like a perfectly reusable cylinder). Whole HobbyWeld gas/regulator/deposit was £100ish, but can always get £40 back on the bottle!

I tried welding without gas just to see what would happen...... Just makes a dreadful mess!!

Regards,
Andy