mig wire with different core

[Xsite]

Hi Guy's

I remember from the distant past talking to a metal fabricator that had a really poor power supply to his workshops, it wasn't huge and only single phase.

He said he had different mig wire with a core that allowed him to get more heat into his welds and weld much thicker steel with single phase mig.

Has anybody heard of this and can they shed any light on it

Thanks

 

[madkayaker]

could be gasless wire as that burns hotter but its messy stuff

 

[Xsite]

Wasn't gasless wire, welds were very clean with no slag.

He was welding 10-12mm plate with a 180 amp mig.

 

[Omniata]

There are "metal cored wires" with an iron powder core...

They have very high deposition rates with MIG but are costly, the welds are left very clean but it's preferred for thicker sections whilst working in spray transfer...

 

[asmeix6g]

i think it would be more like a different gas than a different wire to be fair...

 

[TechnicAl]

metal core will run on lower amps but really its designed to run on higher amps. It will work when solid gets too hot and gives that "crusty" burnt finish. Normally 1.2mm is the smallest so you need 220 Amps+

I suspect its gas, maybe 80/20 instead of CO2. It was an old trick used many years ago