Why no 0.6mm wire machines?

[Morris]

0.6mm on thin stuff for me. I have used 0.8mm but don't feel it's quite as controlled if that makes sense.
I have a 25 year old Sealey 150A mig so I can't really comment on whether modern mugs are 0.6 capable.

 

[tom2207]

True,but mig brazing,costly

so is gas brazing , but if you compare it to tig its not too bad , the nice thing is that oxy acet kit is practically free these days , and once you have the gas set up it has many many uses.

 

[premmington]

Another .6mm ist here, I am envious of anyone that can run a proper weld (not spot) on wafer thin gear with .8mm wire.

Bob

0.6mm A18 wire in pure CO2 - "cold fusion" - high "proud" weld bead...

0.8mm wire in mixed gas - hotter and flows out nice - (get a nice weld profile) - but if metal is too thin - you just get holes....

 

[premmington]

The only downside of using 0.6mm wire I found is:

At higher feed speeds if you get the torch angle wrong (or you got no choice over torch angle under a car). You can get burn backs into the torch nozzle when you stop welding. You can clear these - but it does involve stripping the torch nozzle.

I got two MIG's threaded up in my car repair workshop.
1. Low amp with 0.6mm A18 wire with pure Co2.
2. Higher amp with 0.8mm or 1.0mm with mixed gas.

I also use a DC MMA welder more than you would think - repairing cars - 312 rods for bolt extraction/welding things to rounded nuts. Yesterday I put three blobs of 312 on a rounded/corroded suspension nut @120degrees - hammered one of those Irwin bolt grip extractors on it - extractor got hold of the three blobs of weld (plus the heat from heat from weld helped). Moved it with breaker bar - drowned it in WD40 - then gunned it off with a battery gun.

 

[Jack_K]

A lot of welders don't have a low enough output to run 0.6mm properly. The good welders designed for car body repairs can use 0.6mm and go below 30 amps. A lot of cheap (or big) welders start at 35 or 40 amps or even higher.

 

[Maxakarudy]

A lot of welders don't have a low enough output to run 0.6mm properly. The good welders designed for car body repairs can use 0.6mm and go below 30 amps. A lot of cheap (or big) welders start at 35 or 40 amps or even higher.

That's been my experience too, I also suggest that transformer welders struggle on thin stuff or at least leave a bigger weld that needs more grinding, they're ok at plug welding but doing butt welding, you need low amps obviously, but a stable arc, people think 0.6mm is the only answer on thin stuff, but with the right welder using 1mm wire you can easily weld 1mm steel

I had a friend who's son (a carpenter) was rebuilding a car for the first time, he asked me to give him some guidance, as he was struggling with his mini mig from
Machine Mart, I couldn't get it to weld anything thin, wire was dipping of the tip, burning holes for fun, I did try for a good 15mins, so IMO if you want weld thin stuff an inverter is the place to start.
Btw if you do have got a transformer welder that you can really get comparable results from, pls demonstrate it, telling me what you can do is pointless, let
the weld do the talking.

 

[Jack_K]

That's been my experience too, I also suggest that transformer welders struggle on thin stuff or at least leave a bigger weld that needs more grinding, they're ok at plug welding but doing butt welding, you need low amps obviously, but a stable arc, people think 0.6mm is the only answer on thin stuff, but with the right welder using 1mm wire you can easily weld 1mm steel
View attachment 540833View attachment 540836
I had a friend who's son (a carpenter) was rebuilding a car for the first time, he asked me to give him some guidance, as he was struggling with his mini mig from
Machine Mart, I couldn't get it to weld anything thin, wire was dipping of the tip, burning holes for fun, I did try for a good 15mins, so IMO if you want weld thin stuff an inverter is the place to start.
Btw if you do have got a transformer welder that you can really get comparable results from, pls demonstrate it, telling me what you can do is pointless, let
the weld do the talking.

Not all inverter welders go low enough either.