I am currently restoring a 1962 mini and have completed most of the welding using 0.8 wire, have done butt and joggled lap joints without major issue, it is a welder not recommended on here a kende 200t although for the price it has been superb, ok not up to top brand build quality but much better than the small hobby one i had before. According to the manual it operates between 30 and 200 amps. It has been very good and I have completed numerous projects with it. My current spool of 0.8 wire is coming to an end, would it be better if I changed to 0.6 when replacement is due. With butt welds I have always had to use the on off stitch method but after reading on here the thinner wire maybe more forgiving, although I must say I have never really had any problems, any advice appreciated.
- Thread starter Daz1968
- Start date
cumbriasteve
Moderator
- Messages
- 9,645
- Location
- Cumbria UK
Most people use 0.6 for car work and 0.8 for heavier material.
If you have 0.8 and managing with it then fine, if buying 0.6 then get a good brand..it does make a difference.
If you have 0.8 and managing with it then fine, if buying 0.6 then get a good brand..it does make a difference.
normspanners
Member
- Messages
- 8,853
why not try a small reel of .6 and see how you go, if you like it better, then go for a 15kg if you don't like keep it in a plastic sealed container for really thin jobs exhausts etc or just an emergency reel. I always use .8 and when I had my old 500amp lincoln I used
1.0mm for body work and virtually everything apart from when I was above 350 amps, it was so controlable.
BUT if ya happy with .8 why change?
1.0mm for body work and virtually everything apart from when I was above 350 amps, it was so controlable.
BUT if ya happy with .8 why change?
Just as an update on this I bought some 0.6 wire today and it is a lot easier to butt weld thin material than the 0.8 and I can put the welder on minimum voltage and get a good weld. So even though 0.8 works for me when using 0.6 it is much easier even though I am still using a 0.8 tip as cant find a 0.6 tip for my welder at the moment. It appears to be a tweco torch with an M6 tip 38mm long, if anyone knows where to get them from please let me know.
