Thread: MIG wire confusion

Dean,

This is kind of silly, I always store my welding rods in a plastric bag with desiccant, but have never thought about the storing the mig wire like that - sounds like a good idea to me!!

I'm looking forward to trying your set-up tips, I'll let you know how things turn out after I've sorted out the liner and get new wire. My wire doesn't look 'rusty' but has some discoloration. I don't know if this wire is part of my problem or not.

Maybe, I'll just clean the liner, weld with the wire I've got and see how it goes.

In your welding experience have you found duragal rhs with the durgal removed with a grinder, as easy to weld as painted rhs?

Thanks again for your help.

Ted
SE QLD

Hi fellas
A note about cleaning your mig liners.The will only work for the coiled type liner that looks like cafe curtain wire.

When you pull the liner, run it through your thumb and forefinger and feel for a kink in the liner.If it has a kink its usually easier to replace then try to straighten,that almost never works.

If its OK wrap in a circle to fit in the bottom of a 20ltr drum and tip in enough kero to cover, leave it for a while and slush it around.

Blow through it with an airline if you have one .Blow in the direction of wire travel.
Tip the kero out and replace with metho to clean out the kero.I did this procedure weekly with my industrial mig when doing xray work. Most liner problems are kinks from some one dropping something on it.

Success depends on how bad your liner is fouled.

Grahame

Originally Posted by Grahame Collins

Hi fellas
A note about cleaning your mig liners.The will only work for the coiled type liner that looks like cafe curtain wire.

When you pull the liner, run it through your thumb and forefinger and feel for a kink in the liner.If it has a kink its usually easier to replace then try to straighten,that almost never works.

If its OK wrap in a circle to fit in the bottom of a 20ltr drum and tip in enough kero to cover, leave it for a while and slush it around.

Blow through it with an airline if you have one .Blow in the direction of wire travel.
Tip the kero out and replace with metho to clean out the kero.I did this procedure weekly with my industrial mig when doing xray work. Most liner problems are kinks from some one dropping something on it.

Success depends on how bad your liner is fouled.

Grahame

Good point. I forgot to mention about kinks in my previous post.
One of the best, or maybe worst , experiences anyone can have is to spend some time welding Aluminium with a mig. Doing this will teach many lessons regarding liner maintenance and care. You can be quite sloppy when dealing with hard wires and even 1.2mm+ flux core, but the soft wires are somewhat unforgiving.
Just a wondering. Was it worth cleaning your liners as you mentioned? I would have thought that the time taken would have been greater than the cost of a new liner, (allowing for your hourly charge rate, particularly when performing x-ray work).

Originally Posted by twebb01

Dean,

This is kind of silly, I always store my welding rods in a plastric bag with desiccant, but have never thought about the storing the mig wire like that - sounds like a good idea to me!!

I'm looking forward to trying your set-up tips, I'll let you know how things turn out after I've sorted out the liner and get new wire. My wire doesn't look 'rusty' but has some discoloration. I don't know if this wire is part of my problem or not.

Maybe, I'll just clean the liner, weld with the wire I've got and see how it goes.

In your welding experience have you found duragal rhs with the durgal removed with a grinder, as easy to weld as painted rhs?

Thanks again for your help.

Ted
SE QLD

Karl and Grahame have more experience than me so follow their suggestions. Have a go with existing wire as you said but maybe first try running a clean rag over a length of it and see what comes off. If it is slight rust buildup that will be deposited inside your clean liner.

I keep my welding rods inside lengths of PVC pipe with caps over the end. I have used sewer pipe because I had some from plumbing work on the house. I think 80mm holds 5kg and 65mm holds 2.5kg.

As far as welding duragal I have not noticed any difference between the two as stated. I recently joined some lenths of 2.9mm galv tube for verandah posts. I did not grind but I did seperate the lengths by about 1.5mm.

I went looking for the thread in the welding forum . Someone has been busy while I wasn't looking . I'm already there! Whats going on ? The penny dropped . Now I am less confused. I think.

Dean