Thread: Mig wire storage question

I pull mine out & wrap it in a plastic bag.

Chuck it in a plastic bag, and throw in a few bags of dessicant (silica gel or similar if you've got some spare) or even a handful of rice to soak up any moisture which might be present in the bag.

And a little trick to help clean some stuff off the wire is to poke it through a disposable earplug before it goes through the rollers.

Originally Posted by LordBug

Chuck it in a plastic bag, and throw in a few bags of dessicant (silica gel or similar if you've got some spare) or even a handful of rice to soak up any moisture which might be present in the bag.

And a little trick to help clean some stuff off the wire is to poke it through a disposable earplug before it goes through the rollers.

Thanks guys! Lordbug thats a great tip there!

Since you work on the go, I assume you have a small machine, so rather than pulling the wire out of the torch every time wasting meters of wire, why don't you try to bag the whole machine with silica bags in it? You could even shrink the bag around the machine with a vacuum cleaner. I would hate to pull the wire out of the hose every time.
I store my mig inside the house in a cupboard under the stairs and never get rust in month of not using it. Probably depends on the area you live in, I couldn't bag my MIG since it is big transformer 250A on a trolley and I never take the E cylinder off it, but a small inverter may be a different story.

I use 15kg rolls and just put a bag of dessicant in each plastic bag holding the wire, them store the rolls in an old unpowered fridge. If I am welding daily I don't bother putting the roll away but if a few days or more between welds then I remove it from the wire feeder.

Thanks guys great ideas there. removing the wire would be a waste and i never know when i'll get the call to head out and do a job so i'm thinking the bagging of the whole machine and adding dessicant in between jobs as well as adding an old earplug to the wire next spool change.
Any other suggestions are most welcome, it all helps add to the great overall knowledge on here

To save a bit of effort, I'd just chuck a bag over the spool whilst it's still in the machine. Unless your shed gets really damp in winter from leaks or pooling water, or you get a lot high humidity days, that should be enough.

Whilst it's not indicative of every environment, the mig I used to have had a remote spool unit which was open air. In the largest period of no use, about a year or so, I think I saw only a few minor specks of rust form. All it had in terms of protection was a highly flexible strap of plastic as wide as the inner dimension of the spool resting on top of the wire to keep dust & whatnot from settling on it. It's all about finding that balance of effort vs effectiveness

Doesn't MIG wire have a coating of silicone or something over it?

Thanks LordBug i think i'll go with that option for now with some silica gel packets.

RustyArc im interested to hear about that possibility!

Yeah seem to be fortunate wrt Mig wire down here. Just leave mine in the machines.

Havent been using the inverter or transformer units much for a while now. Check em every so often and no signs of rust.

Interesting cause my mill gets a bit of surface rust on it. Of course using soluable coolant doesnt help in that regard. Ditching the PVC cover and replacing it with a canvas one. Hopefully it helps.

Originally Posted by RustyArc

Doesn't MIG wire have a coating of silicone or something over it?

Mig wire is copper coated, the silicon is alloyed in the wire as a deoxidiser. The copper coating is quite thin and has some rust preventative qualities but primarily improves electrical conductivity from the tip to the wire as well as assisting the silicon as a deoxidiser.

I saw an earlier comment regarding wasting wire when removing and replacing spools. The most that should be wasted is maybe 200mm from where you fasten the end of the roll to stop it unraveling after you spin the spool in reverse to roll the wire out of the gun and back on the spool. Once when I had nothing better to do, I calculated the length of .9mm wire per kilo. There is around 1Km of wire per kilo, so a 200mm loss is insignificant - so is the full 4m loss if you just snip the wire off at the wire feeder for that matter.