Im sure it depends on the operator,Ive never used flux core before but as far as a cheap welder goes dont buy one get a Lincoln,Hobart or Miller,You get you pay for, Each one of those names have been around for about 75 years they must be doing something right
since flux core welding wire is a rolled tube without a welded seam, it jams up in the contact tip way too often, the fumes from it are a lot heavier than MIG or manual arc. we find it is faster to change electrodes and chip out slag with manual arc than it is to fiddle with the tips on a flux core. i wouldnt worry about buying flux core. it takes a lot more time, practice and concentration to get a good result.
Speaking from experience here. Flux burns at a much higher rate at the focal point of the weld, higher heat means more of a tendency of the metal warping reguardless of adequate cooling, Flux also makes a higher crown and overall larger crown which in turn leads to more grinding(more heat!). The flatter the panel the more likely this will become. Gas should be a C/25 mix. Straight Argon I feel isn't adequate shielding gas for a MIG Machines even those with the major name brands attached very greatly i.e. Lincolns and Hobarts that they sell at Home Depot, Lowes are actually very different from those machines carrying the same name as the ones from a welding shop plus a lot of the 100 amp models will not be equiped with a gas hook-up. So save up an extra 100 bucks and buy a machine from a welding supply shop (HINT* Welding shops are extreamly competitive so shop around and pit their prices against one another!) Learning the Mig can be quite easy as long as your in the hands of someone who is willing to teach you but by all means see if you can talk to someone or take a class at the local community collageand beyond that "Good Luck!"
flux core is made to weld steel it has its place . i always switch my welder over to flux core when welding frams or steel not sheet metal it can be done , it makes a mess and more grinding ,
If you do a search here on the HAMB and several other boards, almost all the people who got something that wasn't one of the "Big 3", found themselves wanting to upgrade it to a better machine VERY quickly. I've used a Century MIG, and it wasn't bad, so you can add that to the list. The original poster on this thread was down under, so brand choices are probably different there, but the same rules apply.
I have a 220v mig that I use for most work but also hve a 110v gas/gasless that I use for tacking things up. I have a bottle set up on this but sometime prefer to use fluxcore in a small dia. wire. One thing I have seen alot of people to do when using fluxcore is forget to switch the positive and negative leads in the machine, it makes a world of differance and thats how they are designed to operate.
At work we just purchased a Hobart Handler 210 wire feed welder set up for flux core. It was purchased primarily to do frame repairs on the rusty mail trucks that we work on(we're in the Rust Belt). Although we still have and use a Millermatic 200 MIG for clean metal, this newer flux core machine works great on dirty and hard to prep steel.
Hey guys. Looking at different mig welders to do mostly Model A frame work in my garage. Right now looking at the Millermatic 180, Lincoln 180C, or the Lincoln 175HD. These are what seem to be in my price range. Are they good enough? I'm new to the welding gig. Looking to wled frame rails.....thinking 2x4x.120 rectangular tubing with all the fixings. Sorry to add on to this thread, but I'm desperate. Thanks, Kevin
Whatever you buy, get something with continuous adjustable knobs, not a half dozen click settings. Not enough fine-tunability for a starting off welder. Love my Lincoln SP 135+. Best money I ever spent, and no way I'd get anything cheaper, worth every penny. I use flux core for some stuff, like exhaust or making miscellaneous things like fixtures or shelves. Also use it for weird situations when dirty or rusty metal needs stuck together, cause flux core works better for that. Panel welding however, YOU NEED GAS. Bottom line. Good luck
I'll throw some info out here for you to consider. As most have said, the use of an inert gas will produce nicer welds than a flux core. The flux core in the mig wire actually produces the shielding cloud as it burns, in much the same fashion as the flux coating in stick welding. For the machine setup, many flux core welders (may not apply to all) are set up with positive polarity on the wire feed. Electrical current flows from negative to positive, so by having the mig wire in a positive reference, the current flows from the work piece to the mig gun. The purpose of this is to get the flux burning first to generate the shielding gas. The downside is that the machine will not weld as "hot", or put out as many amps in this set up. So when converting the machine to gas, you should also make sure that the machine now has negative polarity on the mig wire, as you are no longer concerned about a flux core providing the shielding gas, and you will get better amperage output from your machine. Normally this is a simple reversing of the leads inside the machine. So as far as the welder your son is about to purchase, buy the best machine you can for the money, trying to stay with name brands (Harbor Freight is not a name brand when it comes to welders!) I would rather buy a used name brand than a new imported disposable machine. If his budget doesn't allow a super whiz bang machine, and he must get a flux core, get one he can upgrade to gas later. As has been said, its a night and day difference.
I'll give you my 2 years worth of welding / tinkering knowledge - not much but I know where you are coming from. I got a free 125P welder from a guy. It didn't have a bottle so I used .045 flux core. It was a mess but was working ok - way smokey in the garage. I don't think it was penetrating into the 2x4 size steel well enough - always blowing the 110v breakers too. So I search and decided to overkill a little and got a Miller 212. Its 220v. Welds so much easier - makes me feel like a pro - when really only the machine changed - AND Gas. So this thing goes up to 7 on the current. I have only ever used it up to 4 with .035 wire. That is plenty for 2x4 welds. The rest of the stuff has been .030 wire on 2 or 3 setting. The Miller 250 has the linear dial I think. But for a newb like me, the numbers are fine its either 2,3 or 4. It was more than I planned to spend at first, bit its the last welder I'll buy. Other than that - try to get 220v, I didn't think the 110v had enough juice.
With Flux, I kept blowing holes though anything thinner than 20 gauge. Even then I had to be super careful. Plus it made a real mess and I had to spend soooo much time grinding. Gas is the way to go!
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