/ I can maybe give you a little better answer than depends,, Myself I use a lot of 1/16 & 3/32,, I use the 1/16 for most panel work,,,, For great info and answers go To welding tips and tricks .com Jody is a expert and his site is full of info.. You won"t be wasting your time..
It does depend. If I'm gonna be doing a lot of welding and I need it to be nice - on 18ga I'll run 1/16th electrode and some 0.030 wire off the mig roll. Or if I'm in a hurry, like today, for a few inches,,, I'll run what ever the hell is in there from the last time. That was a 1/8" electrode and 1/16" tig Rod on some 18ga. The 1/16 Rod looks like dipping a telephone pole into the puddle
I weld with 3/32 e3 on 90% of the work I do. When I sharpen to a point, I'll bump tip and make like a 1/64 flat to stabilize the arc.
I've heard that a tig weld is soft and you can hammer and dolly it but a mig weld is hard and will break if hammered on. If you use the mig wire for tig, would the weld be soft or hard for hammering
Soft. It is the same filler material. It is the heat affected zone, and the amount of applied heat that makes the MIG weld harder.
Yes 1/16 up to 100 amps. 3/32 up to 250 amp range. The diameter of the filler rod should be the same as the material you are welding allowing both to reach the melting point at the same time. How and the heck can you guys use pliable mig wire to weld tig? It's like sewing without a needle.
Here's how I do it. I get about 6' of wire and roll it into a nice loop about 4" od. & Wrap a tail around the loop. Straighten the other end off the loop and weld. As it goes you need to stop and pass it thru the wraped tail and straighten it again. The last foot or so gets like a sewing machine without a needle and tossed. Every time I get snag in my mig welder I save the part of wire that's in the liner
I never thought of that! I'm going to give this a try. No more throwing out the last 6 feet of my mig spool!
Must be thick "sheet metal" where you live if you need 1/8" tungsten to carry the amperage. For most "tin" welding you should not need anything bigger than 1/16". About the only time that I use 1/8" is when I get over 200 amps on aluminum. Roo
Something I do is take say a 5' length of MIG wire, fold it in half. Clamp one side in the vise and the other end in a drill. Spin it up till its tightly wound. Makes it strong to hold the shape and works perfect for doing sheet metal.
MIG wire and TIG filler rods are rated as ER70S-2 so they should be the same as far as hammering a weld on sheet metal. Any differences would be in the thickness of the metal and how cool it is when you hit it with hammer and dolly. When I set up the machine to do a specific job I use 1/16" Lanthanated electrode and 1/16" filler rod. If it's something that pops up while working on something else I just use what is in the torch.
While I love Tig welding and specialize in it as a professional Tig pressure welder and instructor, when it comes to my body sheet metal I still prefer the tried and true oxy acetylene torch. I use a jewelers torch with a tiny tip and .035 mig wire as filler. Weld hammer and dolly for a really nice weld seam which is easy to finish.
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