Best Mig Wire Size For Sheet Metal

Move the torch faster and or reduce the amp setting of the welder and the lower the wire speed.

Best mig wire size for sheet metal.

In addition mig requires lower operator skills levels than stick or tig. This means the. For thinner gauge sheet metal like 18 or 20 gauge we suggest 023 6mm wire in your mig welder. And yes it is easy to grind if you use argon75 25co2.

To help you to get in the hunt we have provided the handy guidelines below. In this video we cover which size welding wire you should use when to change sizes and how to adjust your mig welder machine settings for different wires. Using a thinner wire 0 30 instead of 0 35 will also help. If you are burning through the metal you re not moving the torch fast enough and or your welder is set too high.

I have some of the old linde 023 and the new stiffer esab 030. Keep the stick out short stickout of your mig wire is important when welding any type of metal but especially sheet metal. Another vote for 023 easygrind wire in your mig. It is the best option for welding stainless steel.

Holding the tip too far from the surface will cause the wire to have to come out too far to touch the metal. It s recommended to use a 023 or 024 inch wire for most light gauge sheet metal work. Problems with welding sheet metal. From automotive parts to fabricated structures shipbuilding metal buildings and sheet metal applications all have often reaped benefits from the switch to mig wire.

Metal thickness amperage settings wire size. You can planish it pretty good or just grind it off. Advantages include slag free welding with less clean up even in multiple pass operations. Every mig welder has a sweet spot for a given material thickness in a particular alloy using a specific wire size and a certain shielding gas.

As i will prefer to call it the best mig welder for sheet metal it uses a flux core wire and self release metal inert gas while welding preventing the oxidation of the welded area. When the material is 18 gauge and thicker you may be able to use a 030 inch wire. But be aware that the 023 is really soft. The main reason to use a smaller diameter wire is that it takes less heat for melting and hence the metal around the weld is not heated to a very great extent.

To weld mild steel choose an american welding society classification wire such as er70s 6 which has a weld puddle that wets out nicely.