opinions in methods for critical welds

[oscaryu1]

FCAW/SMAW can suffer from slag inclusions and thereby stress risers inside the weld if you're doing multiple passes with it. Newbies on the MIG who can't tune will have cold lap all over the place.

Once again, all FCAW wire you buy in store has passed the same specs as your favored Innershield wire. Do not blame the wire for your crappy welds.

 

[machinist@large]

FCAW/SMAW can suffer from slag inclusions and thereby stress risers inside the weld if you're doing multiple passes with it. Newbies on the MIG who can't tune will have cold lap all over the place.

Yes; all welding processes have potential pitfalls that you need to be aware of.

Once again, all FCAW wire you buy in store has passed the same specs as your favored Innershield wire. Do not blame the wire for your crappy welds.

If you are buying a name brand (Lincoln, Hobart, ESAB, etc.) that has been independently certified to AWS (American Welding Society) standards, then you are/ should be correct.

Where people can get into trouble is if they aren't doing so; I've read many reviews of (for example, but not limited to) Harbor Freight flux core welders where the owner had crappy luck trying to get decent welds, then only changed to a name brand wire (from the stuff that came with the machine and/or they bought at a place like HF) and their problems went away and/or became much less of an issue.

In a perfect world, you should be able to just walk into the local big box, grab a spool of wire/ box of welding rod and not have to worry about whether or not it's a quality product. I haven't found that world yet. Beginning to think it never existed in the first place........

All this being said, if they have removed the obvious issue of defective consumables and still can't get good results? Then we have to start looking at the operator. As the old saying goes, "It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools for all his ills."

 

[oscaryu1]

I've been over this previously, "Harbor Freight" wire and rods runs fine when tuned correctly. There's a few threads on here of my welds using HF wire/rods. Innershield simply has a better flux package, it's easier to learn with. You overlook the fact that the only people who buy "Harbor Freight flux core welders" whom produce these crappy welds are usually entirely new to welding. No "experienced" welder would practice on a HF FCAW machine.

No bias here, I started on them $100 HF gasless MIG machines, and remember specifically switching to Innershield for most of the same reasons listed.

By the way, HF wire is AWS certified. Wire, rods, you name it. I can't think of one commercially sold wire/rod that you can buy in stores that really isn't certified to one welding standard or another.