Stick Vs. Flux Core

[robbie]

To answer the original question, the downside to flux core welders is the price of the wire. It costs about $10 per pound, which is a lot more than mig wire.

The upside is that it's about as easy as it gets. It took me just a little while to learn to make a good weld in lightweight steel that you would use in a go kart or mini bike frame. I had to get over my stick welder habits of stirring the little pool to get it to flow on both sides. With the Harbor Freight flux core, you set up a tight joint and just run along it like a zipper, assuming that you have your controls set correctly. And it comes with a book telling you how to do that. I set it where they said and I move the controls only when I'm welding a thicker piece.

 

[vozzy]

Everybody's telling me how to weld, I know how to MIG and Stick, solder, plasma cut, etc. I just wanted to know if flux core welds are comparable to stick or MIG........

 

[redsox985]

mig (gas or flux) or stick??
well i'm 16 and take shop class and needless to say with about half an hour of mig welding practice, 1st time welding btw, i was laying down beautiful beads. like it says about "stupid simple" and "point and click." stick is takes a bit more skill which i lack but is more useful if you want to do heavy duty stuff and cant be indoors. flux is usually a safe bet cause is got the simplicity of mig with the outdoors ability of stick. the cost of gas is 0 and the amount of slag is not bad in comparison to stick. i'm most likely going to opt with a cheap HF flux core to build my next kart.

 

[brendonv]

The only downside to stick is you cant really weld thin stuff. MIG works with just about any thickness, all you have to do is turn a few knobs. With stick welding a rod will only tolerate a certain amperage. For example a 2.5mm rod will only go down to say 70amps or something which is to hot to weld thin sheet metal so you have to buy another pack of 1.2mm rods if you want to weld a little piece of sheet metal which is a little annoying. MIG is more versatile. Its just more expensive upfront. Also if you go with MIG not flux core you have to be 18 in order to get gas bottles. It also helps to have a ute or truck to change them over haha. (may be different in America but in Australia you lease the tanks from a company called BOC Gas and exchange them over when you need too.)

 

[freakboy]

brendon here you own your own tanks and have paper work sayin they are yours then you can get them re filled and inspected...

 

[brendonv]

Thats pretty good. Better that you lease them though because then when you need a new one you give em ur old one and grab a new one. Although if it doesnt come back how you got it you pay.