Compared flux-core to stick for a big outdoor job in Philly last week

I had to weld some heavy plates on a bridge repair and tried flux-core first. The wind kept blowing my shielding gas away, so I switched to stick and finished in half the time with better welds. Has anyone else found stick just works better for outside work no matter what?

2 comments

2 Comments

william91720d ago

Haven't you ever dialed in your flux core settings so it handles light wind just fine?

jesseb2019d ago

Man I finally got my Hobart 140 dialed in last spring for exactly this. I run 0.030 Lincoln NR-211 at about 3 on the wire speed and a little above 4 on voltage, and it lays down nice and flat even with like a 5-8 mph breeze. The trick for me was getting the stickout to about 5/8 inch and cranking the voltage up just half a notch more than the chart says. Had a job welding up a gate in some light wind last year and it burned in clean, no porosity or worm tracks. Just gotta accept it won't work in anything gusty but for a steady breeze that flux core handles it way better than gas ever did for me.