I use lacquer thinner to clean everything. It gets off grease, oil and even paint and it dries fairly quickly. It's cheap too. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. It works great on aluminum and it helped my aluminum welds a lot, much better than just brushing it. Just don't leave lacquer thinner soaked r...

I use lacquer thinner to clean everything. It gets off grease, oil and even paint and it dries fairly quickly. It's cheap too. I buy it in 5 gallon buckets. It works great on aluminum and it helped my aluminum welds a lot, much better than just brushing it. Just don't leave lacquer thinner soaked r...

Jim, Yes I am using solid wire (unless I run out of gas on a holiday like I did on this past Easter, then I load up a spool of flux core I have laying around and clean up the splatter mess afterward :D ). I am welding sculptures using a variety of old used metal that range from old wheelbarrows to c...

Otto Nobedder wrote:Hey, boodog,

Post a pic or two as your sculptures come along. (Everyone needs a little inspiration now and again.)

Remember, as you progress, there are no stupid questions. There are, however, stupid answers!

Steve

Streve,
Just saw your post. I'll post some pics soon.
Thanks

...interesting, I just noticed the SuperArc L-56 I am using indicates it meets the ER70S-6 spec (which the Stargon data sheet used in the performance characteristics).

Thanks for the reply Jim. At the moment I am using .025" Lincoln Electric SuperArc L-56. The label says 75/25% Ar/CO2, or CO2. I did a little more reading on Stargon using google. One article said the Stargon mix is 90/8/2% Ar/CO2/O2. It went on to say less CO2 meant less penetration and less c...

Hi All, I started welding with gas shield (rather than just flux core) a short time ago. The local gas guy has been selling me Stargon (Argon, Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen) to weld with. Doing a google on Stargon I read it is a brand name for this mix of gas and is indeed used for MIG. It confused me b...

Thanks everyone for the great response!

Thanks for the good Info. I will give it a try.

Hello all, I am fairly new at welding. I found this forum a few days ago and have already found several useful bits for information, thanks! One thing I haven't been able to find is advice on how to prepare old dirty metal for welding. I use old metal in "found item" sculptures (sculptures...