Welding Tips and Tricks

I've been looking at mild steel filler lately and was wondering what seems to work best and the best place to buy it. It seems to be the most at my local welding shop. 5.50/lb for e70s2 1/8"

I keep 3/32 and 1/8 in the same tube along with some 5/32. Those sizes will cover you for almost anything.

I keep 1/16 and 3/32 in both ER70S2 and ER70S6.

I can honestly barely tell any difference in performance, the two types are just what I have on hand. If anything, S2 appears to perhaps deliver a slightly cleaner bead.

Can't or won't clean mill scale I use 70 s6 (but it has sluggish puddle).
Cold rolled and or cleaned material I use 70 s2.

weldkid22 wrote:I've been looking at mild steel filler lately and was wondering what seems to work best and the best place to buy it. It seems to be the most at my local welding shop. 5.50/lb for e70s2 1/8"

What kind of work are you doing? Professional certified welding? Welding business? Garage-weekend warrior hobbyist??

$5.50/lb seems expensive? My LwS sells er70-2 for $2.90 lb. they put it on a scale and weigh it. It doesn't matter if you buy one pound or 50/lb, it's it's 2.90/lb

at my job (where we weld primarily stainless), we just use our giant 12' shear in auto mode and carefully feed (still learning how to do it consistently) a sheet of stainless of our choice of thickness to make filler 'rod'. Not as nice as allow filler rods, but you sure end up with a ton of it for almost no cost at all and you can vary your thickness to whatever you like (once you get good at it)...

Gunner wrote:$5.50/lb seems expensive? My LwS sells er70-2 for $2.90 lb. they put it on a scale and weigh it. It doesn't matter if you buy one pound or 50/lb, it's it's 2.90/lb

I agree. Well, $5.50/lb is not a lot if you're buying those 1lb canisters that are pre-packaged. But if you're buying 10lbs at a time, < $3/lb is more along the lines of what you should be paying.

It's not complete, but feel free to check it out: MIG/TIG Filler rod price sheet

I use Harris filler comes with a heat range number, can go online and print out info on that batch of filler. Stock ER70-S2 in .035 .045 1/16 and 3/32 I don't bother keeping 1/8 on hand. Stuff I weld on is thinner stuff. Most of time .120 to .125 wall is the thickest I go, with most of it being .095 to .065 wall sometimes thinner.

Oscar wrote:

weldkid22 wrote:I've been looking at mild steel filler lately and was wondering what seems to work best and the best place to buy it. It seems to be the most at my local welding shop. 5.50/lb for e70s2 1/8"

What kind of work are you doing? Professional certified welding? Welding business? Garage-weekend warrior hobbyist??

Im doing alot of practice welding, just finding things and throwing beads down, i also do some repair work when people need it.

Gunner wrote:$5.50/lb seems expensive? My LwS sells er70-2 for $2.90 lb. they put it on a scale and weigh it. It doesn't matter if you buy one pound or 50/lb, it's it's 2.90/lb

I bought a single pound of e70s-2 and it came out to $10 just for the pound.. i also live in oregon if that helps? not alot of welding around here.

weldkid22 wrote:

Gunner wrote:$5.50/lb seems expensive? My LwS sells er70-2 for $2.90 lb. they put it on a scale and weigh it. It doesn't matter if you buy one pound or 50/lb, it's it's 2.90/lb

I bought a single pound of e70s-2 and it came out to $10 just for the pound.. i also live in oregon if that helps? not alot of welding around here.

ER70S-2 1/16" one pound at $2.78 from LWS

LtBadd wrote:

weldkid22 wrote:

Gunner wrote:$5.50/lb seems expensive? My LwS sells er70-2 for $2.90 lb. they put it on a scale and weigh it. It doesn't matter if you buy one pound or 50/lb, it's it's 2.90/lb

I bought a single pound of e70s-2 and it came out to $10 just for the pound.. i also live in oregon if that helps? not alot of welding around here.

ER70S-2 1/16" one pound at $2.78 from LWS

i wish it was that cheap around here, ill have to order online from now on or find a new local supply store.