Welding Tips and Tricks

This was the worst mig AL wire I've ever used! .035 wire with an .040 tip and I spent half the day pulling out spaghetti from my spoolgun. not to mention all the tips I had to unclog. This wire came from Praxair. Now it's going into the recycling bin.

Normally I will use Radner wire from Airgas, I've never had a problem with that.

What was the problem?

AKweldshop wrote:What was the problem?

He doesn't like Italian food.

The wire kept getting jammed up in the tip, and since the AL wire is so soft the spoolgun will keep trying to push it through and it turns into a huge lump inside the gun. So now I have to cut out all the jammed wire, reload the gun, clear or put in a new tip and by the time I took to do all this each time I could have had one more complete piece done.

This happened at least 25 times on one spool of this wire.

Now , of course, I'm not saying this won't ever happen on any brand of wire, maybe only once or twice per spool, if that...... but not 25 times.


And, for the record, I happen to love Italian food!

Other Steve

25 times
Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result =

delraydella wrote:The wire kept getting jammed up in the tip, and since the AL wire is so soft the spoolgun will keep trying to push it through and it turns into a huge lump inside the gun. So now I have to cut out all the jammed wire, reload the gun, clear or put in a new tip and by the time I took to do all this each time I could have had one more complete piece done.

This happened at least 25 times on one spool of this wire.

Now , of course, I'm not saying this won't ever happen on any brand of wire, maybe only once or twice per spool, if that...... but not 25 times.


And, for the record, I happen to love Italian food!

Other Steve

Was it the wire the problem, or was their some thing clogging the liner????

The wire that I normally use (Radner) came in this morning, so I switched back over to it and had only 2 clogs in 2 spools worth with it. Same Miller contact tips, same amount of pressure on the roller wheels in the gun, so I have to think it was the wire.

I've had issues with who makes the alloy more than once, in more than one process. Most common in stick welding, both carbon and stainless.

However, I recently had a real issue with a TIG rod, in 5356 aluminum. I'd finished a box of 1/8" (I forget the brand, but no issues), and dug up a half-box of Alcotec. It was garbage. I'd been welding overhead just fine for six hours, then the Alcotec... Kept dripping off before I could stab the puddle. Tried cleaning and even sanding the rods, thinking contamination. After the fourth serious burn, I stopped, and demanded fresh rod. Our purchaser ran up the road and came back with Oxford brand, and no more problems.

BTW, Radnor is all I use in a spool gun.

Steve S

What do you guys think of "Maxal" ??
I know several guys, and that all they use....

ps, Otto, the brand of rods you ran out of was indeed, Radnor....

AKweldshop wrote:...ps, Otto, the brand of rods you ran out of was indeed, Radnor....

You remember that topic better than I, then!

But, yes, that sounds right.

Steve S

Yep, you can go back to my, "best brand of 7018 by experience only" thread, and you mentioned it there....

Both Radnor and Prostar are crap-phuck producers of wire and SMAW rod!! You get what you pay for. I put Radnor and Prostar under a close second place behind Horrible Fright consumables. Pure chit wire!!!

If you want chit welds, buy chit wire from AirGas (Radnor) and Praxair (Prostar). Stick with Lincoln, Hobart, Forney and ESAB, PERIOD. 'nuff said.