Metal Cored Wire

[X-ray]

Does anybody use it and what do you use it for? What are its welding traits?

[texrednek]

Xray,
metal cored wires are suppose to be a new....not that new....wire that is suppose to offer the best of both the solid wire world with the flux core world. Basically offering higher deposition, cleaner welds, ect ect. Ive used it a little. I really enjoyed the user friendlyness of it. However, Ive heard some real negative comments on the stuff. Ive heard people complaining of poor welds, namely cracking after a few months. I havent yet found out what was causing this, nor have I specifically sought out the answers. I use SMAW mostly so this wire doesnt effect me. A friend of mine in vancouver says they use it for flat and horizontal in the spray transfer mode. He said they use the fluxcore gas shielded for the out of position. Some of the projects hes been working on that Ive seen pictures and such of were mining and dredging equipment. I beleive slagking posted some info on the welds that cracked. I blevie thats where I got that info form. Again I had good sucess but the neg feedback was related to cracks several months later. Might ask Slag about it see if he had been the source of that info. Good luck.

[Bowtieman31]

I've been using JWHarris, Perfect Circle "20 Guage" welding wire for some time now.
I run this wire with straight CO2 gas at 20CFH.
I use it for welding sheet metal, mostly 18-20Ga. Mostly on body panels, floor pans etc.
This wire was designed for sheet metal use and it works very well. My experience with this wire is good and I will continue to use it as designed.
There are others that have used this type of wire for heavier work, and I have seen mixed reviews for that application.

[BBchevy396]

That's a coincidence, I ordered a roll of Lincoln's metalshield mc-6, today, just to check out the metal core programs on my Invertec.
Of all the different wires and rods I have or used, I haven't got to run any metalcore. It doesn't sound to encouraging if there is cracking probs with it, but i'll burn some on a few non-critical projects, and post my experiances.

If anyone has any tips, I'm glad to listen, and try'em out!

[texrednek]

Welcome BB !!!!!

[BBchevy396]

Hey TX...Evenin'!!! I was just gonna go to see if you were here!

[texrednek]

Evening BB yeah im here here and there that is lol

[speedphreak]

There was a thread about this about a month ago, or maybe a bit more. If I was the helpful sort I would search for it a get you a link but as things stand you are gonna have to look yourself. Check it out, there is a fair bit of info there.

[cutter]

Originally Posted by speedphreak

There was a thread about this about a month ago, or maybe a bit more. If I was the helpful sort ......

Maybe it was this one:

http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/...etal+core+wire

[Jerry]

Metalcore wire has been around for a while now. I use it and am very happy with it, although not at first. The wire is produced for many uses, such as flat, vert, hor. meaning there are many types of metalcore wire produced from each wire supplier. Some metalcore works good they say( they being the manufacture) for burning through scale and other crap, but I always grind or blast the weld area clean, for when I tried welding through the crap I had porosity problems.
Metalcore wire penetrates well into base metal, the wetting action of puddle is nice and it sprays well. I go to my metalcore when welding 3/4" plate or thicker.
I use a lincoln brand MC-710XL