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new welding wire

29K views 93 replies 36 participants last post by  oldred 
#1 ·
Have any of you guys tried the Perfect Circle brand welding wire called twenty Gauge? This is a JW HARRIS product which is an old and trusted outfit. In all of my 32 years of welding I have never seen anything that even comes close to this for welding light sheet metal. when the salesman first let me try this wire I was amazed with what it will do. It is a .030 flux cored welding wire that will weld body panels with ease. This wire uses c/25 gas and is not to be confused with useless(or is that supposed to be gassless wire)? This wire is supposed to weld down to .015 thick metal and up to .188 in one pass. I have tried it on body panels and I will never go back to using .025 solid wire! As good as this wire is on thin panels they have two sizes of wire that are even smaller that I have not tried yet. The bead is very smooth and there is NO spatter. No I dont work for JW HARRIS I am just really sold on this stuff and wanted to share it with you.
 
#3 ·
Yes it is a cored wire that must use c/25 gas. This is not new in heavy welding as duel shield wire as it is known has been around for quite some time but only in sizes much to large to weld thin panels. What is new here is the smaller sizes such as the .030 that I am using now. This .030 wire will easily make welds on really thin stock that would be hard to weld with even .025 soild wire. They make two sizes even smaller than .030 I was told by the salesman and I am looking forward to trying them also. I think that this wire will also make the 110v machines more usefull due to the fact it welds at less current for a given wire size and the smaller sizes that are available. The part no. for the .030 is TGE2. TWENTY GAUGE is the product name from JW HARRIS CO. If you try it I think you will like it.
 
#5 ·
The salesman did not say what the smaller sizes are but I would assume .025 and .020. liners for .025 are easy to find for most welders and I am sure they would work just fine for .020 also. Even the .025 tip should be ok for the smaller wire if the right ones are hard to find. After using the .030 I really dont think that one would need anything smaller than .025 but I plan to try them all the first chance I get.
 
#8 ·
Thanks, but short of calling everyone on that list I don't know how much it will help me. There is only one distributor in Kansas, and it's a couple hundred miles away from me. I was hoping for an online ordering source (I guess the internet is making me lazy). Is there a local distributor in your area? Do you think they would mail me some?

Thanks again,
Jared
 
#9 · (Edited)
I did'nt know if that would help but it was all I could come up with at the moment. I would think that most welding supply stores and even a lot of auto parts places carry Harris products,maybe you could have them order some using the part no.(TGE2). The stuff is priced about the same as gassless flux cored wire but is of much better quality.

www.jwharris.com/images/twentygauge.pdf LOTS of info here! Even welder power settings for diffrent brands of welding machines. Also a lot of info on what this wire will do and how it works.
 
#11 ·
It appears to be about the same as mild steel solid wire and seems to grind very well. That was one thing that impressed me so much was that the weld was flat and spatter free so it requires less grinding. As with any wire a lot depends on surface prep and weldor skill. One more thing it can sometimes be difficult to use any kind of gas shielded wire outdoors or anywhere one might encounter drafty conditions. I know you only asked about hardness but I thought these tips might be of some use as dirt and paint contamination and windy conditions are probably the two most common causes of rough and porous welds that need a lot of grinding.
 
#14 · (Edited)
OldRed-Interesting post. After hearing about 20 guage here a few weeks back...I ordered some. I have some areas where I ground the sheetmetal a little thin and thought this would help. Couldn't find it on line and most local places here just said "huh?". I found one place that said they had it...and when it came in the mail it was 10 guage...a totally different flux type wire. I supposedly have 20 guage coming today or Monday. Sounds encouraging.

My understanding is it's filled with powder metal.

Any heat suggestions for using it with 18 guage? I have a Lincoln mig with 4 presets.

Thanks for the review.

Keith

I called many distributors as well as Harris directly. It's not sold online? Hard to believe in this day n age. So if anyone has a local source why not post a phone # or email addy etc. Most places will be happy to ship UPS.
 
#15 · (Edited)
It's Gas Wire

It's a Gas Wire!!, read all the other post's! it is not a Flux Wire.

You have o use it with Gas, and it is Awesome..I tried it last night and it is to clean...

I emailed JW Harris, they gave me teh name of 2 Oufits, I called one and they had it..

I think the thing they get confused on is that it's called "Twenty Gauge"

My guy said "Yeah we have .020" I laughed and said "No it's called Twenty Gauge, I need it in .030"

He looked a little more on his computer and found it..

I did not read all of your post, I used it on ultra low on mine, 1 and it worked good on 1'8 belive it or not..beautiful penetration as it says..

I'm sure it will be awesome on sheetmetal since that is what it was designed for..
 
#21 ·
I heard about this wire several months ago on another thread on here, so I decided to try it myself. I have a Hobart 135 that was blowing holes through body panels like a tommy gun with the wire that I got along with my bottle. I'm a total newbie to mig welding, so I needed every advantage I could get before I started chopping the top on my car. I got a 2 pound spool of 20 Gauge from the local AirGas store, and I can tell you it's a lot easier to use. I have welded my whole top back on with almost 0 blow through on 70 year old sheet metal, and didn't even use half the spool. It makes nice pretty round spot welds. It is easy to clean the welds using only a wire brush. It holds up under my torture tests of banging the crap out of a test piece on my workbench, but yet it grinds down smooth like butter.

Just get some!

-Shane

www.RustToRod.com
 
#23 ·
20 Guage wire

I can reccomend this stuff from JW Harris..One does need to go to an industrial welding supply to get it and yes it can be had in the small spools for the 110 wire feeders..

I use an argon/co2 mix with it and run it in the same liner I use for my 0.23 solid wire...Got the liners from Lincoln welding..works fine..

it has a powdered metal core (flux) and does need the gas shielding to run correctly..

My local guys Central Welding supply

http://www.centralwelding.com/

carry it..They do have websites so they can be looked up..

I think they may mail you some if you call and make arrangements with them..

:thumbup:
 
#25 ·
Just wanted to make a small correction to my original post. The two smaller sizes I mentioned are apparently not available after all. I was going by what the salesman told me at the time but I have not been able to find anyone else that has even heard of it. But after using the .030 for a while I really don't see any reason for anything smaller. What amazes me most about this wire is the ridiculously low settings you can use and still get a good weld. I think that as more welders try it and discover what it will do then it will become easier to find. If you have not tried this wire yet then you owe it to yourself to get some as I really do think you will be impressed, especially if you are using a 110 volt machine.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I tried mine today..Still got burn throughs. I'm sure it's my lack of experience not the product but I'd like ask what factor most influences burn through?

I've been thinking the amperage setting. I have a Lincoln handy mig with 4 presets. I used the lowest setting.

But..how does wire speed and hand speed contribute to burn through? I also suspect any space between butt joints contributes to burn through. Also possibly I'm not getting into enough "good metal" ie not cutting out enough old metal.


Don't get me wrong..I know you have to spend time practicing to get good.

Thanks,

Keith
 
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