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.
Thanks for the input guy's I had already reversed the polarity before I started trying the new wire. I played with heat and speed setting some today and got better results, stll need a lot of practice and my friend Jim came over he played with it and no matter what heat or speed he seem to have perfect welds..It made me feel some better knowing it wasn't the welders fault. I bought it back in 98 but have not used it very little and then it was with flux wire.
It has a large viewing area and is perfectly clear when you lift the lens instead of the number 4 tint of an auto dark. I have tried many auto darks and go back to my Cherokee every time.
It has a large viewing area and is perfectly clear when you lift the lens instead of the number 4 tint of an auto dark. I have tried many auto darks and go back to my Cherokee every time.
I've tried the new 20 gauge wire. Having troubles. Must be something simple that I've overlooked. I have a Lincoln sp 175 plus--set the polarity as if I was using flux core wire (DC-)--mig settings volts E and feed 2.5. Getting burn through on a lap joint weld. Using a 3/8" stick out 25psi argon/co2 mix. I'm welding 20 ga. cold roll sheet metal. Getting a yellowish orange arc.
After reading a number of posts looks like reducing my heat setting --moving faster.
Looking for suggestions for wire feed speed----Is the polarity set correctly.--is gas psi correct. What are others members who are using using a lincoln setting their heat range for 20 ga. sheet metal .
Reverse your polarity..20 gauge is the same setup as solid wire feed..flux core runs the opposite in polarity..
Check your settings according to the lincoln reccomendations..should be a reference sheet pasted inside the lid of the wire feeder..E setting and 2.5 might be a bit much..I would have to try it myself to see..
25 psi is a bit much..about 15-20 is all that you need..if the wind is blowing you will get blowout of the shielding so shield your work from the wind..if you are in a building that part should be ok..
Doing that stuff should get you in the ball park..
Dseaver, as mentioned earlier you have the wrong polarity and that will lead to burn through. Adjust the voltage and wire speed for the correct frying sound and adjust forward rate to control penetration.
You may find the recommended settings are quite far off from what works well. I found perhaps 25% error in both wire speed and voltage selection on the Miller 175 vs recommended settings which just wouldn't work. The table inside the welder and the table for the twenty gauge wire don't match up with what works well.
I went back to standard .03 solid wire and have equivelent results as I get with the twenty gauge. I find the twenty gauge makes a lot of noxious fumes and it makes the work harder to see. I really didn't notice any advantage and the fumes and smoke were nasty.
Old red , does it leave a slag coating like dual shield?
And if so how does it "tack" , i know sometimes the bigger stuff requires quite a bit of heat to get a good one.
I really like dual shield, you just can't wear a white shirt, and you can almost say goodbye to porosity for ever.
Ya inner shield is terrible unless you are outside and welding big stuff, then it is only as good as the convenience of not packing and moving bottles.
Now they just need to make it a little softer, so it is not harder than the parent metal.
No it does not leave a slag like the duel-shield however it is not quite as clean as solid wire, just a bit dusty, but nothing that does not easily brush off. The core of the Twenty gauge is a powdered alloy mix instead of a true flux and this alloy does contain some deoxidizers in the form of Silicon and Manganese but no mineral type flux that would form a slag.
The polarity has to be set on DC+, electrode positive (Reverse polarity). You may be confused by a common error, it is sometimes thought that DC- is reverse polarity but it is the other way around and electrode positive is reverse with electrode negative being straight polarity. Electricity flows from negative to positive so when you have the electrode set for DC positive you will have the current flowing from the work to the electrode (reverse polarity). When the welder is set up for electrode DC negative the current flows from the electrode to the work (straight polarity).
Anyway just set the polarity to DC positive and you will be fine.
I looked for twenty-gauge wire and had virtually no luck.
Here's what they said:
Shannon Long to Bradley
show details 6:36 AM (1 hour ago)
Reply
Sorry for the delay. Harris still makes twenty gauge but only in 33# spools.
I don't currently have any in stock but could order and drop ship it to you.
If you would like more information or want to place an order please call
812-842-3600 and ask for Stephen Titzer we take VISA/Mastercard and American
Express. Thanks.
Shannon Long
Evansville Welding Supply
evansvilleweldingsupply.com
Phone 812-842-3600
Fax 812-842-3500
Just ordered 3 rolls (2lbs) from AIRGAS in Evansville Indiana. They said they have many in stock but no bigger rolls . They said they do not make any more of the bigger rolls.
There seems to be two posts about this twenty-gauge so I'm sorry. Today I found an outfit with a single 10# roll for me to try. It was quite expensive at $36.20 plus shipping. Should be interesting...
For you guys ordering the larger spools remember to protect it from moisture if you aren't going to use it all in a fairly short time, even moisture from the air will cause problems if left exposed too long. This need not be a problem at all however and usually just slipping a plastic bag over the spool when not in use will prevent the problem, just be sure to seal it by tying the bottom of the bag. If the powder core is allowed to absorb moisture it will not weld very good at all and you will get a lot of splatter but as long as the wire is not allowed to rust (which would even ruin solid wire) this can be fixed by just tossing it in an oven at a couple of hundred degrees for a couple hours and it should be just fine. There is no reason Twenty Gauge can not be kept for years but it does take a little more attention than solid wire.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Hot Rod Forum
2.2M posts
175.7K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to hot rod owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about restoration, builds, performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!