Flux Core Amps vs thickness

[JCoastie]

I have never welded, but tired of bugging the neighbors, so I have pretty much decided on a 115v Flux Core welder just to fix little things that break.

How is it that something like a Century FC90 with 90 amps is advertised up to 1/4 inch and something more powerful like the Yeswelder 135 with 135 amps is only rated to 5/32?

How can less current weld thicker material?

 

[WranglerX]

Because the spec of the Century FC90 are grossly over rated ... Even the top end 120 Volt machines (which max out about 140 amp) are only good up to about 1/4 inch.. Need to weld something bigger you either pre heat area of the weld or do multi pass or get 240 Volt, 250 amp machine.......

Anything lower than 120 amps is going to be a disappointment.. Anything below 120 amps will not handle 1/4 inch material. My Hobart Handler 140 maxes out at top heat and 1/4 inch material.... Several things to consider The amperage & voltage that create the ARC is what causes the fusion between the metal parts.... Also size of the welding filler wire, whether it be flux core (FCAW) or solid wire and shield gas (GMAW) if you turn up the heat fully and it not enough to get good fusion bond, its just another failure, if you have larger machine you can always turn the heat down if you are running to hot....

Personally I would not buy any welder that is not dual capable, meaning it can run either FCAW or GMAW..... I moved away from flux core to solid wire with shield gas many years ago and never loaded flux core since... But with any wire welding process, preparation is everything...

Suggest you spend some time in the MIG Welding section of the link below...

Welding Tips and Tricks - TIG, MIG, Stick and a pantload of other info

Down and Dirty Welding tips and tricks , No PhD's allowed

weldingtipsandtricks.com

Gentlemen also has some very informative videos on YouTube...

 

[California]

How can less current weld thicker material?

Deceit?

Basically a 110 v welder is a 90 amp welder, if its on a household circuit.

One with semiconductors instead of a big heavy inefficient transformer will be a little more efficient, so a few more output amps.

Step up from a 15 amp household wall plug to the 20 amp circuit you might find in a shop and this can output more before it trips the breaker.

The Century 130 110v welder I had, needed a different special cable to the wall and specified a 30 amp breaker there, before it could output the advertised '130 amps'. It was marketed to auto body shops so a special 30 amp circuit for it might be reasonable in that application, in contrast to home use.

I recently bought an Amico MIG-130A dual-voltage flux welder just for its portability. (18 lbs). It welds great on a 240 volt outlet. The 110 volt capability is just for where I need to carry it to somewhere without a 240v outlet. it probably does 90 amps on 110v, despite the '130 amps' claimed 110v capability. These are only $149 on Amazon. But if you buy anything that cheap be sure to also buy the $30 4 year warranty listed there!

 

[rangerfredbob]

The modern tiny inverter welders can actually weld pretty good... I've been using and abusing the Harbor Freight Titanium MIG 170 for a few years on flux core with all sorts of inputs (4kw generator on 120V, long extension cords, 220V, etc...) and using the chart on the side cover as a starting point it welds pretty good... much more forgiving than the old Chicago Electric 100A transformer deal, which works fine if you ignore most normal welding advise... The little guy they have now on sale for $170 now and then welds decent too.

Single pass on big stuff isn't gonna work if you want it to be strong, but multi pass should be fine, I've welded with good penetration on 1/8" a lot

 

[5030]

All good comments.

 

[p0diabl0]

I had the cheapo HF Chicago Electric flux core for a while. I have a 30 amp RV hookup in my yard and you could tell - it used it when needed. Plugging it into a house outlet wasn't nearly the same.

 

[metalbender]

I've had the HF toaster size inverter stick welder for quite a while. With proper technique and selection of rods, it's amazingly capable.

 

[amhicks21]

I avoid flux core welding whenever possible because of how dirty it is and how the welds don't look as nice but it does have some advantages. The flux insulates the weld a bit and since there is no shielding gas continually blowing on the weld you can weld a bit thicker steel with the same amperage. Its also nice if you need to weld on something outside since a breeze will blow mig gas away and ruin welds. The wire price sucks though. The same size spool costs twice as much as mig and you go through it like twice as fast because of the flux content. Anyway... I guess what im getting at is you should really consider getting one what can be used both as a flux core and mig machine. I bought a lotos mig140 about 4 years ago just to do small stuff at home and i mainly use flux in that because I work under a carport a lot and thats been surprisingly nice for 400 bucks. It seems to be built nearly as well as the lincoln welder i use at work. Like California said you absolutely cant run over a 90 amp welder on a 15 amp breaker. I had to have a 25 amp put in to run a 140 amp because it would blow 20's every few minutes.

 

[WranglerX]

Ditto on big CB for 140 amp machine... My HH 140 can pop a 20 amp breaker on top heat... Ended up putting in 30 amp dedicated welder circuit...

 

[jaxs]

I have never welded, but tired of bugging the neighbors, so I have pretty much decided on a 115v Flux Core welder just to fix little things that break.

How is it that something like a Century FC90 with 90 amps is advertised up to 1/4 inch and something more powerful like the Yeswelder 135 with 135 amps is only rated to 5/32?

How can less current weld thicker material?

Can you say marketing hype? Actually you can weld up to 3/4" with a 115 volt welder. Thats "up to" but not including 3/4" A-N-D if you go from 1/8" SKIPPING 3/16,1/4",5/16",3/8" and 1/2"
It could also be said you can weld on skyscraper buildings with 120v welders but the building might collapse for lack of penetration.
Redneck method of testing whether you have enough welder is if you can't intentionally burn through material,the welder is too light in the pants.