Flux Core Amps vs thickness

[WranglerX]

Never used flux core wires, always solid gas shielded wire. My issue with flux core is the spatter and if I want spatter, I can SMAW weld. Again, I much prefer TIG, but TIG is slow.

I stick to solid wire and shield gas.... Tried TIG, but old eyes and lack of coordination only caused me to ball up tungsten's and never quite got the hang of TIG... But I really don't have any need for TIG....

 

[California]

About your 20 amp breaker trip..... My Hobart 140 running near top settings drawn about 24 amps.... Yes the 20 breaker rating in manual is a joke.... Installed a dedicated 30 amp breaker with 12 gauge wire and all is good....

Check manual on you Amico and see what actual KVA load is when full out....

Manual for this is a joke, just generic instructions that would apply to anything similar. Extension cord size, safety, diagrams of good/bad welds, etc. I can't find KVA.

Specs from Amico website:

• Rated Input Power: 230V~15 Amp & 115V~30 Amp
• Current Range: 130 Amp @ 115V & 230V
• Rated Duty Cycle: 80% @ 130 Amp
• Nominal DC Open Circuit Voltage: 60V
• Power Factor: 0.93

While that 80% duty cycle looks impressive ...I'm glad I also bought the $30 3 year warranty!

______________
* Amico MIG-130A Flux, Dual Voltage. Truly portable!
* HF MIG-180 with all the mods. Heavy.
* Grizzly H8153 Stick/Tig 130/160.
* Wards PowrKraft AC-230. Stick & carbon arc.

 

[California]

... My issue with flux core is the spatter ...

Really, I'm not making splatter to a degree that I care, on my work that is mostly farm repairs. Here's a recent photo of a hitch adapter I made for my Subaru and Focus Wagon, to carry a cargo rack. (I don't intend to use it to pull a trailer).

Note my tiny beads on the upper half, no larger than the periods in this text. (The beads at lower left were there on the original item).

I'm not welding anything that needs to look respectable. I welded this with flux core using the larger HF MIG-180. The splatter with this little Amico welder is the same.

'Good enough for the girls I go with!', as an old Carpenter buddy used to say.

---
Added: another minimal-splatter project using flux core and the MIG-180. Frame on this old rusty back blade didn't have space for the Quick Hitch hooks to slip under its pins, so I added new pins farther forward. Nothing gorgeous, just functional.

This photo can be enlarged to inspect:
Back blade adapted for QuickHitch.

______________
* Amico MIG-130A Flux, Dual Voltage. Truly portable!
* HF MIG-180 with all the mods. Heavy.
* Grizzly H8153 Stick/Tig 130/160.
* Wards PowrKraft AC-230. Stick & carbon arc.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Only thing useful to me about the little migs. We use them in the chicken houses to weld rooster pan feeders. Houses are 600', four of them, so it's good with extension cords and a 4 wheeler. Parents, brother an me live close, within a mile. Brother has a large miller wire welder and a large Lincoln stick welder with a hand dial on it. I just have an AC DC Lincoln. I bought dad a stick welder so I'd have one at his shop when I needed it. He usually gets my brother to weld anything serious. But I welded the cattle corral. I mean round crowding pen, rolling divider gates, it all works like a professional charm.

 

[5030]

Big or small sand no matter what process is used, everything is in the prep. Poor prep equals a poor weld.

 

[arrow]

Really, I'm not making splatter to a degree that I care, on my work that is mostly farm repairs. Here's a recent photo of a hitch adapter I made for my Subaru and Focus Wagon, to carry a cargo rack. (I don't intend to use it to pull a trailer).

Note my tiny beads on the upper half, no larger than the periods in this text. (The beads at lower left were there on the original item).

I'm not welding anything that needs to look respectable. I welded this with flux core using the larger HF MIG-180. The splatter with this little Amico welder is the same.

'Good enough for the girls I go with!', as an old Carpenter buddy used to say.

---
Added: another minimal-splatter project using flux core and the MIG-180. Frame on this old rusty back blade didn't have space for the Quick Hitch hooks to slip under its pins, so I added new pins farther forward. Nothing gorgeous, just functional.

This photo can be enlarged to inspect:
Back blade adapted for QuickHitch.

______________
* Amico MIG-130A Flux, Dual Voltage. Truly portable!
* HF MIG-180 with all the mods. Heavy.
* Grizzly H8153 Stick/Tig 130/160.
* Wards PowrKraft AC-230. Stick & carbon arc.

Pretty beads take a lot of practice. Peeps who weld for a living make pretty beads.
It's like golf. You aren't gonna do what the pros do but eventually you sink the ball.

 

[5030]

Why I prefer TIG. It's usually pretty (once you master the technique of 'stacking dimes'....) Problem is, it's slow.

 

[GeneV]

Pretty beads take a lot of practice. Peeps who weld for a living make pretty beads.
It's like golf. You aren't gonna do what the pros do but eventually you sink the ball.

I take pride...in my grinding skills.

 

[not2old]

I bought my first mig about 40 years ago because it was a pain bringing apartment fire doors home to use an old "tombstone" It was a 120v Century and welded the doors while still on the hinges just fine even though the circuit I was using was sometimes hundreds of feet away from the panel. I then bought a Lincoln 250, 300A machine for bigger work and became unsatisfied with the little machine. Since the work I was doing required 120v I bought a 140A Miller. This newer, better quality machine was better to use. Now retired, I still use it for material 3/16 and thinner, using .023 wire rather than taking the time to replace the .035 I use in the bigger machine. The duty cycle is fine for smaller projects, and I do notice it works longer using the 20A outlet in my shop. I would use it for 1/4" material if I didn't have the bigger machine and think that the average homeowner would be happy with one like it. I have never used flux core wire.

 

[arrow]

Why I prefer TIG. It's usually pretty (once you master the technique of 'stacking dimes'....) Problem is, it's slow.

Not my preference to look at.
I like when the weld looks like you just used caulkng on a seam as if you ran your finger down the caulk line.
I tried that with welding but its not worth it cuz it hurts abit.