Mig wire size .030 or .035

[silvertown]

According to charts for thicker material you should use .035 but most welding shops say .030 works great on most applications with the millermatic machines. I own a MM211 welding between 1/8- 1/4 material using C02.

[nfinch86]

Mig Wire

According to charts for thicker material you should use .035 but most welding shops say .030 works great on most applications with the millermatic machines. I own a MM211 welding between 1/8- 1/4 material using C02.

Silvertown Hello & Welcome ;

For that thickness I would run .030, But that's just me, on my Lincoln 180 !

Miller Equippment may Differ ?

................. Norm

[welderdude402]

a lot of it's personal preference. they both will work alright, just depends on how much wire you want to feed in for a length of weld. i always went with the .035 cause you had the option of filling nfaster and whatnot.

[ASKANDY]

Each wire has their window that they operate best in. For your range of material, especially when you get up in the 1/4" range, the .035 would work best. I personally use the .030 for most of my applications up to 3/16. The trailer project I did I used .035 since most of the material was 3/16 and 1/4 and I wanted it structurally sound.
.030 works real good in 22 ga up to 1/8 maybe 3/16
.035 works well from 16 ga up to 5/16
These are best window applications. Sure both sets of wire "can" weld thinner and thicker materials.
I would ask yourself "what am I going to be welding most?" and pick the best wire for that range.

Good luck
Andy

[Geezer]

Mig wire size .030 or .035

According to charts for thicker material you should use .035 but most welding shops say .030 works great on most applications with the millermatic machines. I own a MM211 welding between 1/8- 1/4 material using C02.

Try this thread "Thicker vs thinner GMAW wire, same material size...which is better? ( 1 2) D67"

Sorry, not sure how to redirect you to the above thread. I believe you will find it very informative and pertinent to your subject matter.

[57Belair]

i have a mm 180 a/s and i use 030 for 1/4 inch and it does a great job. how do you like that 211?

[silvertown]

So far I think its great I've only used it to weld on some 10 gauge & some 3/16 plugged into 110. it seemed to weld that material fine,I would rather use it plugged onto 220 but i need to get some extension cords. I'll let you know once i weld with 220.

[MAC702]

A lot of it will just depend on how often you want to change out the spool in the machine. If you like keeping one spool in there for just about anything that walks in the shop (within THAT machine's capabilities) you'll do just fine with .030" even though the .035" will give you a slight edge at times. Current density will be higher in the thinner wire and actually offsets some of the advantages of the thicker wire anyway, plus gives the the benefit of making it easier to weld thinner material.

[Ultrachop]

Good thread,
I just purchased a new MM252 and installed a large spool of .035, C25 gas. I did some practice runs on some 1/4" plate, fillet, butt and vertical, worked just fine (little more spatter then I expected) I then ran some tests on some 1/8" and was not as impressed. (mind you I haven't run wire for nearly 10 years) I switched out to .030 and the finished product on the 1/8" was much better, and when I did some thinwall sq tube, some 10ga it was sweet!

I am leaving the .030 in the machine for most of what I am doing and when I crank it up to 1/4 and better, I will switch wire.

Question: any luck running .023 through the .030/.035 liner. (I purchased .023 guide rollers)

Tim

[nfinch86]

.023 Wire

Good thread,
I just purchased a new MM252 and installed a large spool of .035, C25 gas. I did some practice runs on some 1/4" plate, fillet, butt and vertical, worked just fine (little more spatter then I expected) I then ran some tests on some 1/8" and was not as impressed. (mind you I haven't run wire for nearly 10 years) I switched out to .030 and the finished product on the 1/8" was much better, and when I did some thinwall sq tube, some 10ga it was sweet!

I am leaving the .030 in the machine for most of what I am doing and when I crank it up to 1/4 and better, I will switch wire.

Question: any luck running .023 through the .030/.035 liner. (I purchased .023 guide rollers)

Tim

I can only comment on my Lincolns 140 & 180, running .023 through said liner
is not a problem !!

Enjoy your new welder !!

................ Norm

[Ultrachop]

Thanks guys,

I did buy a .023 inlet tube and rollers for the New 252 I am looking forward to see how smooth the starts are at the low end? I have an old "Auto-arc" made by miller that uses only .023 and it is only so so for stitching sheetmetal.

Tim