Blue Demon flux core wire

[lovetofix]

Does anyone have experience with Blue Demon welding wire? My LWS doesn't stock flux core and said I would have to get a minimum of five 10# rolls to order it. I went on Amazon and found this 10# Blue Demon E71T-11 .035 for only $37.50. I wonder if it is too cheap to be any good, the reviews seem to be mixed on it, people with 90 amp welders hate it. I have my Multimatic 215 now and welded up my first project with it today. Awesome welder, I shouldn't have any lack of heat as it goes up to 230 amps.

Also, has anyone ever used stainless steel flux core wire?

[OscarJr]

I've used Blue Demon tig rod, worked just fine for me. How do you like the Multimatic 215? I have the 211 and I'm thinking of getting a 215 and selling the 211.

[lovetofix]

Thank you for your reply.

So far I absolutely love my new machine. I have only used it for about six hours so far and all that was MIG on 14ga galvanized tubing. Today I plan to MIG some heavier steel and use the SMAW process. I didn't have the money to get the TIG kit right away so I can't say anything about that but I will update later today after I find the 215's limits on heavy steel. I am still waiting on my spool gun and when I get it I will try out aluminum.

[OscarJr]

I hope you got the Spoolmate 150. I have it and it is definitely worth it, much beefier. The more I look at a 215, the more I want it, but I would need to sell my 211 to offset the cost.

I welded 1/2" plate with my 211 (beveled), and it handled it just fine. It pushes the M100 gun to it's duty cycle for sure, as it was smoking pretty bad after four, 8" long passes with about 30seconds between passes.

I'm actually gonna try 0.045" E71T-11 wire soon in my 211. I bought big 12" spools because it's way cheaper than 0.035" in 10/11lb spools. I'm gonna attempt to re-spool them onto an empty 8" spool. Some say it won't work, but I have to make it work, as I already have the wire, LOL.

[Sandyg]

I have the Multimatic 215 as well and I really like the machine, but it's not at all a 'smart machine', it's a machine with a nice display and a few nice features. I am waiting for a Tig torch for it and will give that a try shortly. More info as I get on with it.

[AddictiveEngineering]

Buy it! you wont be disappointed! That is a good price! I sell it for about $5 more than that in California and I cant keep stock cause it fly's off the shelf.

[ryanjones2150]

I have only used the blue demon 308 and 309 (pretty sure, both were stainless for sure, and can't remember the sizes either. Probably .030 and .023) MIG wire and I hated it. I can't get the answers from my LWS about specifics when I inquire and in a few short attempts online here I can't find the info I want either, so I order stuff that I know the name and trust the quality. About all I can say about it is that it's cheap and usually readily available.

[lovetofix]

Thank you all for the input. I think I will try a roll and see how it burns.

Ryan, was that flux core stainless or solid? I haven't found any flux core stainless wire with good reviews yet. One guy said it would only weld nicely with shielding gas, but that totally defeats the point.


Oscar, I did get the spoolmate 150 as well as the M150 MIG gun. I got a .035-.045 liner that I put in the M150 and have the M100 with original liner for small wire. In my reading I got mixed reviews on running smaller than recommended wire through a liner, can I run .023 though a .030-.035 liner or do I need to shell out for another liner yet?

I had an unexpected business meeting today that destroyed my schedule so I didn't get to try out my spoolmate on aluminum, not sure yet when that will happen but will post the results.

[ryanjones2150]

The wire I used was solid and ran it with tri-mix gas. I only bought it because I couldn't justify the better brands and they don't stock it in the small rolls at my LWS. So now I just keep it around for the once or twice every six months that I need stainless MIG wire for something. Most of my stainless welding is tig these days. <br />
<br />
Seems like Bob was talking about that flux core stainless wire a while back. I think you can get it in a small spool from usaweld.com. I could be wrong though.

[OscarJr]

Thank you all for the input. I think I will try a roll and see how it burns.

Ryan, was that flux core stainless or solid? I haven't found any flux core stainless wire with good reviews yet. One guy said it would only weld nicely with shielding gas, but that totally defeats the point.


Oscar, I did get the spoolmate 150 as well as the M150 MIG gun. I got a .035-.045 liner that I put in the M150 and have the M100 with original liner for small wire. In my reading I got mixed reviews on running smaller than recommended wire through a liner, can I run .023 though a .030-.035 liner or do I need to shell out for another liner yet?

I had an unexpected business meeting today that destroyed my schedule so I didn't get to try out my spoolmate on aluminum, not sure yet when that will happen but will post the results.

I haven't ran 0.023" wire in my stock 0.030/0.035" liner in the M100 yet, but I did do that in my eastwood mig, which also had the same size liner. I think should work just fine.

[OscarJr]

Speaking of Blue Demons and flux, Check this out....THEY'RE ACTUALLY BLUE! LOL



I bought these a year or so ago, on either Amazon or Ebay, just for the **** of it. Got around to opening them up, along with some other 6010s from the LWS, "Best Welds" brand. Both made in India. You'd think they were Miller brand stick rods from the color! Gonna light them up tomorrow to see how they run.

[ryanjones2150]

Is there anything special about them or are they just blue?

[SLP82]

I have not personally used Blue Demon, but I spend hours researching stuff, probably way overkill. Anyways, I stumbled across Blue Demon on Amazon as well and started looking into it. There are multiple guys who post a series of very popular welding videos on youtube and use Blue Demon. One of them was a college instructor and he said it is all he runs and even gave a demonstration of Blue Demon vs a premium wire I believe that had Lincoln on the package, and showed the welds side by side. There was no difference and he even cut it and the difference was negligible. He said he like Blue Demon, especially "bang for buck". I believe the other guy who runs Blue Demon does "mig mondays" on youtube. Also most of what I read online were decent to good responses... nobody saying it was trash. Plus if I remember straight, it is made in the USA. I will be ordering a 10# roll of both flux and solid from them here in the next week or so.

[OscarJr]

I used them today, but just to tack some stuff up. Both the Blue Demon 6010s and the identical-looking Best Welds 6010s lit up pretty darn good! 10x better than the Anchor-brand 6010s. Now those are just 6011s labeled as 6010s--they needed way more amperage just like 6011s on DCEP.

[aametalmaster]

I hope you got the Spoolmate 150. I have it and it is definitely worth it, much beefier.

Its not that its more beefier it already has my spoolgun tip conversion built into it. That only took Miller 8 years to do it right...Bob