MIG welder gurus need wire help

[wnstwolf]

I have had to move a lot of stuff into storage the last few years while the barn was being built along with the house. Now that I am starting to work in the barn instead of on it I am finding all sorts of fun reasons to never put stuff in cold storage..

I have a Millermatic 210 with a 33 lb spool of .030 L-50 wire on it maybe 3/4 left on the spool. Well the wire seems to have grown a nice layer of corrosion on it. there is just enough on there to cause hang up and really make "wire feed" a pain in the ****!!!

besides tossing about $60 bucks down the drain any ideas on trying to treat or other method of being able to use the wire?

 

[shopboy13]

Cut off the layer of corrosion but you have to keep the wire taught on the spool or it will come flying off the spool

 

[GirlnAgarage]

If possible unspool and remove enough wire to get down clean stuff. Otherwise, call it a loss and lesson and get a new spool. Dirty wire will tear up the liner. Trying to clean it is not worth it. The wire might not even weld right anyway.

 

[Falcon67]

Toss the wire IMHO - using corroded wire to weld is just asking for failed welds. Plus that gets in the hose and the gun and could damage the hose liner. I would weigh the "cost", which has come and gone vs the potential damage and hassle. My machine will take big 8~10 lb spools but I never buy more than 2 lb spools.

 

[MoonRise]

+3 on remove a few layers off the 'outside' of the spool and see if the wire underneath is still OK.

If not, toss the whole spool. Or repurpose it for things that need a wrap of rusty 0.030 steel wire.

 

[Bar Ditch]

+4 It's not worth tearing your stuff up and possible weld failure for the sake of a few bucks. You can try a few wraps but more than likely the roll is shot if it was sitting in cold storage. Good Luck

 

[Zeke]

When not in use the wire should be stored in an airtight container and I just realized that a round CD container is perfect.

 

[millertime]

+5 just chuck it..rusty welding wire is like a **** sandwhich....you don't want to take a bite.

 

[70redbee]

Toss it. The wire will not give good welds and will do more damage to the machine. Not worth taking the chance. Buy smaller rolls for about 8 or 9 bucks and keep the unused spools in the unopened package until needed. By the way I have the same welder.

 

[wnstwolf]

Thanks Guys Needed some support on what I figured was the direction to go in. Shop boy you would have laughed as I tried to unroll a few layers without unspooling the entire 25 pounds.. Not pretty!. In the scheme of things it is cheap and our recycler just happens to also sell welding supplies I will see if he wants to give me a break on some new "Smaller" rolls..

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd see if the layers underneath were ok. If not, save it for whatever like a few others have said. It's always worth scrap price.

 

[metalmagpie]

Next time remove your spool of wire and put it in a ziploc bag along with one of those dehydrant packs that come in shipments. Never store steel wire exposed to the air. You can try unwinding wire to see if you got unbelievably lucky and only the top layer is rusty, but 99% chance your wire is scrap. Go price a new liner for your gun and think about if you want to cheap out on wire and ruin your liner in the process.

metalmagpie

 

[sberry]

You should be using the unit is right, the MM210 is a good machine. I wouldnt put smaller than 10 pounds in it.