Welding wire question

[Skyline]

Last weekend I bought a nice Miller MIG welder, mainly because it came with a spoolgun that will work with my Millermatic. I have a buyer for the welder for exactly what I paid for the package, so.... FREE Miller 30A spoolgun ($1,212 on Miller's web site), plus a bunch of aluminum wire spools and tips. Can't go wrong with that kind of deal. My question is about the spool of wire that came in this welder.

This wire is copper colored. But the copper color appears to be just a coating, and wire itself is silver colored. Can someone tell me what this is? There is a label on the spool, but it has just a code no. and the size...no description.

 

[metal1313]

you could try googleing the code, but other than that i really got nothing

 

[Monte]

steel welding wire is usually copper plated to prevent the steel wire (silver) from rusting.

 

[35mastr]

Does it have a hose and a regulator attached to the welder? The wire could be flux core wire.

Is the wire on the welder or in the spool gun?

 

[ears]

Steel mig wire is copper coated. It helps in manufacturing and it prevents rust. The code should tell you what type of wire it is, probably er70s-6.


Edit to add I type slow. Monte's got it.

 

[35mastr]

Post the code that you see.

 

[Skyline]

steel welding wire is usually copper plated to prevent the steel wire (silver) from rusting.

I have not had my own welder for that long, and my MIG has wire without this coating. I guess it comes both ways. I'll post the code tomorrow.

 

[Skyline]

Does it have a hose and a regulator attached to the welder? The wire could be flux core wire.

Is the wire on the welder or in the spool gun?

The welder is set up for a tank. This is on the big spool inside the machine.

 

[ears]

It sounds like you stepped up to solid wire, which is almost alway coated in copper. It is available uncoated but rarely is it on the shelf so to speak. You must have come from a flux core machine which uses uncoated wire. You will love the difference.

 

[Monte]

If your place/garage is always warm/heated it should be no problem if you use uncoated wire, if you live where you have a high humidity you should use copper plated wire.

 

[GN4WHLN]

Hmmm... my aluminum wire is silver. It's also soft. If your wire is stiff it is probably for steel. Maybe the wire was mispackaged. Typically, I use ER 4043 wire.

BTW, copper is not only for rust, it is an alloy element that makes up part of the wire's welding characteristics. It also aids in feeding through the gun and allowing the drive to grip the wire.

 

[Skyline]

This wire is maked: Imperial 75
Heat: F44257 Dia.035 Net: 33SPL

 

[ears]

Imperial 75 would be the brand or name of the wire.The heat number is a lot number. When they melt the steel it is called a heat, they test some of it to see if it passes AWS specs and then give it a number before they make the wire out of it. 33spl I assume means it is a 33 pound spool, a common size.

 

[independentrider]

its more than likely its steel for what else steel