Gunner Asch on Tue, 08 Jul 2014 06:12:54 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Just welded with 7018 for two days straight, making ramps for the
30,000 lbs forklift.

And so I am wondering, will I benefit somehow from using MIG instead
of stick?

i
Mig is a lazy man's welder. Don't need to keep changing electrodes. As
far as I can tell it has no other advantage for most applications.


There being nothing wrong with that btw. Stick allows you to use a
smaller machine to weld thicker materials. An equivalent sized MIG
will be a big assed workhorse of a beast in most cases.

That being said..for normal 1/8-3/8' weldments..MIG works pretty
darned nicely and its a heck of a lot faster and easier to weld
aluminum with a proper feeder/gun than it is to weld with aluminum
electrodes

Ive got a MK products feeder and an Prince XL gun and welded up a
friends aluminum rear bumper on his racing pickup truck a hell of a
lot faster than I could have with TIG and did as pretty a weld as TIG

There is a place for all three technologies. With some over lap.

As the instructor in the welding class pointed out - with stick,
you need at most a 60% rated powered supply. That is, a powered
supply that can run for six minutes straight in a ten minute cycle
before it overheats. Which is just about the maximum time you can
weld with a stick before it is too short and needs to be replaced.
Wire feed, OTOH, can run without "time out" to replace a stick,
get some coffee, have smoke, etc.

Natcherally, Welders like stick, and managers like wirefeed. B-)

Except when they won't do the job - for various values of "do the
job". (I.e., How many units need to be welded before automating the
process pays off?)
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."