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Compared flux-core to stick for a big outdoor job in Philly last week
I had to weld some heavy plates on a bridge repair and tried flux-core first. The wind kept blowing my shielding gas away, so I switched to stick and finished in half the time with better welds. Has anyone else found stick just works better for outside work no matter what?
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taylor9293mo ago
@william917 I always thought flux core was the answer for outdoors too, but that job changed my mind completely. That steady breeze might be fine for flux core, but in Philly we get these random gusts off the river that just wrecked my puddle. Switched to 7018 rod and never looked back, even in 15 mph wind it burned clean and I didn't have to fight with wire feed issues. Have you tried stick on a really windy day yet?
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william9174mo ago
Haven't you ever dialed in your flux core settings so it handles light wind just fine?
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jesseb204mo ago
Man I finally got my Hobart 140 dialed in last spring for exactly this. I run 0.030 Lincoln NR-211 at about 3 on the wire speed and a little above 4 on voltage, and it lays down nice and flat even with like a 5-8 mph breeze. The trick for me was getting the stickout to about 5/8 inch and cranking the voltage up just half a notch more than the chart says. Had a job welding up a gate in some light wind last year and it burned in clean, no porosity or worm tracks. Just gotta accept it won't work in anything gusty but for a steady breeze that flux core handles it way better than gas ever did for me.
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