Warning: that cheap flux core wire spool from Harbor Freight bit me hard

Picked up a 10 lb spool of their house brand flux core last Tuesday, figured it would be fine for some light fab work on a handrail job over in Puyallup. First 20 minutes it ran okay, then it started birdnesting every 30 seconds. Chased my liner, checked my tips, adjusted tension, all that. Finally looked at the wire itself and the diameter was inconsistent, like visibly wobbly in spots. That stuff can cause porosity you don't see until the welder signs off on it and the inspector flags it. Cost me a 4 hour redo plus a trip back to the site. Anyone else had a bad roll from a big box store, or is it just the one batch I got? I'm thinking about ordering from a welding supply place online instead, but I hate paying shipping on wire. What do you all do?

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james67228d ago

Heard a few guys at the shop talking about the same thing last month, said they got bad rolls from two different big box stores in a row. That wire gauge being off is a real issue, it messes with your feed rollers no matter how you set the tension. I go through a local welding supply place now, even with shipping it costs about the same as buying junk twice. Plus they actually stand behind their product, one bad spool and they swapped it out free. Sucks you had to eat that redo, but check the wire with a caliper next time before you load it, catches that wobbly stuff early.

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