The supply house cashier in Tulsa told me my .030 wire was way too thin for 1/4 inch plate and I laughed until it took me three passes to get a clean bead.

Switched to .035 after that and now I'm burning through way faster with way less spatter so is there any real reason to keep using the thinner stuff for body panels or should I just adjust my settings better?

2 comments

2 Comments

henry_moore5522d ago

Nah man I gotta disagree with you on this one. .030 has its place for sure especially on thin body panels where you don't wanna blow through. If you're running 1/4 plate all day then yeah .035 is the way to go but swapping out completely means you lose that fine control on lighter material. I keep both sizes handy and just switch based on what I'm welding. Sounds more like a settings issue than a wire size problem to be honest.

the_elizabeth22d agoMost Upvoted

Thin gauge wire doesn't give you "fine control" - it actually runs hotter per amp since there's more resistance. .030 just lets you use lower amperage without birdnesting.