help from welding guys, having trouble with mig flux cored wire Options

[wayne1234]

OK, I have a fairly new Lincoln 175hd welder, it is 220volt I have have not done a ton of welding but enough to to be dumb I guess. what I have welded in the past is 1/4" thick metal like a totally fabbed snow plow mount for my ram truck. shortened and welded a steel flatbed(thinner metal for top , diamond plate) to same truck. various trailer repairs. and such.,,, so my new to me 914 needs a few welds like in the front trunk where the previous owner did as trunk patch. I start by filling in a couple of small screw holes, that goes fine, then I tried the seam and it seems like I am blowing right through the metal. or it keeps puddling like a drip below.? and forget trying to fill a small gap..... Now let me say I am using FLUX CORED WIRE. with no gas. (I haven't ever used gas) is that my problem? did I just get away with it in my thicker metal? I know a buddy told me flux-cored gets more penetration. this is the first "sheet metal" welding I have done. Any input is welcome.

[charliew]

The jist is yes you can learn to "get by" with flux core wire as I got by with stick at first because sheetmetal was not the norm at my place. Once sheetmetal became the most welding I was doing I added a mig. Now I have added a tig mainly for the aluminum and ss fabbing. It depends on how hardheaded or money conscious you want to be and what you want the finished product to look like. John Kelly uses only a torch on body panels I think and he does great work. I have also used a torch but I don't like the heat it puts in the surrounding area it takes a lot longer to melt the metal with a torch versus a electric arc. I can only go about 1/2 inch butt welding with a torch and with the mig it is 1.0 inch. If you are interested check out the real small torches a lot of guys use for torch welding. I think they are the best way to go with gas welding.

The type of filler rod or wire also makes a big difference on the final outcome of welds. ie how much hammering the weld will take and how different the alloy is from the sheetmetal you are using.