“Gasless” MIG Welding Explained!

I left out a key detail in this video! When you set up your MIG welder, OR switch from solid wire MIG to Flux Core, make sure the POLARITY of your machine is correct. Most machines, including this one need to be set to either electrode positive, or electrode negative in order to flux core/MIG weld correctly. Check your machine and make sure the electrode and ground are connected correctly for your particular process for the best results!

I have two welders, an ESAB emp 205 Rebel and a HF Titanium 125, the welder you mentioned. While most of my welding is done with the 205, I do use the 125. The 125 is a surprisingly good welder, considering it’s a 125 amp unit. That does limit one. But within its range, if you know what you’re doing (I’ve been welding for 50 years), you can get excellent welds up to 3/16”, if you buy the appropriate size wire 0.035” and the right type, not GS, but 11T, you can weld thicker metal to about 5/16” with multipass. That’s more than thick enough for most everything the average person will need to do. I’d like to point out, in response to the negative statements he keeps making about fluxcore, that with the proper machines and wire, fluxcore is used to build skyscrapers, ships, etc. You get deeper penetration with fluxcore than with MiG.

You skipped over a HUGE part of flux core setup and that's polarity....flux core has to be welded DCEN, vs DCEP on mig with gas....most people who buy a mig machine and use flux core, don't realize they have to swap polarity, so they get crap results so the poo-poo the whole process. Your machine prob swaps polarity automatically when you tell it what process you're welding. Most mig machines dont. The fact is you can drop dimes with a flux core setup, and weld thicker material. Some people just suck at flux core. But it's far from an inferior process.

Its been a couple years since i looked at my miller, i could swear the polarity had to be switched for flux core. I could look it up but yeah it makes a huge difference

That's one thing I've always needed to learn is to the weld. I hate paying a man 75.00 an hour to make a a minimum of tack weld. Thanks, very educational.

If you're looking at appearances, I find if you just use a cupped wire wheel on a 4.5" angle grinder to remove the slag. Gets most of the surrounding spatter too all in one shot

Just getting into some welding and using the HF Titanium 125 because of initial cost. Thanks for the explanations and resource links, they'll help a lot. - Chris

key point being USE QUALITY WIRE. especially with flux, It can be the difference between getting a nice quality weld, and a pile of bird doo doo and BBs stuck to everything.

I run flux core for work & have a couple of humble suggestions. First would be buy a Hitbox or Yeswelder machine if you're on a budget. Second would be run 1mm wire only. Nothing else. 1mm. Third would be get a good wire wheel in your cordless drill & wheel off every weld right after you lay it. The flux is corrosive, so get it off quickly & thoroughly, For me, it's a great process & I love it. One tiny "Tip" I would add is bin off the "gas shield nozzle" , cut a bit of rubber fuel line & use that to cover the end of your gun instead. You can bin it when it burns up, put on fresh (it lasts surprisingly well). It stops the tip arcing off stuff if you accidentally touch.

The ONLY thing I think flux core really sucks for is welding thin metal. Because its hotter it tends to blow through a lot more. I always recommend ppl get a machine that cab use gas, because once you use gas you never want to go back to flux if you can avoid it.

Very helpful distinction, thanks.

exactly the video I was looking for, thank you

This is very helpful, I am going to be making a short video of my working on my welding. I also have a harbor freight welder and if I am being honest, it is pretty discouraging from how bad the unit works but I am going to get better wire with less spatter and do a real project with it. I want to get a good welder and Jimmy DiResta recommended the 180mp since I have 220v but need to do some more saving before getting it. Thanks for the video and happy to see you are well. ❤👊🏼

I love my Hobart handler 210. For a home welder, it's hard to beat for the money.

Obviously you can't cover everything in one flux core vs. solid wire video, but you did a great job in covering the basics. Flux core has its purposes and you mentioned one of them briefly, it runs hot. Whenever I want to weld something thicker (before I got my 285 amp machine), I would switch to flux core because I knew it penetrated deeper and let me stick thicker pieces of metal together. :) Love the channel!

this is the 1st video of yours I've seen.Noticed the 360MP in the background-I run one at my 9-5, dualshield and aluminum push-pull.It's a beast! We had Miller 350P's until I brought in my 350MP with a Python.Now the Millers collect dust while we run 2 360's,2 260's and a big watercooled powerwave 350pushpull that's getting replaced with another 360

Thanks Chris! - John

I don’t even need to watch to answer. I have several welders, two of which are twins: a Lincoln weldpak 100 with fluxcore, and a second with so it’s mig. They both work great!

Many thanks for this no-nonsense explanation for beginners like me. Could you perhaps also give a hint as how to differentiate between choosing flux-core/MIG and stick-welding? I have both a simple stick-welding and a flux-core machine. I use the flux-core for thin stuff and the stick for anything thicker, but it's all quite intuitive, learning by doing. The flux-core gives me more manual control on the guiding of the puddle, but is more fiddly with the settings, whereas the stick is rather "aggressive", but tends to make a decent puddle, as long as I have a simple surface.

Thanks for the info.