The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop wire size

is there much difference between .23 and.25 wire for welding thin metal?

never used .25 always used .23 for welding sheet metal

Answer, YES.

Although it does not sound like much, using the smaller wire allows you to use less amps, less amps means less heat, less heat means less distortion to your metal panels.

Look at your suggested settings placard on your machine or in the manual and you will see a lower "heat" setting.

Unless you are great at bodywork AND love banging metal, go for the thinner wire.

Mikey

I used spool arc easy grind

...link...

It was easy to work with for a novice like me.

From my experience, HF sells .23 wire and when you go to your Lincoln dealer they sell .25. The Lincoln guy says the knockoff wire is interchangeable but they don't recommend it. Of course they would say that. I use the Lincoln stuff but I have tried the .23. If there is a difference, I cant see it. The wire speed is all the difference there is. If you up the speed about a hair when using .23, you now have .25. HF IS cheaper, but doing some research on the makeup of the wire itself, I prefer to go with alloys that Lincoln recommends.

There is more to this than that, I like the Lincoln company model for taking care of its employees and the philosophy of the company. Its ALL a matter of personal preference.

I don't think anyone even makes 1/4 inch welding wire for a mig system. Maybe ya all mean .023, it makes a huge difference which side the decimal point is of that zero.

I was trying to be PERIOD correct! LOL.

learning how to weld on my own, welded few patches on vehicles... used .25, once in awhile would burn through, so thought I try .23 for the heck of it, thanks for info guys...

yeah, I don't think you will be able to tell the difference, but maybe you are more acutely aware of things than I am. Its a lot of fun and leads to lots of things you thought you would never do! LOL.

All welding supply houses have .023 and .025 as well as others.

DADS50 has a great point, get the easy grind. Not only does grinding go faster but you will generate less heat and again less distortion to your panels.

My Lincoln welder accepts both.

Check your manual, you will need to change the tip as well,

Good luck.
Mikey

Odd but I buy my wire from the local Airgas store it's actually cheaper then HF by a buck or 2

Harbor Freight 10 LB .023 is $28-%20= $22.40 and a free flash light. I tried the stuff called "20 gauge", it works good on thin. Not .020 gauge wire, the name is "20 gauge" by Harris. Haven't seen it anywhere for a few years. Didn't catch on.

My Lincoln SP275 (an older model) accepts both as well, but without changing the tip. If you go to .030, you change the tip. If you change from .023 to .025, since argueably, the diameter is just a matter of the Chinese spending less on wire due to cheating on the diameter, thus charging less, the tip is the same.

Its like I said. Put the .023 cheaper stuff on, turn the speed control about .002 higher, and now you have .025! I made the decision awhile back to just stick with Lincoln wire which is .025. I get the larger roll and then I am good for a few months! The welding supply in Wichita, KS tells me Lincoln doesn't make ANY diameter sizes for mig other than .025 and .030 for my particular welder. If they are wrong, I am wrong too. It's mute anyway, because we are all having a blast making new stuff, creating new jigs, creations, with what we are comfortable with.