i only have a lowes model 110v lincoln 140 and buying a better welder is out of the question so dont even start with it.

recommend me a better performing inner shield wire. the lincoln stuff that comes with it wasnt to impressive and this radnor stuff has gotten a bad rap from others.



when welding thick things such as axle tubes and the face of plate steel is it best to use thick or thin wire?

i have been using .35 and it does alright but i was thinking that the thinner wire would heat and pool faster and penetrate better because it would stay liquid longer, am i wrong?

first up make it into a mig. get bottle and reg and some good wire and it will weld much better

I have never cared for the self shielded wire . If your welder has the gas solenoid did you change the polarity to straight for your self shielded wire??

As for the Lincoln wire I see customers that won`t use anything else. It could be the small diameter. Just what is it that you don`t like about the wire?? Just what wire are you using is it Lincoln Innershield NR-211-MP

I had a little Lincoln SP135 when they first came out I never ran anything but .023 wire solid wire . I feel I had much better control in the sheet metal and have welded as much as 3/8ths with the right prep and multi passes .

It worked for me others may have other ideas

You can also pre-heat your work area on the big work pieces with a torch. This will help you get better penetration with the welds.

Believe it of not, a 110v fluxcore will actaully have better penetration than the same welder with gas because of the polarity.

I'd stay with .035, thinner wire = less heat .023 wire is better for thin sheetmetal. Same as regular stick welding electrodes, thinner electrode = less amps, thicker electrode= more amps.

Yes, beveling and preheating thicker stuff will help out a lot.

I do all my welding with a Lincoln Pro Mig 135 and .35 flux core.

I only used the smaller wire when I was welding sheet metal.

The lincoln wire is crap, imo. It breaks and is inconsistant in thickness, which has caused some jamming issues for me. I use the 'Forney' wire frome ACE.

First off. .35 or even .23 wire is HUGEEEEEE:flipoff2:

But I have a lincoln 140, was set for MIg welding with gas. But I used tractor supply wire, dont remember the name but it was better than the lincoln wire and the forney wire. But I always used .030 wire.

It would be better to find an inexpensive stick welder and do your heavy welding with that.

My advice would be that anybody that recommends 0.035" filler in either hard or cored versions for a 120v machine over smaller filler does not understand the process well enough to be giving advice.

Definitely 0.030" cored filler over 0.035".

If your machine has the wire feed speed to support it 0.023" hard filler over anything larger.