Protect your MIG wire!!

[225]

This past week I pulled out my I-MIG 200 to weld the tabs to the frame to bolt my teardrop camper down. And the wire kept fusing to the MIG tip. I was like what the hell???

So I opened the machine and I seen the wire spool was kind of rusting from sitting in my shed. I went to Praxair and picked up a bunch of tips and some new wire and everything started working fine again.

If you are going to keep your machine in a non climate controlled area, pull your spool and put it inside!!

[youngnstudly]

I've had the same problem in the shop with the cold temps during the winter. Now I try to take the spool of wire out and put it back in the box it came in with a few small shop towels wrapped around it (when I remember to, that is). A freaking spool of bare wire for the MIG is not cheap! The sad part is that the name brands of MIG wire are the same price (or even cheaper!) than off brands and cheap junk!

Now if I could only keep my full set of chrome Snap-on wrenches and sockets from rusting inside my toolbox! What's the point of keeping my tools inside if it's still going to rust!?!

[johnnymg]

This past week I pulled out my I-MIG 200 to weld the tabs to the frame to bolt my teardrop camper down. And the wire kept fusing to the MIG tip. I was like what the hell???

So I opened the machine and I seen the wire spool was kind of rusting from sitting in my shed. I went to Praxair and picked up a bunch of tips and some new wire and everything started working fine again.

If you are going to keep your machine in a non climate controlled area, pull your spool and put it inside!!

Makes you wonder what might be going on inside the welder?

[Odyknuck]

How about laying a desiccant pouch in the bottom of the compartment to absorb moisture?

[Jason]

Hmm interesting... I left mine in the garage all last winter without any troubles and a friend leaves his out in a barn all winter without any problems at all even in temps reaching below 0.

[everlastsupport]

I have seen it happen. You can remove the rusty wire in some cases and use up the spool. These days, we use our welders so much it doesn't happen here.

Desiccant might help or remove the spool and put it in an air tight sealed bag (with desiccant)..

[Mr120]

I'm not sure how long a bag of dessiccant will help on the bottom of the case in humid conditions. If I'm not using mine for a while, I pull it out and store in a zip lock bag and try to squeeze as much air out of it before sealing. Some dessiccant in there too is a good idea to be safe.

[everlastsupport]

The desiccant works in an enclosed area. So if inside the welder, close the door all the way. Best option is in a zip-lock or plastic shopping bag. Squeeze all the air out and seal the bag.

Also, most retail shopping stores (Walmart does), sell, I think it's called Ultra Perl cat litter (the silica bead kind of cat litter, no clay or other mix). Put a very small amount in the plastic bag before dropping the wire in. You should be good for a very long time.

OR just weld more

[redbeard]

How about aluminum? The TIG rod I got had an airtightish tube and seems to be holding up OK, but the wire spools have nothing of the sort. Will the ziplocks be adequate for long term storage or would an O2 absorber be in order?

[Mr120]

The desiccant works in an enclosed area. So if inside the welder, close the door all the way. Best option is in a zip-lock or plastic shopping bag. Squeeze all the air out and seal the bag.

Also, most retail shopping stores (Walmart does), sell, I think it's called Ultra Perl cat litter (the silicon bead kind of cat litter). Put a very small amount in the plastic bag before dropping the wire in. You should be good for a very long time.

OR just weld more

There seems to be quite a few brands of cat litter that can be used as a dessicant. A lot of hits on a google search. If you want to put it in your welder case, you can do something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly-o7sAsFtI

[everlastsupport]

How about aluminum? The TIG rod I got had an airtightish tube and seems to be holding up OK, but the wire spools have nothing of the sort. Will the ziplocks be adequate for long term storage or would an O2 absorber be in order?

I use a scotch brite pads on the ER70, 4043 and 5356 as I pull them out and wipe with denatured alcohol after that.

Sure other will share what they do.

The ER70s are normally in a big cardboard box and humidity does gets them. The aluminum rods, most of mine are in tubes, but I hit them all just in case.

[everlastsupport]

There seems to be quite a few brands of cat litter that can be used as a dessicant. A lot of hits on a google search. If you want to put it in your welder case, you can do something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly-o7sAsFtI

Good idea with #4 coffee filters.

Also, try some screen window/door material (non-metal) with some Ultra Perl and drop them in the MIG machines, heck maybe inside the welders too.

I have a 5lbs bag that has lasted for maybe a year or too. Also, I bought a couple pounds of the non-cat-liter-kind from member iloveplasma here (and a giant water filter my compressor). It is fantastic. So, anyway, I can cover a lot of welders and ammo. Not sure what Mike has left and would sale.

I also put this in all my smaller water separators. Just make sure they can not get out of the container into the hose

[redbeard]

I use a scotch brite pads on the ER70, 4043 and 5356 as I pull them out and wipe with denatured alcohol after that.

Sure other will share what they do.

The ER70s are normally in a big cardboard box and humidity does gets them. The aluminum rods, most of mine are in tubes, but I hit them all just in case.

I should have specified aluminum MIG spools. The TIG reference was just to contrast that they are well packaged in comparison to the spools that are in an open-fronted box. Since I really don't do much Al, these will most likely be sitting around for a while so proper preservation is needed. I doubt the kleener pads would strip off very much oxide after the fact, and scotch briting even a small roll, well...

[Jason]

All this talk makes me want to bring all my wire inside.. We get a lot of humidity here in Iowa and though I have not noticed any problems, it seems a lot of you may have experienced problems.

[Mr120]

All this talk makes me want to bring all my wire inside.. We get a lot of humidity here in Iowa and though I have not noticed any problems, it seems a lot of you may have experienced problems.

I guess it depends on how often you are welding and not letting your wire spend too much time in the humidity. I know some wire come with a thin layer of copper on them to protect them from rusting.

[everlastsupport]

I guess it depends on how often you are welding and not letting your wire spend too much time in the humidity. I know some wire come with a thin layer of copper on them to protect them from rusting.

The ER70 I use is coated (copper). If you don't weld a lot, you can stick to the small 2lbs spools, but you save on the bigger spools like you will on the argon and c25 tank size.

You can also strip off bad wire and get to fresher wire normally if the wire is coated. I sometimes weld from a friends barn, been there and done it.

On the aluminum spools. Again wrap them in plastic is all I would do if I did not weld a lot. You are talking MIG not TIG, so it will not be perfect anyway.

We really have never have a problem on the aluminum wire oddly. I keep all the flux core spools and even the 308L spools wrapped in an air tight plastic myself since we do not use them a lot. For us, flux core is for outside/mobile welding and stainless is normally TIGed with 316L. So they stay sealed.

And I mentioned what I do with the TIG fillers above.

[Blaster]

I've had this happen to me (I guess it depends on where you live and the humidity level the spool is exposed to but, I think maybe they're using less copper than they did before) and am currently trying This -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zerust-VC2-1...item2a2e3b4afa

[everlastsupport]

I've had this happen to me (I guess it depends on where you live and the humidity level the spool is exposed to but, I think maybe they're using less copper than they did before) and am currently trying This -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zerust-VC2-1...item2a2e3b4afa

Interesting. Let us know how it works after a couple months. 2' radius is pretty good. And cheap.

[Jason]

i just checked my spool in my mts unit that has been sitting for ~1.5 months and its clean so I grabbed a tig rod that has been in a box for ~2 years and it looked just fine to... It sat in a barn for ~1 year and my garage for over a year. The floor in the barn sweats constantly during summer and the garage has a few times. Weird.

[Glen]

Something that might be useful is this: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...c?ref=activity
The kickstarter is over, but he's mentioned if you contact him you can order still with paypal.
I realize it's not industrial or anything, but I figure vacuum packing rods or wire would at least help a bit, plus since it can use regular resealable bags, it's a lot cheaper than standard vacuum packing systems. I've ordered one earlier as I figured it was worth a shot to be able to package things. You could get fancier bags as well if needed.