Which cored wire is the best ? Flux cored wire welding without gas
Flux cored wire welding without gas / shielding gas is still a popular topic. Especially for all those who do not necessarily want to buy a gas cylinder or who want to be mobile with their welding equipment without a shielding gas cylinder. On the other hand, cored wire is extremely insensitive to influences such as wind in outdoor applications. After the process has already been explained in detail in other articles (cored wire welding without gas), in this article we clarify the question of the cored wire itself, i.e. the filler metal.
Which manufacturer? Which quality? Which price range? What are the differences between the cored wires ? And which cored wire is the best?
The cored wire test
For all those who just want a recommendation for a very good cored wire, please click here or here.
In my test I had four cored wires of different categories compete against each other. Starting with the expensive HIGH END cored wire from Lincoln Electrics to the cheap cored wire from a small online retailer, I tested a wide range of cored wires in practice. With partly very interesting results.
In the test, the parameters were first welded on a training plate. Then a fillet weld and a corner weld were welded. A simple carbon steel (S235JR ) with a plate thickness of 5mm was used.
The candidates
1 Lincoln Electric INNERSHIELD® NR®-211-MP Lincoln Electric is one of the world’s largest and most respected manufacturers of welding consumables. Accordingly, of course, anything but cheap. So the Mercedes or Porsche in our test. The 5 kg roll costs well over 100€.
2 Cored wire hausundwerkstatt24. Roll x 0,9mm A small but nice online dealer specialized in welding, soldering and fire extinguisher. The cored wire is found in the lower price level.
3 Berlan cored wire Ø 0.9mm Also an online retailer with very reasonable prices. The question is whether this is reflected in the prices.
4 Hyundai Welding Supershield 11 Cored wire electrode
The welding equipment for the TEST
The WELDINGER MIG /MAG shielded arc welding machine M 182 eco was used as the welding equipment for the test. The device was selected for the test because it fulfils the following characteristics:
- cheap -(under 200€) Especially cored wire without gas is often used, where the investment in a gas bottle is shied away.simple – In order not to compensate the weakness of the cored wire with a high end wire feeder
The M182 eco is a typical device for me, which is used in small workshops with cored wire without gas.
As another very important tool, I recommend an angle grinder and a rotating wire brush as I use them.
Result: Lincoln Electric INNERSHIELD® NR®-211-MP
The Lincoln Electric INNERSHIELD® NR®-211-MP is a cored wire that truly delivers quality from top to bottom. No matter if the welding result, or the quality of the roll or the wire winding. For the quite high price the user gets a wire in absolute professional quality.
Result: cored wire hausundwerkstatt24 / Weldinger
Also the cored wire from hausundwerkstatt24 ,who also release the Weldinger products, delivered very good results at a low price. It was interesting that the slag could be solved or removed best with this wire. Otherwise the shooting result and the processing of this flux-cored wire was very good, especially in relation to the price. The small rolls of less than one kilo are also interesting for example in mobile applications.
Result: Cored wire Berlan
The cored wire of the company Berlan was the only one that could not convince in the test, which was not necessarily due to the cored wire, but to the poor quality of the reel and the winding of the cored wire. While the fillet weld could still be executed, I had to stop welding the corner seam, unnerved. DAMAGE
Result: Cored wire Hyundai Welding Supershield 11
The Hyundai Welding Supershield was a recommendation of a viewer of my Youtube channel. And the spectator hadn’t promised too much – the welding additive delivered very good results and is especially in the 5 kilo roll super cheap. So also a real recommendation.
Conclusion / recommendations
My short and concise conclusion to the question “Which flux cored wire is the best in the test” and therefore also my recommendation.
All except the cored wire from Berlan really deliver great results and even this cored wire only failed because of its poor winding. So in the end it is the price and of course the purpose of use that determines the choice of the additive.
-If I want to have a small light roll to weld with a mobile device, for example, the cored wire from hausundwerkstatt24 is the best option. It is cheap, gives good results and is available in the nice handy small rolls (0,9kg).