Need welding wire advise

Ok, so my dad taught me to arch (stick) weld about 10 years ago and I haven’t welded much since.

I got a $200.00 craftsman wire feed welder 110V about 3 years ago and barley used it, now I'm installing new frame rails and an entire new truck floor in my 65 and I have ran out of the wire that came w/ the welder. I'm now on the second frame rail.

I go to home depot w/o doing any research and buy some more welding wire but I cant weld worth a $hit w/ this wire. So I start doing my research and it looks as if I purchased a solid wire when I should have purchased a flux core wire? Am I right? I have no gas attachment to my welder.

Thanks!
 
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Yup, you are right, if you got solid wire you must have shielding gas to use it. It was probably quite a bit cheaper is why you grabbed it. Flux core should fix the problem.

Heads up though, after a while you will develope your welding skills much above that cheap welder, when that time comes check into the Lincoln or Hobart's, or if you can afford it, the Millers to me are better quality... not bashing other brands I just love my blue machines :) MM135xp, and MM251 in my shop. If you ever weld with shielding gas and solid wire with a quality machine you will never go back to flux.
 
Yup, you are right, if you got solid wire you must have shielding gas to use it. It was probably quite a bit cheaper is why you grabbed it. Flux core should fix the problem.

Heads up though, after a while you will develope your welding skills much above that cheap welder, when that time comes check into the Lincoln or Hobart's, or if you can afford it, the Millers to me are better quality... not bashing other brands I just love my blue machines :) MM135xp, and MM251 in my shop. If you ever weld with shielding gas and solid wire with a quality machine you will never go back to flux.

Super thanks! I just needed someone to confirm this before I go an purchase more wire.
 
That would be some HUGE wire. I mean 1/4" wire? Really? Sorry, just kidding. I use .023" wire and always look for the "EG" designation, it stands for "easy grind" and won't be harder than granite when it comes time to dress the weld down.
 
That would be some HUGE wire. I mean 1/4" wire? Really? Sorry, just kidding. I use .023" wire and always look for the "EG" designation, it stands for "easy grind" and won't be harder than granite when it comes time to dress the weld down.

Gonna have to try some of the Easy Grind for my sheetmetal repairs. But I wanted to put his info up about the use of it... Looks like it is not recommended for things other than sheet metal because of a true lack of classification. Mig wire types? [Archive] - WeldingWeb™ - Welding forum for pros and enthusiasts