Went to the parts store to buy a new spool of wire for my MIG. Am informed that my old brand of wire has been replaced with some new type Ive never heard of. I normally get wire made by Marquette with a Alloy of ER70S6. The new stuff is made by Dorman with a Alloy of E 70S-G.
I tried looking throu some welding books of mine and could not find this type of alloy anywhere?
Anyone out there know of this alloy type, good bad or different?
Any help is much appreciated...Eric

Don't know about the wire, but you probably know that Dorman has been in the fastener business for years.

ER70S-6 is the wire of my choise for body panels... I would be hard pressed to replace this (softer wire) alloy.... :eek: if it were no longer available.....

GEEZZZ,Just when I think Im gettin the nack of this body work,you mean to tell me there's a difference in WIRE graemlins/clonk.gif Do we need a "back to Basics" on wire feed wire???? OK,you got me curious what's the difference??? :confused:

graemlins/waving.gif
Rick

Hi Rick
I'll defer to MartinSR for a welding basic primer. But in a nut shell. there are a number of alloy of welding wire out thereas there are diferent dia ....

For body panel. where you want to dress the weld seam . a softer wire alloy is desired.. that's where the ER70S-6 wire comes into play. it grinds easier

Steel Alloy wire code is as follows

E = Electrode

The 7 secon digit= Tensile Strength in 10,000 psi or in this case 70,000 psi.

The Third = position. 0 refers to horizontlal

A T insteas of an S means hollow-core wire.

the ( - ) number 1 through 6 = the varying percentage of Carbon -Silicon in the alloy
with the hight the dash # the higher the Silicon content...

SO #6 is the least amout of carbon and higest level of Silicon...

I do not think that is entirely true WayneK. ER70S-6 breaks down as follows...E=Electrode, R=Rod, 70=70ksi tensile strength, S=Solid Rod (T=Tubular Rod), and 6 is the variation in chemical composition. -6 actually has more Carbon content (0.07-0.15%) than -2 (0.07%). -6 has higher Manganese and Silicon.

To answer the question of ER70S-G...that is DEFINITELY NOT a replacement for ER70S-6! The -G is a general 70ksi rod that has no chemical composition requirements like the other dash numbers. If you are looking for the welding properties of the -6 you will not be guaranteed to get it from the -G.

Thnak,s for that clarification Eric.

The ER70S6 wire is a general purpose higher carbon/tensile strength wire especially suited for automotive body repair. It is not ideal for mild steel sheetmetal work on older cars manufactured with low carbon mild steel. Eastwood and other welding supply companys offer softer wire especially suited for mild steel. I used a the Eastwood stuff awhile back when chopping and filling a roof on a 32 ford sedan. I was very impressed with how easily it was to grind and hammer and it also welded better than the ER70S6 wire I had been accustomed to using. The softer wire flowed better leaving less bead height probably because it matched the base metal better than the ER70S6 wire. Do a search for welding supplies and you will be suprised at how many different wires are available. When I was a kid years ago before I owned a mig welder all of my welding was done with an oxy/acetylene torch and mild steel filler rod-the welds were very easy to grind and I never had any strength problems. I would try the new wire on some scrap pieces to be comfortable but I'm sure you won't have any problems. Although ER70S6 is ideally suited for unitized body repair on higher carbon/strength steels for the collision repair industry it is routinely used as a universal basic wire. For mild steel such as that used in older vehicles you will be happier with a softer wire-guaranteed. Just my two-cents. sometimes I get carried away. Performance Auto Body (http://hometown.aol.com/hollinsheads/myhomepage/business.html)

So if ER70S-6 is better for newer cars with a higher carbon steel, is there one that I could get at a local shop that would be better for the old cars, or is it an specialty-shop only kind of thing?