A 10-pound spool of .035 Innershield NR 211 fluxcore has been sitting in my welder out in the garage for over a year. Lincoln's specs say it should be used "within a week after opening." Hello? It'll probably take me a couple of years to use up all this wire! I've used NR 211 that was at least 2-3 years old and had absolutely no issues. After all, it's inside the machine, and the machine is inside the garage, not out on a truck or anything. The wire is still nice and clean and shiny, no rust, and it still runs and welds like the day I bought it. So what's the problem? Is there something I should be looking for?Any comments or advice from fluxcore pros would be welcome.-RuarkLincoln 3200HDHobart Stickmate LX235TWECO Fabricator 211i
Reply:If youre not doing code work dont worry about it. My dad died 6-years ago. When I cleaned out his barn I found a roll of NR-211 I took off a job in the 1980s. I ran a V-butt test plate and bent the coupons. The roll of wire even had rust on it. The dings in the coupons are from my bender. Later I but some rubber in the bottom of the bender, so that wouldnt happen anymore. Attached ImagesDont pay any attention to meIm just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Thanks, CEP. I couldn't believe Lincoln said use it within a WEEK after opening! Even a Lincoln customer service rep told me to remove it from the welder after each use (!), put it in the original package and store it in a dry place.-RuarkLincoln 3200HDHobart Stickmate LX235TWECO Fabricator 211i
Reply:Ruark I live in the Seattle area, even on code jobs we never covered the LN-22s or LN-25s in the pouring down rain. Every night the feeders would go in the tool van. Sometimes it might be weeks before some of the feeders were used again. And we never removed the rolls of wire from the feeders!Dont pay any attention to meIm just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPRuark I live in the Seattle area, even on code jobs we never covered the LN-22s or LN-25s in the pouring down rain. Every night the feeders would go in the tool van. Sometimes it might be weeks before some of the feeders were used again. And we never removed the rolls of wire from the feeders!
Reply
eaving your LN25 out in the rain................WOWI gotta used one, about $800, doggone sure I'm not gonna leave it out in the rain. I'm thinking, if that's the case, maybe I oughta leave my grinders, chop saw, and just about every other electrical thing, in the pouring rain.Wire will take a modicum of humidity, and as long as there's no surface rust, it's generally good. (Flux core). But as for the rest.....dunno about thatAs I'm sure what I read on the Internet is absolutely true, I'm headed out the door to hook up the hose so's I can douse my welders with water"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Would well water invalidate the test???????????? It's not rain water"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by RuarkWow. So what's Lincoln's rationale for saying to use it within a week after opening it?
Reply:I think they say that for liability reasons and because the flux core will absorb some moisture as soon as it's opened. I'm sure somewhere at some time someone had some major QC issues and they traced it back to moisture in the core of the wire they were using and a team of lawyers got involved and sent some interesting letters to Lincoln so Lincoln modified the product literature under the advisement of their legal team to eliminate any future problems.
Reply:Originally Posted by ironmangqI think they say that for liability reasons and because the flux core will absorb some moisture as soon as it's opened. I'm sure somewhere at some time someone had some major QC issues and they traced it back to moisture in the core of the wire they were using and a team of lawyers got involved and sent some interesting letters to Lincoln so Lincoln modified the product literature under the advisement of their legal team to eliminate any future problems.
Reply:about 20 years ago i was ordering consumables for the job. i asked for 3 or 4 rolls of 211 innershield and got 34 rolls of 10 pound spools. the wire burns fine and so does the spool that's on the machine. if i lived to be a hundred i couldn't use that much wire for the work i do there.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:A Seattle guy who can't paint in the rain? Come on, CEP, the rain here just thins the latex paint nicely, LOL. (Farmersamm, don't know where you are, but this area doesn't often get downpours, mostly just a slow drizzle, and as CEP says, we have no choice but to carry on. Yes, possibly with rusty wire, heck, everything is rusty here!).I just took a real brief look at the Lincoln site, which is as lousy as every other manufacturer's site (Oh for the good old days of print catalogs!!!), and couldn't find this, but my recollection is that 211 is a general-purpose wire in any case, and that you use 203 for x-ray work (double-check this if it's important to you).As compared with a low-hydrogen stick electrode, the flux-cored wires pick up moisture a whole lot slower. If you're in a humid area, the old-timers' deal of putting away their rod in an old refrigerator with a 100W bulb inside is a fair idea for cored wire. The plastic spool won't take the full heat of a rod oven, but somewhere Lincoln will tell you what temps you can use to (at least somewhat) re-dry wire on a plastic spool.Last edited by old jupiter; 08-16-2016 at 11:09 AM.
