fluxcore question

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Quick fluxcore question.  I am fabricating a set of bed top rails, 2" risers for my toolbox to sit on, and a headache rack for my pickup.  I'm doing this at home, because after I quit working on the jobsite about 6:00pm, I don't want to go to the shop to work on this of an evening.  I have a guy driving my welding truck to my house every night, but don't want the neighbors to have to hear the engine drive welder every evening.  So, I have a Lincoln Pro-Mig 140 here at the house.  Wind causes issues with running mig wire and shielding gas in the driveway, so I brought a roll of Lincoln Innershield NR211-mp .035 wire that I had at the shop.  Switched the polarity on the machine to DC-.  Set machine at D-3.5 as suggested inside the machine lid... Will not run at that setting.  Wire speed is WAY too fast at that setting.  I can get it to run it if I turn the wire speed down to 2, but it looks like hammered crap.  So, whats up with this???Little background, This wire is OLD.  I bought my first wire machine in 1995.  Snap On 300 amp machine.  I didn't know anything about fluxcore at the time, so bought this wire then.  I then found out what I really wanted was Gas Shielded E-71-T1.  So I switched to that, and all was good with it.  So, even though this wire LOOKS good, could it have drawn enough moisture or something to go bad?Or, could I be losing enough power thru my extension cord to cause my machine to not run this properly?It's really not a big deal, I can go back to running the engine drive machine, and using 6010 and 7018.  I'm just trying to figure out what the deal is here.  The machine does run solid wire fine, with gas.  So I just don't know.
Reply:Pictures would help.Not sure you realize this, but flux core-SS is not as appealing to the eye as Mig or 7018. I'm not familiar with your machine, but on the whole flux core-SS requires a little less heat than Mig.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:I've never really ran enough of the self shielded to "perfect" it.  I like the dual shield on my big machine, but never gave this self shielded much of a try...  I figured it should run hotter than solid wire, and that's part of what confuses me.  With solid wire, it'll run a nice bead, but with this, it seemed really cold.The welds that are going to be left visible, I will use 7018 for sure, what I was using this for, is I need 2" risers for my tool box to sit on, because I have an L shaped fuel tank that goes under the tool box.  I didn't have any 2" square tubing, but have a LOT of 2"x1/4" strap ( I bought about 8,000 pounds of it, 8' drop), so I am making my own for this project.  It will be 2" tall by 2 1/2" wide.  So these welds will be ground flush, to make it look more like square tubing.  These pieces will go on top of my bed rails which I made out of 4"x4"x3/8" angle iron.  I know that seems real heavy, but again, it's material I've had laying around for years (since about 1984), so it's "free".  The only material I've had to buy, was some 2" pipe.  I had some, but it was rusted and pitted too much to suit me for the look I want.  The pipe is for the headache rack.  All my angles will be cut down from 2" 45's and 90's that I have.
Reply:actually, I'll probably make all the pipe welds with 6010, as that's what I'm most used to using on pipe, and I can make it look good (usually).  I'm kinda out of practice...
Reply:Here's some NR-212. Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:at chart do you have for your 140? I looked at mine, granted it's the power MIG 140 C, but I didn't see any recomendations for D and 3.5  Here's a pic of mine, you may want to try these settings.  (I also may be completely off my rocker, but I'm sure if I am, someone will set me straight) Attached Images