wooo! Fun with big wire!

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What is the biggest dia. of wire that you have ever GMAW or FCAW welded with?  How many amps did you get up to?Today I welded with .120 T4 wire.  I got up to about 575 amps.  Talk about hot, I thought that I would spontaneously combust!  I wasn't even wearing a leather welding jacket, just a standard green jacket.
Reply:I don't even have a machine that big......I got up to 300 amps @ 28 volts with the ranger 250 using .045 dualshield (ESAB Ultra 7100)and up to 400 amps with the same wire in my shop.  Flat only.  Lots of smoke from that wire.Never used T4 yet.....Nothing THAT big I work on.  No pics?   How did the slag come off?DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:The slag just fell right off with a gentle brush of the chipping hammer
Reply:Sounds like some of the pictures I've seen of shipbuilding welding.  Liners looked as big as firehoses."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:At Kaiser Steel;( Napa,Calif.)  I welded on sections of a rotary kiln . About 2  1/2" wall thickness ,we welded bars onto it ,with 1 &3/8"  flat fillets . innershield . 7/64 wire.  339 amps,  32 volts .VERY HOT  ! I only had a 1" fillet gauge , i guessed the extra , inspectors never complained . First, before welding , we had to warm up the steel , until all the "sweat" dried  up , or we would get tremendous pin holing .[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Weldrwomn, I can only imagine what that would be like, I'd have to add all my arc welders up to get to 575 amps. Glad you weren't doing it in my shed, the power bill would be a killer! What section of material were you welding?To Roy Hodges, where did the "sweat" dry up from? I bet the more dried up it got on the steel, the more came out of you, too."One of the things we have to be thankful for is that we don't get as much government as we pay for." (Charles Kettering)Mitch 180 (NZ)Lincoln SAM-400-220 + ?-400 Fordson Major + 2 x Tractapac Humber 80 + Procut 40 PlasmaMiller Spectrum 375
Reply:Welderwmn, that reminds me.  I bought a REAL bernard 500 amp Mig gun (cheap) I have only used it enough to make sure it works.  I hope to never need it, it takes 2 hands to hold on to it.Tomorrow I take my pulsed spray equipment to my son's vocational school.   They do not have it and my son is in the afternoon class.  He wanted to take the "cannon" (bernard 500).  I took it, but also the 200 amp lincoln mig gun.  Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:I am not sure what brand the gun I use for that wire is, but it is a big onery ole thing that is very difficult to manipulate.  It is not the regular one that I use thankfully
Reply:1/8 inch wire? That's about the diameter of an 8 penny nail! Hammertime!! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:The largest FCAW we run is 3/32" I have ran it at about 550 amps and 33-34 volts that was on a 651 deltaweld.Syncrowave 250Millermatic251Trailblazer302Thermal Dynamics cutmaster52
Reply:Originally Posted by TractapacTo Roy Hodges, where did the "sweat" dry up from? I bet the more dried up it got on the steel, the more came out of you, too.
Reply:Originally Posted by Shane G.The largest FCAW we run is 3/32" I have ran it at about 550 amps and 33-34 volts that was on a 651 deltaweld.
Reply:Originally Posted by Supex2, only I ran it on a monstrous old Linde machine.
Reply:Hello Everyone,                      Can't say i'v anything above 200amps myself,But when I was serving my time in England, at Dorman and Long Steel works in cleveland"most famous worldwide bridge builders" the stick welders on big fabrication work used 3/8" Dia rods, Don't know what sort of amps would be required. I remember the Beautiful smooth cap weld about 1-1/4"wide just very slightly rippled. Hope this fits in with the rest of the thread, If not Sorry!  Best regards  Gordon.