MIG welding can be either fully automatic or semi-automatic. The reason for this is the presence of shielding gas during MIG welding which does not require the wires to be coated with a flux of any kind. One major difference between MIG wires and Stick electrodes are the lack of flux coating on MIG wire.

These wires are directly connected to the welding gun and it is the gun which feeds the wire into the welding pool.

Usually, electrodes for MIG welders are more like wires rather than rods. The job of a consumable electrode is to get consumed during the welding process, one of the reasons why selecting the right electrode can be such an important task because the material of the electrode will also become a part of the final weld. These are further divided into two categories, consumables for MIG and Stick welders. Hands down the most popular electrodes being used right now are the consumables. Welding trade facts CONSUMABLE (MIG, STICK, FCAW) Usually, the ones you are going to be using in MIG welding consists of a spool of wire while most of the electrodes used in SMAW and TIG look like long rods. The reason for this nomenclature is fairly obvious, consumable electrodes get consumed in the process while non-consumables don’t.Įven the looks of electrodes vary a lot. To begin with, electrodes can be broadly categorized into consumable and non-consumable. On top of this, the thickness and the specific type of weld you are looking for will also determine the choice of electrodes. The type of welding rods you are going to be using will depend upon the type of metal you are going to be working on. Don’t get intimidated by all the information about differences between electrodes, once you know the basics the rest will work itself out. Don’t forget to think about how many electrodes you will actually need and how to correctly store the excess rods.

To make the correct choice you should know about the different types of electrodes out there and what the differences are. I will try to go through each and every aspect of all the welding rod options out there and hopefully, it will help you in making future decisions.Ĭhoosing the right electrode is very important for the quality of the weld. There are a lot of articles on the internet with comparisons between a couple of welding rods, but rarely will you ever come across something which has a comprehensive overview of all the welding rods out there. DIFFERENT STORAGE NEEDS FOR DIFFERENT ELECTRODESĮveryone remembers the time when they had to buy their first welding rods, the decision can be pretty nerve-racking with all the choices out there.HOW TO KNOW IF MY WELDING ROD HAS GONE BAD?.HOW TO CALCULATE HOW MUCH RODS DO I NEED.HOW MANY DIFFERENT STICK WELDING ELECTRODES ARE THERE?.

Weld strength per inch chart