Tool Reviews

Butt-welding thin steel sheet with a MIG welder is mainly an exercise in heat control. The joint has no overlap to support it, and sheet metal can disappear quickly if…

A MIG gas diffuser is a small part, but it has a direct effect on shielding coverage, contact-tip fit, and arc consistency. It sits inside the front end of the…

A MIG torch cover is a simple piece of equipment, but it can prevent an expensive cable repair. The torch lead gets dragged across concrete, caught on steel edges, exposed…

Long-distance MIG torch runs are harder on a welding system than a short gun connected directly to the power source. The wire has farther to travel, the liner creates more…

Choosing MIG Drive Rolls for Solid and Flux-Core Wire Drive rolls are small, inexpensive parts, but the wrong roll can cause bird-nesting, wire slipping, erratic arc starts, and crushed wire…

MIG nozzle gel is a simple consumable, but the wrong product or technique can create more problems than it solves. Used correctly, anti-spatter gel reduces the amount of molten steel…

Choosing Aluminum MIG Wire for a Spool Gun Aluminum MIG welding is much less forgiving than mild steel welding. The wire is soft, the feed path is short, and contamination…

Clean MIG welds on carbon steel start with the wire, but the spool is only part of the system. Wire diameter, shielding gas, base-metal cleanliness, machine settings, and storage all…

Choosing stainless steel MIG wire is mostly a matter of matching the filler to the base metal and the service environment. The wrong wire can produce a sound-looking weld that…

A MIG welding gas hose is a small part of the shielding-gas system, but a leak can ruin an entire spool of wire and produce porous, weak welds. The best…