Cost is always a factor when making a decision about your welding operation. Fortunately, the cost to change from solid wire to metal-cored wire is generally minimal — especially if you factor in the labor savings and increased productivity you can gain. 

There are a four key steps to the process.

1. Welding operation study.  Your filler metal provider can study your operation on-site or recreate the part production in its lab using solid wire and metal-cored wire — comparing the difference in travel speed, deposition rates and the time to complete the part.  From there, the provider can prorate the welding cost savings using metal-cored wire on per-shift, monthly or yearly basis.

2. In-house trial. After reviewing the metal-cored wire data, you can trial the wire in a single welding cell, working with a filler metal specialist to optimize the parameters. Trials may run for a day, week, or even a month based on your preference.

3. Potential welding procedure requalification. You may need to requalify your welding procedure for use with metal-cored wires, and it may be possible to conduct the testing in-house. If you require additional mechanical property testing, you can work with a third-party testing lab to ensure that your choice of metal-cored wire is qualified to your application.

4. Conversion. Metal-cored wire can be implemented by changing over one cell or a group of cells at a time or during routine weld cell maintenance. You will need to change over your drive rolls at this time, as metal-cored wires require V-knurled drive rolls.

As with any change in the welding process, converting to metal-cored wire takes careful consideration. Consult with a trusted filler metal manufacturer or distributor to help with the process.

Learn how the savings added up for one manufacturer.

This article is the third in a three-part series discussing metal-cored wire, its benefits and how to convert to this filler metal technology. Read Article 1, Is Metal-Cored Welding Wire Right for You? and Article 2, The Benefits of Metal-Cored Welding Wire.