Blue Demon 308LFC-O X .035" X 1 lb Flux Cored Gasless Stainless Steel Welding Wire

bert hoover: My daughters hot rod has a stainless downpipe that cracked at the flange. GO@ DA^ IT!!! I'm a decent welder, and figured I would have to get some exotick gas mix for the mig. Go figure FLUX CORE STAINLESS STEEL. IT worked and is still holding 320 hp. on the turbo 4.

United States on Sep 01, 2023

Rich: I recently built a swim platform for my boat and in the process had to make some brackets using 3/16" stainless steel plate. Doing a little research I found that the c25 I use for MIG welding steel would not work for stainless so I was left with a couple options - buy more gas (expensive) or opt for flux core stainless steel wire and since I rarely work with stainless decided the wire was the best choice.
I'm probably not the best person to write a review on this wire as it was my first time using it and I have nothing to compare it against other than other flux core wire that I've used in the past for mild steel. The wire seemed to run OK but I did notice that it was slower (if I recall correctly) than the other steel wire. It took a little fiddling with my welder settings but in the end it laid down a decent bead with the usual splatter involved with flux core. I would like to have had more material to work with so that I could have played around with my settings a bit more but stainless steel is expensive and I only bought what I needed so I didn't have that luxury. Overall I was pretty happy with the wire. Certainly much less expensive than having to buy more gas and while...

United States on Aug 12, 2022

Jeff from Ile Perrot: It is great enough that it works OK, but it seams to weld better at HOT process and it produces drops. It is harder to weld small and thin parts

Canada on Apr 10, 2022

Caroline Hampton: I would consider myself a amatuer welder. I have made and replaced many rust areas on a Datsun 240z so have become decent on welding thin steel. I purchased a stainless steel 2-1/2 exhaust pipe kit and this wire to fabricate my own exhaust. It does work. A few notes. It creates a very tall heavy weld. Be sure to lay it on thick zig zagging across the joint. I tried to stitch weld and had many pin holes. The pinholes are difficult to fill. Zig zag and it will come out good. I then ran a flap wheel to clean it up. It's not a pretty weld, but it's under a car so who will see it. It does save you from having to buy a $1,000 welder or the $1,000 to have a exhaust fabricated for you. I also used solar flux on the back side of my welds, so for around $80 you can weld stainless. It was a good intro to stainless and did leave me wanting a tig to learn how to make pretty welds.

United States on Jan 02, 2022

Tyler H.: They weren't kidding when they said you need higher heat for stainless welding. 110V unit isn't quite up to it, leaves a very high bead. My project was nonstructural so ok, but most users may desire 220V

Canada on May 16, 2021

Clint: So... nothing wrong with the wire. But it’s not easy to use. It comes out very drippy as its being welded. I found that straight lines are fairly easy to control but when going up a seam, any air between the pieces would ruin the shield and would pileup. It worked best running high amperage and medium speed. Need to work fast and being stainless is quite hard to grind welds clean. Should I do more stainless work I would go with solid wire and use gas as will not be so drippy of the end, plus no flux to try to remove. So in conclusion, is quite hard to do super nice work with it even after I cleaned the steel and did all the prep work perfect.

Canada on Mar 07, 2021

Arjun: Its not ideal for thin materials, but it works.
The issue for thin materials, the 308 wire doesn't flow well at low current voltage settings of mig machines.
You can get a less blotchy clumpy weld by turning up voltage and current of your machine.
But doing so in thin materials like automotive exhaust risks melting through and causing holes in your exhaust to back fill.

If your project involves thin materials and your on a budget, it will work. But you might be better off paying for 308lsi (silicone added to allot for fluidity and flow)
And tri mix welding gas.

Canada on Aug 14, 2020

Pen Name?: Disclaimer: I am not a professional welder; most of my experience (~3 years) is with GMAW on mild steel, and I generally dislike dealing with FCAW. Those of you with more experience with FCAW can chuckle into your sleeves all you want at what are likely greenhorn observations I detail below.

I put this wire through a 230V Millermatic 180. Part of the job was 1/4" 304L stainless square tubing and plate, horizontal and outside corner welds; this worked well for that purpose once I dialed in the settings. A few things that helped:

-Preheat the living hell out of the workpiece, or standby for cold starts and no penetration.

-My welder needed waaay higher voltage settings, waaay lower feed settings than the manual recommended; test
on scrap until you get it right (of course).

-No weaving, drawing e's, or deviation from a straight path in general; gun attitude should be straight in or pull.
Otherwise, you'll be getting pockets of slag and cold seams on the edge of your bead; not fun to clean up. It's
also a lot easier to see the puddle if you pull, and pushes the slag back along the bead. Also, I found that 3/4" of stick-out worked well; any closer...

United States on Aug 03, 2020

Gary Clifford: I am only a hobbyist when it comes to welding. I was renting the proper shielding tank but for the amount of stainless welding it was not practical anymore. Found this item on Amazon and thought well let's give it a try.
Have only done a few test welds so far but other than the price I highly recommend this product. There is not much splatter and the fumes are minimal and the welds are solid. For small jobs the price will be forgiven.

Canada on May 04, 2019