Hi Bob,
Think about how the welding current is supplied to each type of welding electrode. For stick welding, the center portion of the electrode (which is the filler material) is clamped into the "stinger". This leaves plenty of room on the outside of the rod for a good flux coating.
In MIG welding, the filler material (wire) has to pass through a set of hard rollers, a steel liner inside the gun "hose", and finally through a copper contact tip. The welding current has to be delivered to the outside of the filler wire. A flux coating on the outside of the wire would make that impossible, so they have to put the flux inside the wire.
If they scale up the whole system in order to fit more flux inside the mig wire, then you would need one gigantic welder to be able to push that size wire.
CO2 is a proper MIG gas when it's required for better penetration. I'll take an "ugly" strong weld bead vs. a weak "good looking" weld bead any day of the week myself.
Think about how the welding current is supplied to each type of welding electrode. For stick welding, the center portion of the electrode (which is the filler material) is clamped into the "stinger". This leaves plenty of room on the outside of the rod for a good flux coating.
In MIG welding, the filler material (wire) has to pass through a set of hard rollers, a steel liner inside the gun "hose", and finally through a copper contact tip. The welding current has to be delivered to the outside of the filler wire. A flux coating on the outside of the wire would make that impossible, so they have to put the flux inside the wire.
If they scale up the whole system in order to fit more flux inside the mig wire, then you would need one gigantic welder to be able to push that size wire.
CO2 is a proper MIG gas when it's required for better penetration. I'll take an "ugly" strong weld bead vs. a weak "good looking" weld bead any day of the week myself.
Willie