Filler and Cleaning questions

[river-rat]

Thanks guys. I guess I should have figured out that if they worked the same, there wouldn't be two different kinds of fillers.

I never thought about alcohol's limitations as a solvent. I'm pretty **** about prep work because the only thing worse than prepping a weld is having to re-do it because I got lazy. Usually all I'm using the alcohol for is to get rid of any fingerprints or sanding/grinding leftovers, but I can see how it doesn't have the beans to get rid of thicker oils hiding deeper in the metal.

Thanks again,

Nate

[hankj]

In a pinch, RG45 is OK, but it is formulated much different than a stick of ER70S2.

Hank

[kyoders]

Not sure about the RG45, but the isopropyl does have some water in it. If you are using RG45, I assume you're welding mild steel, so the water may not be the best thing. I would think denatured would be a better choice, but in practice it probably won't make much difference. If you're wiping it down shortly before using it, there shouldn't be enough time for any rust to form, and the heat will boil off the water.

The choice of solvent will really depend on what it is you are trying to remove. There are some things acetone will readily dissolve, but alcohol won't touch, and probably the other way around, too (shellac, for one).

[river-rat]

I'm pretty new around here and I have what are probably some pretty simple questions.

1. I see that most guys on here use acetone to degrease, but I have been using 91% isopropyl alcohol with pretty good luck, are there any major problems with this?

2. One sunday, I ran out of steel filler, and with no lws open, I picked up some RG-45 O/A rod. At first it ran like crap, but after I wiped it with some alcohol it runs great. Are there any major problems with this as opposed to using a tig filler of similar properties (especially now that I have a pound of this stuff and no O/A setup?

Thanks for your input.

Nate