Welding stainless steel

srp

srp

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 May 2006
Messages
4,580
Location
Barnard Castle, Durham
Visit site
I'm planning on making up some stainless fittings in the coming months so I need to sort out some welding gear. I know you can get MIG welders (eg from Screwfix), who supply a TIG conversion kit for stainless welding, but I've also seen references on this forum in the past to inverters.
Can anyone recommend the sort of setup I'd need for, say, up to 4mm thickness?
 
Don't bother with TIG conversion kits.With these you have to scratch the torch tip on the metal to start the arc.This breaks the tungsten tip and contaminates the weld.You can buy, fairly cheaoly these days ,TIG sets that have high frequency sart wich is much easier.You'll need something aroud 120 amps but it would be a good idea to invest in a more powerful set ,say 160A.Pulse welding is also very useful particularly for thinner gauge metal.
You''l need argon and a regulator to go with that.If you don't have welding experience then you'll need to practice quite a lot but it is quite a useful skill to have especially if you own a boat.I've lost count of the things I made for the boat.Only last week I welded up a stantion base.It din't even cross my mind to order one.
 
Something like this one ???
I learnt on mma and oxy-acetylene sets and have only used mig in the last couple of years - now I've got the hang of the basics it does seem to be the easiest of the lot, especially on thin gauge stuff. But would you really go for something which takes these little gas bottles ? I'm not sure how much BOC charge for the full size bottles, but it's probably quite a bit.
 
Might be worth hanging on for an AC/DC one. Ac is what you need for Aluminium. There are normally much more money than a DC only set and I'm not sure why.
 
Interesting post, as I have oxyacetlene and stick gear at home and have seriously thought about buying a tig for the s/s work, as I am considering changing my line of work to boat repairs, and a tig would be one of the essentials.
Tig welding for anyone who has never done it is bassicaly just like oxyacetlene except the molten pool is formed by an arc as opposed to a flame, and the secret is to maintain a continues pool while feeding the rod in, although in a lot of lighter work it can be just fused with no rod needed.
Let us know how you get on with your purchase.
 
If you were only welding 4mm then a Stick Inverter (dc) is ideal. Nice smooth arc and a good finish with 316 rods. No gas to worry about. These machines can be got on Ebay for 150 quid..........and they are go anywhere portable.

Alex
 
Are we talking about arc welders. These can be hired, but I know you can not usually hire a MIG, thought the same would apply to TIG.

I would only want to use it once in a blue moon and I have mig for other bits and pieces.
 
That machine is probably a good one .You could also consider a AC/DC machine for aluminium as someone suggested .But aluminium welding requires a lot of practice.A MIG machine will do stainless and aluminium as well as ordinary steel.And it is very much easier to use but you don't get pretty welds as you do with TIG.I would never use stick welding for small jobs but that is a personal choice and it is possible to get very good results from an inverter(DC) set.Again with quite a lot of practice.
 
Shouldn't it be "eutectic"? In a mixture of crystalline solids, eg rock, alloys etc, the eutectic point is the lowest temperature at which they all melt simultaneously (dependant on proportions, pressure etc). Soldering alloys are eutectic mixtures /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
utectic rods is what you need

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow can you still get them? I used to play with them as an apprentice, never seen them for erm well lots of years. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top