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SS welding Questions.

B-rock

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Member Number
1947
Messages
135
Loc
warshington
I have a SS table from a restaurant. The research I have done is leading me to believe it is 430 stainless. There is a couple cracks in corners and a drawer roller bracket needs to be welded back in place. Im looking at this project to build my SS skills. Preferable tig, but I can Mig also. I have the tri mix and the Argon. I need to double check what filler materials I have. Im not sure what grade of SS they are. Any advise?
 
Throw a magnet on it. 403 is magnetic. 304 is non magnetic to lightly.
 
In my very minimal experience welding SS it holds heat like a champ. You will have to wait until it cools off if you're welding a run or you risk warping the sheet metal. They sell temp pens to test if you're under the interpass temp range. I'm following this thread because I have a table top from an old restaurant that I want to work on. It has no legs and a hole in the top. I'm trying to figure the best way to make it useful. I may turn it into a butcher table with a trash can under the hole in the middle.
 
Fit up is important. Nice and tight and clean. Also all this work is done with tig. Low amps and keep moving.
 
Pony_Driver said:
In my very minimal experience welding SS it holds heat like a champ. You will have to wait until it cools off if you're welding a run or you risk warping the sheet metal. They sell temp pens to test if you're under the interpass temp range. I'm following this thread because I have a table top from an old restaurant that I want to work on. It has no legs and a hole in the top. I'm trying to figure the best way to make it useful. I may turn it into a butcher table with a trash can under the hole in the middle.
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Add a sink in the hole, or cut a bigger hole for a sink to fit. Plumb it for water. Build a base out of whatever material you want. Works well for cleaning fish.
 
Aggie06 said:
Add a sink in the hole, or cut a bigger hole for a sink to fit. Plumb it for water. Build a base out of whatever material you want. Works well for cleaning fish.
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I'll post pics. I might have it ready for doing pigs before fish.
 
B-rock said:
I have 316 SS rig rod in 1/16. Will this work?
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Yes.

Stainless is a little bit of a pita because of both it's thermal conductivity (it's terrible) so it won't bleed heat into surrounding material to cool it off fast, and you can ruin it if you over saturate it with heat and/or subject the weld area to oxygen when it's over critical temp (carbide precipitation). The end result is that you need your settings, travel rate and filler sorted from go so you can roll out.

Highly recommend a 6 or 8 gas lense at least for coverage. You will run less amperage than the same thickness mild. If you're burning through, back purge.
 
Bggrnchvy said:
Yes.

Stainless is a little bit of a pita because of both it's thermal conductivity (it's terrible) so it won't bleed heat into surrounding material to cool it off fast, and you can ruin it if you over saturate it with heat and/or subject the weld area to oxygen when it's over critical temp (carbide precipitation). The end result is that you need your settings, travel rate and filler sorted from go so you can roll out.

Highly recommend a 6 or 8 gas lense at least for coverage. You will run less amperage than the same thickness mild. If you're burning through, back purge.
Click to expand...

Thats some great info there., I have some scrap SS tube im going to play with first. I messed with it in the past but didnt know about over heating it.
 
B-rock said:
Thats some great info there., I have some scrap SS tube im going to play with first. I messed with it in the past but didnt know about over heating it.
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If the oxide layer is dull grey, it over heated and may rust at the weld. If you can wipe off some of the oxide layer with your fingers once it's cool, it's really cooked and it will always rust at the weld no matter how many times you wire brush it. That rainbow color everybody aims for is a very thin oxide layer and the color difference is it's thickness. Once it's too thick it doesn't reflect light anymore.

I see more overheated welds from running to little amperage than too much with gtaw. Too little juice and you move too slowly waiting for the puddle. You really need a good command of the visual cues from the weld puddle to effectively weld stainless with tig.
 
B-rock said:
how do you all sharpen your tungsten? I dont do it enough to justify a dedicated bench grinder. and I understand a flap disk on an angle grinder is bad. what about this diamond cutter on an angle grinder.
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I just use the same bench grinder that I use for everything
yes, even red thoriated tungstens
you don't do lines of grinder dust with your coke, do you?
 
B-rock said:
how do you all sharpen your tungsten? I dont do it enough to justify a dedicated bench grinder. and I understand a flap disk on an angle grinder is bad. what about this diamond cutter on an angle grinder.

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-d...ers-61416.html
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I don't know fuck-all about TIG, but I thought handheld belt sanders were the hot-whammy way of sharpening up tungstens. Yard-sale cheap so easy to keep one dedicated to electrodes only.
 
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B-rock said:
Thats some great info there., I have some scrap SS tube im going to play with first. I messed with it in the past but didnt know about over heating it.
Click to expand...

I recommend getting SS sheet metal roughly same thickness as your table is. Cut it up in chunks and practice on that first. It’ll help you know the best amps to weld at as well as your welding process. I’d suggest searching YouTube videos on it also as some of those are very helpful.

Keep your welds small and tight, not in huge loops.

:edit: for thin sheet metal use small dia welding rods also.
 
the less heat the better. which means small welds... perfect fit up. so ideally no filler, just a quick fusion weld. if you need filler use .045" rod. 1/16" tungsten, i use 2%lanth or red. can use 3/32 just keep a real good point on it. i use a diamond wheel on a bench grinder in the shop or on a angle grinder in the field.

just bought 4more;
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Diamo...TGVN26SS6VP7RB9&th=1&qty=4&tag=91812054244-20


if possible, back the area with copper or aluminum chill bars to suck the heat out. dont force cool with water/ fans/ etc. when using chill bars leave them on until piece is completely cool.

my eyes are perfect but i use a 2x magnification lens, small welds.


little corner repairs and such usually aren't to problematic. i charge 8-10hrs for a countertop full seam weld, can he done in less, but less than 6hrs is really pushing it.




i hated stainless for a long time, until i learned to take my time. allot of time. slower really is faster with stainless.
and dont forget the more fail the more you learn:flipoff2:
 
Meh, I just weld it fast with a ton of gas, and then hit it with a stainless wire wheel after. :flipoff2:

308l is a great choice for nearly everything.
 
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