Stainless welding

Submitted: Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:30
ThreadID: 68226 Views:16295 Replies:9 FollowUps:8
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Hi All
Can a normal stick welder weld stainless?Or do i need special welding rods?Or a stick no good at all?
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Reply By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:33

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:33
Yep!!
Stainless Rods and off you go.

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Follow Up By: tufflux - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:40

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:40
Hi
Is there any reason why normal rods cant be used?And are stainless rods dear and would I get them from (bunnings)??
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:58

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:58
You can but it seems a little pointless to have a corrosion resistant material and then apply a Mild Steel weld to it which would rust.
It you don't care about the final result or you have no choice then you can use a Mild Steel rod.

What is the job you need to do?
Maybe a better idea is to go to a small engineering shop and get a qualified welder with the right gear to do it for you??

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Reply By: Louie the fly (SA) - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:40

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:40
Hi there tuffy. By stick welder I presume you mean an arc welder. Yes you can weld stainless with an arc welder. An electrode like CIGWELD SATINCROME 316L-17 or MUREX™ SPEEDEX 316L-16 will be OK for general welding of 300 series stainless'.

For overall best results though, TIG welding is they way to go.

Cheers

Louie
AnswerID: 361618

Follow Up By: Ozboc - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 16:01

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 16:01
yeh Love to Tig -- can get a bit bored of purge welding though :)

my first choice also for fine fiddly work - for structural -- Stick ....

Boc
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Reply By: tufflux - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:51

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:51
One more questions.
Can i weld normal steel onto the stainless?And will the stainless rods be ok for this?
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Follow Up By: Louie the fly (SA) - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:57

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:57
Yes, you can with stainless rods, although it can be a bit tricky with an arc welder. Our old retired welder once told me "you can weld stainless to mild steel but you cant weld mild steel to stainless". What he meant was you need stainless filler to weld the dissimilar metals. We do it occasionally, when we have to.

Louie
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Follow Up By: Mr Pointyhead - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 11:07

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 11:07
I did a TAFE welding course, and did some (or should I say tried to do) some stainless welding.
It is much more difficult than welding mild steel, or even Al. It takes a lot of skill to avoid cracking the stainless steel as you weld.
As others have said, IMHO if you need stainless welded, get an expert welder to do it for you.

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Follow Up By: Ozboc - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 16:03

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 16:03
Juts remember - S/S is a very brittle steel and cracks MUCH easier than mild steel - and this will be more evident at a weld as s/s work hardens with heat

why do you need to mix metals ?

Boc
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Reply By: Axel [ the real one ] - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 11:12

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 11:12
Easier with a Mig.
AnswerID: 361622

Reply By: Hairy (NT) - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:02

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:02
As a lot of people have said...Yes
When welding stainless to mild steel use stainless rods.
Welding dissimilar metals is quite possible but not ideal.....because of the different properties stainless will expand and contract at different rates and temperatures and therefore have the tendency to crack if not done right. Don't put water on it to cool down either.
Stainless is really no harder to weld than mild steel.
What are you trying to weld?

Cheers
AnswerID: 361638

Reply By: tufflux - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:11

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:11
Hi
I am doing a few repairs on a camper trailer tail gate kitchen box,So rust is not a real problem,Just puting another shelf in.Thanks all for the help,I am going to give it a go with the rods i already have..
Cheers
AnswerID: 361639

Reply By: tufflux - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:16

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 13:16
Hi
I am doing a few repairs on a camper trailer tail gate kitchen box,So rust is not a real problem,Just puting another shelf in.Thanks all for the help,I am going to give it a go with the rods i already have..
Cheers
AnswerID: 361640

Follow Up By: Roughasguts - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 17:39

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 17:39
If your just putting a shelf in why not use screws, bolts, or even pop rivets..

Welding and mixing the metals will just encourage rust.
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FollowupID: 629427

Reply By: Ray - Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 15:10

Sunday, Apr 26, 2009 at 15:10
I worked for Murex many years ago before the development of TIG & MIG. They produced some wonderful "stainless steel" electrodes. Stainless steel is in italics because there are many types of stainless steel but the most common one is 316. Most of these electrodes would run on AC transformer welding sets but some had to run on DC generators. The DC sets were either an MG set or diesel powered generators. Rectified DC was in its infantcey and very unreliable in those days. I found that many of the stainless electrodes ran better than a lot of the mild steel electrodes. One thing to be careful with is that you use stabilised electrodes as unstablised electrodes can cause intercrystine corrosion ie oxidation in the heat affected zone. Also not all stainless steel electrodes have stainless steel cores and the stainless steel effect comes from the flux coating.
AnswerID: 361664

Follow Up By: oldtrack123 - Monday, Apr 27, 2009 at 17:01

Monday, Apr 27, 2009 at 17:01
Hi
Ray replied:
"I worked for Murex many years ago before the development of TIG "

Geez & I thought I was old !!!
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FollowupID: 629649

Reply By: Michael ( Moss Vale NSW) - Saturday, May 02, 2009 at 18:41

Saturday, May 02, 2009 at 18:41
For a novice welder, use CIG Weldall. you can buy a blister pack with 12 and 10 gauge rods in the pack for about $35. You can weld stainless and other hard to weld metals. You can even weld a broken coil spring off the 4x4 with some skill or if you wait long enough, someone will come along that can do the job for you.. You must wear safety glasses as the flux (slag) flies off the weld as it cools down. They really are fantastic rods.. A place that sell industrial supplies to industry or CIG,,, BOC will have them.. Michael

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