sutol 0 Posted August 4, 2007 Any body give us any tips on welding stainless tube together. How easy or hard is it and what rods do you sugest / can you Mig it ?...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hengti 2 Posted August 5, 2007 you can mig it using stainless wire and argon best results would be with tig though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
welshpug 1,657 Posted August 5, 2007 you can mig it with normal wire, but it needs more heat as its a harder metal. dint know anyone bothered with ARC for anything but girders anymore! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sutol 0 Posted August 5, 2007 you can mig it with normal wire, but it needs more heat as its a harder metal. dint know anyone bothered with ARC for anything but girders anymore! Some of us like to weld the old fashioned way mainly because it is quicker for me to set up as the Mig is kept in the house to keep the wire from going fuzzy and the Arc is under the bench ready to go. I tried welding some stainless pipe today and it was a success I welded stainless pipe to mild steel with stainless rods And I also tried welding mild steel to stainless with mild steel rods. Both were a success and I found welding with the stainless rods easier once I got them to spark up which was the difficult bit. I used about 70/80 amps with medium sized rods and got no blow through. The stainless rods are great because the weld can be polished up to match the job. Anyway I can start making the exhaust for my truck now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huzzer 0 Posted August 9, 2007 Side pipes? Stacks? Want to see some pics please! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3Evo 0 Posted August 9, 2007 (edited) Do watch the back of the weld with stainless. It flowers up a treat if it's not protected from the atmosphere so you end up with poor gas flow in pipes AND a weak joint. You should really pipe some shield gas to the back side of stainless welds as well as the front. You can MIG S/S and you can normally get away with Argoshield (argon CO2 mix) Re the heat: S/S is a rubbish conductor so it typically requires less current to weld than mild, and MUCH less current than something like aluminium which needs s*itloads of current / localised heat due to the fact that it carries the heat away from the weld area so well. Edited August 9, 2007 by M3Evo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sutol 0 Posted August 16, 2007 Do watch the back of the weld with stainless. It flowers up a treat if it's not protected from the atmosphere so you end up with poor gas flow in pipes AND a weak joint. You should really pipe some shield gas to the back side of stainless welds as well as the front. You can MIG S/S and you can normally get away with Argoshield (argon CO2 mix) Re the heat: S/S is a rubbish conductor so it typically requires less current to weld than mild, and MUCH less current than something like aluminium which needs s*itloads of current / localised heat due to the fact that it carries the heat away from the weld area so well. The back of the weld should be OK as I've sleeved the joint rather than butt welding. I've used a stick weld with stainless rods which worked OK, they are a bugger to strike up though which must be, as you say, due to bad conduction. The weld also contracts (I think) a lot when cooling as it cracks and spits HUZZER , my welding is crap so no pictures yet. But yes, 2.25 inch polished stainless pipe up the back of the cab, am going to change it all as the first fit was an experiment. Need to perfect welding and decide whether to put a stainless cherry bomb with 18inch tailpipe and perforated stainless cover up there instead. Or is that a bit over the top? Will post pictures when done in about a months time.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
