I want to share with you my struggles with welding stainless steel for the first time. Most everybody these days uses a tig welder with a foot pedal. The thing I love about the foot pedal is that you have a lot of control over your heat output. However, what most people starting out don't realize is that the foot pedal is just a percentage of what your machine is set at. I used to think that I could control the heat no matter how high I set the amperage. While that may be true to a certain degree, it really makes a big difference when you weld thin guage materials. The thing that you have to keep in mind whenever you weld stainless is that the the properties that make stainless resistant to corrosion can be burned out. What I am talking about here is chromium and nickel. This is what gives stainless steel its corrosion resisting properties. If you overheat stainless when you weld, you can easily burn out the chromium and nickel and it's no longer stainless steel. The way to tell if you have kept your heat right is to look at the color of your weld. The ideal color is a nice yellow. The weld itself will show your heat as it varies. Now the less heat you apply the better, but after all, we are melting metal here. Ok, I'm not going to go into all the technical stuff here so I'll give you guys the quick version. Set your heat low, and I mean low. I would set my amperage between 25 to 40 amps and that was for welding 16 and 18 guage stainless. As soon as you strike your arc you have got to move. You cannot stay in one spot for too long. This will help avoid overheating as well as heat sinks. I would always have different lengths of 3/8''brass to clamp behind weld joints. The other thing that I like to do is turn up my shielding gas. I would do this for a lot of repetative welds. This would allow me to weld a bit faster. Especially if you are just fusing. Remember, what works for me might not work for you and vice versa so always keep an open mind and try different things. If anybody has any specific questions that they would like to ask I will do my best to answer in a timely manner.
1 comment:
Tibor,
I am a enterproneuer and have recently started my own industrial design company. I am a trained architect and have extensive wood working experience but have worked with a local iron forger to help me with my stainless steel designs.
We have hit an avalanche of problems with the warping of the metal when it cools. I will try the some of your tips but would love to hear what other tricks you might have up your sleave. I wanted to see if the idea of goust welds is also a dependable alternative to heat sheilds? Or if not, is there a way to cool it slowly as to have less warping effects as say throwing cool water or a fan on the weld after its done?
Best Regards,
Chris
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