Anyone Mig welded with stainless?

Discussion in 'Technical' started by kakaboy, Oct 5, 2013.

  1. kakaboy

    kakaboy New Member

    Found sime nice round twin tips I want to put on. I heard you can just swap the wire for stainless in the Mig. Anyone done this?
     
  2. TWIN TERROR

    TWIN TERROR Well-Known Member

    I use stainless rods on a inverter welder at work and they work fine. You have to turn the welder right down to 30 or it blows hole in the thin stainless but other than that it works fine. Cost of rods is under $20 for a small pack. I have seen stainless wire laying on top of the mig but no one has been able to answer how to use and is it just a simple matter of swapping the wire so your thread really will be interesting to see what others have to say. Would be no good for the job I do with the inverter as it is outside in a tight place so the inverter just hangs off my shoulder :D.
    Cheers Dave
     
  3. BADZX

    BADZX Grumpy old fart

    yep, just swap the wire reel over, it will run fine on argo-shield but will be better if you run argon.

    don't expect a perfect weld like you get from mild steel, it WILL take a few practise runs to get it working right, remember stainless doesn't like heat so keep the amps down.

    you'll still need to 'pickle' the welds to prevent the rusty stained look after welding.


    stainless wire through a mig is ok but more suited to heavier plate and tube connections, for the best results, if the tube thickness your planning to use is under 5mm, I'd be looking at tig welding it..... you'll get a better finish ;)

    opps nearly forgot.....
    swap the polarity over to + earth
    this also applies whether your using mig/tig/ or stick (either with an inverter or ordinary welder same applies)
    ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  4. minivan

    minivan Guinea Pig Test Monkey

    pickling acid is hydroflouric.. deadly stuff.. never get any one your skin EVER.. it burns you from the inside out and never stops burning.. it doesnt eventually neutrilise like most acids

     
  5. SanDy69

    SanDy69 Member

    as minivan said ....deadly stuff. make sure you get some Calcium Gluconate gel...its the only thing to stop it.
    hydrofluoric acid WILL dissolve your bones!!!! the stuff loves Calcium.
    i heard years ago about a lab tech get some on him and he jumped in to a swimming pool that they had a work. because of the chlorine in the pool it activated the acid and made it worse...end result: he died.... slowly
     
  6. Chilledpain

    Chilledpain Z Reaper

    http://www.ab.ust.hk/hseo/tips/ch/ch005.htm

    Nasty story :-( Poor bugger... Defo need to respect these chemicals and DIY seems very unappealing in this case. Leave it to the pros. Not worth the potential pain and suffering for a clean weld if u decide to use that stuff...

    More scary stuff:
    AHF-A soap incident occurred on October
    30, 1999, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One employee had the misfortune of
    getting the acid on her hands while applying an aluminum cleaner
    containing HF-A. She washed the acid from her hands, she thought, and
    then found gloves for protection. The gloves acted as an incubator for the
    acid. “Kelly didn’t clean off her hands good enough…the acid got into her
    fingers. By Monday, her fingers had turned totally black…she will certainly
    lose two fingers down to her knuckles.”
     
  7. zedman

    zedman Member

    yep me have all kit
    message me if you like
     

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