dogwood
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 11:07 AM |
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Welding Stainless / alloy
Hi
Has anyone done any welding of Stainless steel exhaust tubing with a Clark 135 hobby welder?
Also alloy welding.
I would consider my self an experienced welder,
but my attempt at welding alloy was a complete and utter disaster.
Seemed to me there wasn't enough power.
Having never welded alloy before not sure if I am correct.
Yes it was nice and clean before I started.
As for the Stainless, is it like welding mild steel? because the alloy certainly wasn't 
I know I need Argon mix gas.
Any advice would be appreciated
David
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cjtheman
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 12:30 PM |
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for welding s/s a better gas to use is astec
but as far as ally i would use tig
cheers
colin
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mark chandler
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 12:40 PM |
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Your barking up the wrong tree with that machine.
Stainless and alloy require shielding with Argon.
TIG is the way to go.
Regards Mark
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jamiepearson69
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 12:53 PM |
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You can get stainless Steel Welding Rods. I have used them in the past and they are ok. Not like welding with gas tho.
It won't be any good if your using normal steel welding rods!
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dogwood
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 02:00 PM |
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Sorry guys..
My question is , has anybody used a Clark mig 135 welder (or any other type hobby welder) to make a stainless steel exhaust system?
I need to know if it's possible and still get decent welds.
If not then I will make it out of mild steel and wrap it.
I know TIG would be better, but heyho got to make do with what I got
Cheers David
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zetec7
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 03:50 PM |
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I haven't tried it myself yet, but my welding shop said it should make welds just as good as regular MIG on plain steel. You need to have a
spool of stainless wire, of course, and I believe pure argon is the gas of choice (double-check on that, though). I did weld stainless-to-stainless
with regular wire and 50/50 Argon/CO2 mix, and it worked fine. It's just that the weld itself isn't stainless...
http://www.freewebs.com/zetec7/
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IDONTBELEIVEIT
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 04:00 PM |
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helishield is the gas for mig welding st/st a mix of helium and CO2,another is stain shield,be careful of those fumes long term the nickel and
chromium in the st/st is very carcenegenic(cancer giving)
wayno!!
Are We There Yet, Are We There Yet!!!!
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Volvorsport
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 04:05 PM |
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yes i have , you get a neater weld with mild steel wire altho they will go rusty .
stainless wire is only a little bit stronger (for the weld) , and if set wrong makes it really spattery .
from a purely welding point it would be a no no to do it , we weld mild steel flanges to stainless tubing so its not a big problem .
www.dbsmotorsport.co.uk
getting dirty under a bus
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Chippy
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 04:52 PM |
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Yes, have made several with St/St tube, complete systems. I use Argoshield Lite from BOC, (not the cheapest!!). It's pretty much the same as
welding mild, but I find that you need to reduce the wire feed otherwise you get big lumpy welds. Welding alloy with a MIG you derfinately need to use
Argon for a neat weld, BUT, you can get it to weld using same gas as steel, it's just not very tidy, but OK if you can grind it afterwards.
Cheers Ray
To make a car go faster, just add lightness. Colin Chapman - OR - fit a bigger engine. Chippy
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IDONTBELEIVEIT
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 05:46 PM |
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try spray transfer rather than dip to avoid spatter,set your amperage roughly correct and then whilst welding adjust wirespeed with other hand until
the weld goes almost silent
wayno
Are We There Yet, Are We There Yet!!!!
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dogwood
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| posted on 5/10/08 at 05:56 PM |
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Thanks for all the reply guys.
It has been most helpfull.
Didn't want to buy a load of S/Steel tube then find I couldn't weld it nicely.
I didn't know you could weld stainless to mild. You learn something new every day.
Thought I was going to have to cut out the manifold flanges in stainless.
keep up the good work 
David
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