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Welding - Question?
nib1980 - 27/8/06 at 01:00 PM

Hello All,

Just a quick question.

can you use stailess wire to weld ordinary mild steel?

Many thanks


Gav - 27/8/06 at 01:55 PM

You can weld stainless steel with mild steel wire so id say its do-able but unless its just a small bit of welding you want to do but only have stainless wire i'd suggest you best off getting the correct wire for what you want to do since mild steel wire is cheap.


nib1980 - 27/8/06 at 02:06 PM

excellant, yeah its's just I got a load of stainless wire with the welder second hand so its not costing me anything yet!

many thanks


John Bonnett - 27/8/06 at 04:03 PM

My advice for what it is worth is to use the appropriate wire for the job. in this case mild steel. It may be that the welding you want to do is not structural and using a dis-similar metal may not matter. If on the other hand it is structural your life may depend on the integrity of your welding and then what price lo-cost?

John


Peteff - 27/8/06 at 04:51 PM

A 5kg roll of .8mm mild steel wire from my welding supplier is about £10 and will last you long enough to weld everything you need on a chassis and more, why risk it?


dmottaway - 27/8/06 at 05:01 PM

I asked the same question at the welding supply house and was told theweld would be brittle.

dave


kb58 - 27/8/06 at 11:43 PM

I thought the rule-of-thumb was to use welding wire that is "one step up" from the stainless being welded. That is, if you're welding 304 stainless, use 308 wire, and so on.


907 - 28/8/06 at 05:17 AM

309 is the stuff to use for MS to SS



Paul G


Alan B - 28/8/06 at 01:04 PM

KB and 907...I think you are misunderstanding the question (or I am..)
I think he is just welding mild steel to mild steel, but has some stainless wire he'd like to use.

My opinion is...buy some MS wire....there are better ways to save a tenner on the project....

(edit...translated to English..)

[Edited on 28/8/06 by Alan B]


907 - 28/8/06 at 05:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Alan B
KB and 907...I think you are misunderstanding the question (or I am..)
I think he is just welding mild steel to mild steel, but has some stainless wire he'd like to use.

My opinion is...buy some MS wire....there are better ways to save a tenner on the project....

(edit...translated to English..)

[Edited on 28/8/06 by Alan B]



Absolutely Alan, it's by far the safest option.


Paul G