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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Age
    64
    Posts
    2

    Default Welding stainless steel ?

    It won't happen for a couple of months or so as moving house has priority , I want to make new fuel tank for my 9n tractor from an old stainless steel sink . I had a bit of practice on some old milk pipe line using someone else's tig and I found it similar to oxy acetylene by weaving and dabbing
    I am going to buy a new welder which is arc/mig/tig which will need generator to drive it as
    there is not adequate cable going to workshop , both welder and generator will be direct from manufacturer
    thats about it other than I am in mid wales uk

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    586

    Default

    That's really cool, man.
    I bet your tractor will be the envy of all the chefs in town.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Lebrina
    Posts
    1,910

    Default

    Not trying to put you off, but I'd like to put forward a couple of points relevant to what you are planning.
    1/ Stainless sinks are generally made from thinner material than stainless milk lines which can make them quite a bit harder to weld if you're not reasonably comfortable with stainless TIG welding.
    2/ Was the TIG that you played with a HF start model (push button start)? HF start machines are much easier to use on thin material than scratch start or lift arc machines. Generally speaking, the multi process machines such as you are planning to purchase are lift arc.
    By all means, go for it, but make sure that your ducks are in a row to give yourself the best chances of a successful outcome.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2020
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Age
    64
    Posts
    2

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Karl Robbers View Post
    Not trying to put you off, but I'd like to put forward a couple of points relevant to what you are planning.
    1/ Stainless sinks are generally made from thinner material than stainless milk lines which can make them quite a bit harder to weld if you're not reasonably comfortable with stainless TIG welding.
    2/ Was the TIG that you played with a HF start model (push button start)? HF start machines are much easier to use on thin material than scratch start or lift arc machines. Generally speaking, the multi process machines such as you are planning to purchase are lift arc.
    By all means, go for it, but make sure that your ducks are in a row to give yourself the best chances of a successful outcome.
    Thanks for reply
    Yes the tig I used was HF start , I have phoned the boss who makes up the welders and he
    said his tig is scratch start but he compared it to starting the arc with stick perhaps he was
    making it sound easy .he said The mig is 175 amps which will weld anything I want using
    1mm wire and prepping with V
    he told me he sold a generator and mig/tig/arc to a guy up in the Shetlands who repairs
    fishing boats

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Southern Riverina
    Posts
    24

    Default

    Scratch start is the worst, some say it shouldn't even be called a tig unless it at least has lift start. An experienced welder could probably get a job done with it, but hate every minute. An inexperienced welder will just hate every minute.

    HF start is proper tig, which is what you want for thin stainless.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Lebrina
    Posts
    1,910

    Default

    You can do good work on thin sheet with scratch start tig, but it is far more difficult than HF start. For example, let's say you are nicely set up and welding a seam on some 1.2 stainless. For some reason you start to melt through and you start losing control of the whole show, with a scratch start tig you will need to break the arc, which is not overly easy to do when you are braced and steadied up like you normally are when performing thin tig work - that arc will hold to quite a long length in an ionised Argon environment and may make quite a mess of the job you are on, plus you compromise your shielding gas over the. If you were using a HF start machine, then it's merely a case of lift your finger off the button and the arc stops while maintaining the gas shield over the cooling metal. You can also trigger on and off in order to assist in filling holes.
    I've used both as well as lift arc and HF is by far the most forgiving.
    Having said that, the old timers never had a choice, so it is possible.

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