wrote in message
...
On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:14:32 -0700, Winston
wrote:

wrote:
On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:47:32 -0500, Ignoramus6004
wrote:

I bought a grill to put into the compressor that I aom converting into
a grill/pig roaster.

It is described as "stainless", but I recall that Chinese grill
stainless steel is something special.

As I may need to alter it a little bit, add tabs or drill holes, I
want to know what kind of stainless is it and what kind of welding rod
to use on it, and also, how can I drill it.

i
Chinese "anything" is a crap-shoot. Drilling stainless requires a
sharp bit, a slow cutting speed,and lots of pressure. You want the bit
to bite ALL the time. If it slides and heats, you are finished -
generally speaking.
As for welding, using the same alloy as the project works best - but
any stainless rod will likely be "good enough" since it is not
something that needs to look good close up. Best to stay with either
magnetic or non-magnetic, whichever the project is.
I'm not a professional welder - nor do I play one on TV - but I have
done some welding - including stainless - and a good friend of mine is
a real tig artist with SS.

Also, the thermal conductivity of SS is higher than plain
steel. It welds beautifully and you will be tempted to
weld without filler. As Ed Huntress mentioned, this is a
bad idea because element depletion will result in rust
surrounding the HAZ.

--Winston
I HOPE it was just a brain fart - thermal conductivity of stainless is
SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER than plain steel. And
autogeneous" welding of stainless is SIP in MANY situations (welding
with no filler). Passivating the weld is sometimes required to avoid
rusting.

Autogeneous welding of stainless is risky unless you know the steel you're
dealing with and you're using the right technique. With duplex stainless,
you get a variety of precipitates if you don't swamp them with extra
chromium and nickel. In austenitic stainless, you can get nitrides.

Some classes of stainless welding are usually done without filler, but for
the hobbyist, especially with unknown grades of stainless, extra nickel,
particularly, can solve some potential problems -- including diffusion of
nickel and/or chromium that leads to corrosion.

--
Ed Huntress