On Thu, 14 Feb 2019 12:55:00 -0800 (PST), speff
wrote:

A friend has gifted me a little 100W ultrasonic cleaner (typical Chinese) that he was using to clean brass for reloads.

The cleaning solution (salt, vinegar, dish soap, water) seems to have created pinholes, probably where there were inclusions near the deepest drawn section.

Could this be painted with epoxy paint? Or should I try to TIG a thin SS sheet over the bottom tacking it at a few spots to keep it moving?

--Spehro Pefhany
Greetings Spehro,
Years ago my mom asked me to weld repair a hole in a stainless
bowl. The bowl could have been replaced with a similar one for 20 or
30 bucks but it was one she used all the time for cooking and since I
could weld and had a fancy TIG machine and a machine shop, and it was
my mom after all, I said sure.
When I started welding the stainless started to kind of vaporize.
My welder has a 1 to 10 amp range and I turned the starting current
way down but the pinhole just kept getting bigger.
The metal had started to corrode between the inside and outside of
the bowl so there were two layers with corrosion products in between.
I ended up using a .125 diameter carbide burr to remove the
corroded area the result of which was a hole about 3/8 in diameter.
Then carefully closed up the hole by welding around the edges of the
hole until the bowl was solid again.
After using coarse sanding discs on the right angle die grinder to
smooth out the welded area and bring the metal back to the original
thickness I switched to finer sanding discs and then to scotch-brite
discs so that the welded area looked like the rest of the bowl, only
shinier.
I told my mom it was a quick job. She still uses that bowl and it's
been about 20 years since I fixed it.
Anyway, be prepared for corrosion like I saw.
Another poster mentioned copper backing, which is a good idea.
Eric