Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?

"fred bruce" wrote in message
...
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?


Short question.

Short answer - no.

Steve

In article L8IWf.1007$I%6.85@fed1read12,
says...

"fred bruce" wrote in message
...
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?


Short question.

Short answer - no.


But the correct answer - yes - is a bit longer.

Ned Simmons

"Ned Simmons" wrote in message
...
In article L8IWf.1007$I%6.85@fed1read12,
says...

"fred bruce" wrote in message
...
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?


Short question.

Short answer - no.


But the correct answer - yes - is a bit longer.

Ned Simmons

Well, yes, you can weld stainless with gas. It just looks like dog turds
and doesn't have any strength due to the very large HAZ. The high
temperatures also kill the metallurgical properties of the chromium and
other alloys that make the "stainless" stainless.

You can also weld logs.

Steve

The Tinman says that you can do it, and he sells flux for that purpose.

http://www.tinmantech.com/html/stain...ing_suppli.php

http://www.tinmantech.com/html/oxy-acetylene_torch.php

This guy is for real, he has been around for years. He is a big
believer in using oxy-acetylene for welding aluminum, stainless, and
other materials. I have met him and seen at least one of his videos.

The correct answer is that you can weld 300 series stainless with
oxy-acetylene, but that most people use TIG for that purpose. The other
poster was only repeating what most people believe, that it can't be done.

Richard



fred bruce wrote:
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?




--
http://www.fergusonsculpture.com
Sculptures in copper and other metals

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 19:34:29 -0800, "Steve B"
wrote:


"Ned Simmons" wrote in message
...
In article L8IWf.1007$I%6.85@fed1read12,
says...

"fred bruce" wrote in message
...
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?


Short question.

Short answer - no.


But the correct answer - yes - is a bit longer.

Ned Simmons

Well, yes, you can weld stainless with gas. It just looks like dog turds
and doesn't have any strength due to the very large HAZ. The high
temperatures also kill the metallurgical properties of the chromium and
other alloys that make the "stainless" stainless.

You can also weld logs.

Steve

I weld soap
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

In article ,
"fred bruce" wrote:

Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?

Yes.
However you will have a higher probability of chromium carbide formation
in the cooling weld.
This is due to how long the metal is kept hot.

TIG welding is faster and cleaner and reduces the instance of chromium
carbide formation.

To gas weld stainless steel you have to use a very carburizing flame.
With a carbon feather at least 3 - 4 times as long as the inner cone.

SS melts at a lower temp than steel, and will tend to have a very liquid
weld pool.

Also you will get substantial oxidation of the heat affected zone around
the weld.
This can be removed with abrasives.
If the welded piece is to be used near food or salt water you will have
to passivate it after welding.
Passivation removes iron particles from the weld surface that will rust
and restores the stainless properties.

This is always performed on SS TIG or MIG welds before exposure to food
or salt water, and gas welding needs it even more.

Any strong acid will work, the simplest being Naval Jelly (phosphoric
acid gel).

Citric, nitric, sulphuric, and hydroflouric acids are all used for this
in industry.

I use citric acid and electricity.

--
Welding Instructor - South Seattle Comm. Coll.
- Divers Institute of Technology
CWI/CWE
WABO Examiner

In article dlIWf.1008$I%6.283@fed1read12, Steve B
wrote:

"Ned Simmons" wrote in message
...
In article L8IWf.1007$I%6.85@fed1read12,
says...

"fred bruce" wrote in message
...
Can 300 series stainless be welded with a gas welder?


Short question.

Short answer - no.


But the correct answer - yes - is a bit longer.

Ned Simmons

Well, yes, you can weld stainless with gas. It just looks like dog turds
and doesn't have any strength due to the very large HAZ. The high
temperatures also kill the metallurgical properties of the chromium and
other alloys that make the "stainless" stainless.

It's not quite that bad, but it also isn't good. I'd say that yes, you
can weld 300 series s/steel with gas (I've done it many years ago), but
if I had any other choice, I wouldn't. If I did, I'd expect to do a lot
of grinding/polishing, have to deal with quite a lot of distortion and
have a HAZ with significantly different properties to the parent
material.

Also the thinner the material, the worse the distortion is gonna be.
Far worse than 1020 steel.

If the item was going anywhere near a corrosive environment like salt
water, I definitely wouldn't bother unless it was an emergency and the
short life expectancy was better than nothing at all.

Pay someone with a TIG to weld it for you.

PDW