stainless steel butt welding

[Richard.]

hold that for me (beer)
no doubt it can be done with a very tight arc, but tacking it is a pain. especially with aluminum where you need to put pressure on the material with a hand that is holding the filler rod. anyways a 10kg steel block which i used to pull off the heat fallen on the TIG torch cable and its out of cooling . but challenge accepted, ill try to crack it with 1,0-1,2mm MIG wire and 55-60A when i fix he torch or someone else before i go to work. anyways its friday why are we talking about welding

well, it will be friday after another 8 h at work so we can talk...

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but 1.5mm is the starting point. It’s far from thin.
When I do my sessions with people on stainless we start on 1.6 and move down depending on skill and ambition I’ve gotten nice results out of people on 0.7

 

[w124]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but 1.5mm is the starting point. It’s far from thin.
When I do my sessions with people on stainless we start on 1.6 and move down depending on skill and ambition I’ve gotten nice results out of people on 0.7

i know, iv'e seen someone from my country posting pics of titanium details welded below 0,5mm thickness. everything can be done with the right pair of hands.
been looking for 1,5mm sheets but only found 2mm and made a few runs.
we do have 1mm stainless but that will be a challenge for me and our guillotine too

2mm 1,6 filler 80A but first time this year on a secondary torch which is not much smaller than a 500A MIG gun...



that was done without wire.


ill try 0,7-1mm but i dont expect good results

 

[Richard.]

i know, iv'e seen someone from my country posting pics of titanium details welded below 0,5mm thickness. everything can be done with the right pair of hands.
been looking for 1,5mm sheets but only found 2mm and made a few runs.
we do have 1mm stainless but that will be a challenge for me and our guillotine too

2mm 1,6 filler 80A but first time this year on a secondary torch which is not much smaller than a 500A MIG gun...
View attachment 143901
View attachment 143902

that was done without wire.
View attachment 143903

ill try 0,7-1mm but i dont expect good results

Try 1.5 first.

 

[w124]

anyways, the last time i welded 1mm was aluminum and quite easy parts to do.
i was allowed to use 2mm sheets but it was 1mm on drawings.
i had two 30mm blocks of steel clamped to the pieces. after few runs the blocks were hot but the items i just welded together not,
if we talk about aluminum theres a whole damn difference between 1mm and 1,5mm when it comes to welding (at least for me)

 

[Richard.]

anyways, the last time i welded 1mm was aluminum and quite easy parts to do.
i was allowed to use 2mm sheets but it was 1mm on drawings.
i had two 30mm blocks of steel clamped to the pieces. after few runs the blocks were hot but the items i just welded together not,
if we talk about aluminum theres a whole damn difference between 1mm and 1,5mm when it comes to welding (at least for me)

1mm aluminium is thin gage when we talk about it from a welding point of view.
1mm stainless isn’t thin really in the welding world . 0.7 and under then we are talking thin.

 

[w124]

1mm aluminium is thin gage when we talk about it from a welding point of view.
1mm stainless isn’t thin really in the welding world . 0.7 and under then we are talking thin.

ive been searching for some instructive videos on YT, weldingtipsandtricks is really good, but more focused on thicker plates MIG/MMA/TIG.
weld.com and "mr. tig" does some thin stuff but the quality of his work is no doubt questionable.

 

[Brad93]

I weld 0.7mm stainless and mild steel on a regular basis. Mainly butt welds.

Tight arc, about 20-25A.

If you do fillets they need to be clamped and well racked at regular intervals, they just bow apart otherwise.

 

[mrdom]

Hi Guys can i just ask, in terms of welding pretty thin material you've been discussing here (say 0.7-1mm steel and aluminium or even less) what sort of amps would you be working at roughly? I ask because i'm looking at getting a tig welder (purely for tinkering) and the minimum amps vary a bit between machines... i know some settings were discussed above for steel (and also covered in the tutorial section) but nothing for aluminium that i can see?
Is it a case where the ultra low 5 amp say minimum on some machines isn't actually really ever needed?

I had initially been thinking about a cheap ebay or similar Chinese ac/dc machine but have come to the conclusion I'm better off waiting a bit longer and getting something like a Parweld xtt 202p which appears to be fairly well regarded on here for the money.

... in case you were wondering i am not intending to start on ultra thin material i just curious really.

 

[Brad93]

It’s not just amperage to be honest mate you need a machine with a stable arc and consistent gentle ignition.

 

[Richard.]

Hi Guys can i just ask, in terms of welding pretty thin material you've been discussing here (say 0.7-1mm steel and aluminium or even less) what sort of amps would you be working at roughly? I ask because i'm looking at getting a tig welder (purely for tinkering) and the minimum amps vary a bit between machines... i know some settings were discussed above for steel (and also covered in the tutorial section) but nothing for aluminium that i can see?
Is it a case where the ultra low 5 amp say minimum on some machines isn't actually really ever needed?

I had initially been thinking about a cheap ebay or similar Chinese ac/dc machine but have come to the conclusion I'm better off waiting a bit longer and getting something like a Parweld xtt 202p which appears to be fairly well regarded on here for the money.

... in case you were wondering i am not intending to start on ultra thin material i just curious really.

If your going low you want a decent machine. Most will brag 5 amps on the bottom but actually doing it in a stable fashion is another thing entirely.
Spend mega bucks and you’ll get stability at 3 and 4 amps. 1mm stainless is in and around 25-35amps 1mm alu is more like 40-45.
Half the thickness half the current.

 

[w124]

I weld 0.7mm stainless and mild steel on a regular basis. Mainly butt welds.

Tight arc, about 20-25A.

If you do fillets they need to be clamped and well racked at regular intervals, they just bow apart otherwise.

1,5mm was much harder than 2mm, one weld was too hot then i reduced amperage to 55-60. 2,4 electrode and 1,6mm filler rod...
when i was welding some idiot decided to increase the amps to 200 so i had to stop. but i think it wasnt a bad attempt.


then i tried 1,0 or 0,8 and that was a fail. will try again next time with the pieces clamped together.


a suitable tig torch would change alot too. the one i have now is too big.

if i can ask you Brad what kind of stuff are you welding at work? why it has to be 0,7 and not 1,5mm.

also i was thinking about pulse on high Hz

 

[Richard.]

Brad does exhausts for 2 strokes.
The can not be 1.5mm.

 

[Brad93]

Brad does exhausts for 2 strokes.
The can not be 1.5mm.

Yeah 1.5 is just too thick a gauge to roll by hand. And heavy too. We do a lot for the classic racing scene.

0.7 is for our race pipes. Road going bikes get 0.9 for a bit of longevity and resistance to dents.

 

[Shox Dr]

Yeah 1.5 is just too thick a gauge to roll by hand. And heavy too. We do a lot for the classic racing scene.

0.7 is for our race pipes. Road going bikes get 0.9 for a bit of longevity and resistance to dents.

Is the fit up so good you just have the rod in hand just in case. Or do they need rod. Back purged?

 

[w124]

Yeah 1.5 is just too thick a gauge to roll by hand. And heavy too. We do a lot for the classic racing scene.

0.7 is for our race pipes. Road going bikes get 0.9 for a bit of longevity and resistance to dents.

so its a car that cant weight more than X? i had a chance to hold a lamborghini 22' magnesium rim damn, it seemed like an empty can of beer and a tire was on it

 

[Brad93]

Is the fit up so good you just have the rod in hand just in case. Or do they need rod. Back purged?

On the 0.9mm I use 1mm rod.
On the 0.7mm I use 0.8mm filler.

Fit up isn’t always great so I pulse them in manually with a foot pedal to get a nice looking bead and reduce the temperature of the pool a bit more.

I only back purge them if requested. They’re two strokes so they’re never going to corrode or rust. So full of bloody oil!
They would weld even nicer if they were all purged - steel included.

 

[w124]

On the 0.9mm I use 1mm rod.
On the 0.7mm I use 0.8mm filler.

Fit up isn’t always great so I pulse them in manually with a foot pedal to get a nice looking bead and reduce the temperature of the pool a bit more.

I only back purge them if requested. They’re two strokes so they’re never going to corrode or rust. So full of bloody oil!
They would weld even nicer if they were all purged - steel included.

im starting to love pulesed TIG lets say 120/70A 60% on pulse, 45Hz

overhead on my knees, 3mm

0,8 or 1,0 mm


one tack was cold, the hardest part of welding 1mm is tacking