Heat marks on polished stainless steel

[200T]

Hi!

I need to do some welding on the backside of a poslished stainless steel sheet (welding on a bracket). The question is now; will I be able to polish the heat stains away on the other side (visible)? I think it's solid enough to not have the bead penetrate through to the polished side. If it does - well I'm fxxXxd anyway

Resp. how would you do this? If the bead should penetrate through (it's 1.5mm IIRC), how would you rectifie this? Grind back with ever finer coarse & re-polish? Would this be possible? I've never had to do any work of this sort before...

Thanks for your suggestions!

Jan

 

[Welderpaul]

It will polish out, if you burn through you are going to cause yourself a load more work. Bear in mind that even if you do not burn through, the material will swell and leave a witness mark anyway.
1.5mm sounds thin. Its going to be hard work to make it invisible. It can be ground back/polished out, but its hard work, even more difficult if your not used to it.
A heat sink - block of ally or copper will help take the heat out of the back of the joint and reduce the likely damage.

 

[200T]

Hi!

Thank you! So it's possible to restore it to as it was condition. It's thin, yes. It's actually a hub cap (maybe it's actually closer to 1mm?). Didn't think of a heat sink, that's a good idea! Perhaps I'm to find someone who could do the restoring bit for me, if I weld through.

Regards,
Jan

 

[troppo]

You can also use 'pickling paste' to remove any heat markings or 'blueing' of the stainless

 

[Goodwelder]

Remember, prevention is better than the cure! Weld it so you don't discolour the metal at all then you don't need to worry about cleaning and things, if you can put a chill block behind it, then do...
BUT you shouldn't need it to be honest. 2.4 needle pointed up really nice, 90-110amps if it's a bracket your welding on, either a lap or a T joint lay your torch over the send the heat into the bracket and not the cap. 1.6 rod arc up and immediately add a blob of wire then run with that. I doubt you'll need and more wire as you'll draw material from your bracket. Right at the end add a bit of rod and jobs a good'un

 

[gordon stephenson]

What about bedding the hubcap into a nice cotton towel soaked with cold water it would make a good form fitting heat sink, just make sure you keep it away from the electrics.

 

[200T]

Hi!

I have found another solution; the clamps that hold the cap in the wheel are a separate part. So I'll weld somthing onto these. As the hub cap is made from 0.6mm stainless, as I found out The clamps are 1mm galvanised steel.

Thanks for the input nevertheless - I can still make use of it, I'm sure I'll have to do some stainless beauty-welding in the future

 

[Seano]

Get yourself some Cold Front as discussed.....HERE