Stainless to mild

[Browser]

I have recently built one of the by now virus-like wood-burner-out-of-a-propane-cylinders and would like to add a baffle. Due to my steel {cough} supplier only having sizes which seem to be too think I suddenly realised I have several 900mmx x600mm sheets of 3 or 4mm thick stainless (316L I think), which incidentally I rescued from a skip at the very same supplier mentioned above, which I though would do OK.
I know stinless tends to buckle more than mild when heated but it's free and I was going to fix it in so it could expand/contract free of the main body of the burner.
My question is, I was told that I could 'get away' with using stainless wire and the Argoshield gas I normally use as long as it wasn't structural, eg for wedling a baffle into a stove, is this correct? Even though I know no-one will see it I don't want a bird-s****y-looking mess.

 

[gordon stephenson]

For a job like that I would just use mild steel wire with your normal gas,

 

[stevieturbo]

I'm a crap welder and Ive welded stainless loads of times with Argoshield light and stainless wire.

Ive never been told it is wrong, and the welds usually turn out quite good.

ie also welded using normal steel wire. Again never had any problems. Although obviously the weld will rust over time

 

[Ed.]

If you are MIG welding and you had some stainless wire then I would use that, preferably 309 or if you don't have it then 316, however if you use or only have mild steel than just make a decent weld and it will most likely last for a very long time anyway, lets face it, even if you used the stainless wire for the weld, the weld would last but the area where the weld bead joined to the mild steel would rust away regardless, so I don't see it making a huge difference apart from the 309 making a better joint between the two different metals. Just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers

Ed.

 

[TechnicAl]

The correct way is to use 309L wire and the correct gas Ar + 2.5%CO2 but for what youre doing I guess it doesnt really matter.

You might get very hard welds so it could make grinding difficult....so make sure your welds are neat

 

[Browser]

You might get very hard welds so it could make grinding difficult....so make sure your welds are neat

Neat?!?!?! To quote Bricktop Polford from the film Snatch, "Are you takin' the pi**?"
The day I do a neat weld will be the day I die happy
Thanks for all of the repliews guys, I think I'll get some stainless wire and fire a run or two down to see what happens.

 

[OUCH! That's hot!]

For what it's worth, I built a woodburner donkey's years ago with an old safe and some butchers rail. I welded the stainless butchers rail together using ordinary mild steel mig wire and the welds were fine, of course they will rust but that wasn't a problem.

 

[Chipper]

I welded my bike's s/s exhaust, just a repair, 2 years ago with mild wire & argon mix, I'm sure it'll rust eventually but nothing as yet. Even did an emergency "save the dinner" weld on a sieve a few weeks ago... expected that to rust, but it's been used lots and oddly not a trace of rust since, apart from on specks of spatter.