What MIG for 1mm-2mm stainless steel

[kul]

Hi guys,

I need a welder suitable for newbie which needs to weld stainless steel exhausts
It needs to be a decent size as I dont want to be buying wire rolls every 2 mins.
What would you say is suitable.

thanks
Kul

 

[Richard.]

If it's just for this purpose I'd buy a DC Tig. Far superior welding on thin stainless

 

[Kent]

I have to agree with Richard unless speed is important to you. Big reels of stainless MIG wire costs a fair whack to boot and you can buy smaller quantities of stainless filler for TIG

 

[F.J.]

What's your budget? You could go for a pulse mig as you can set everything up on the right programme for stainless. As said though a reel of stainless will set you back quite a bit of cash if it's only going to be used occasionally. A second hand DC TIG would be much easier and cheaper than a pulse mig set

 

[kul]

looking at spending 500-1k, all the exhaust suppliers powerflow, euroflow advised a mig is better.
180-200 amp

 

[F.J.]

I bought my Cebora 2035/m mig pulse second hand for £750 at just 12 months old. A £3000 machine new and it's brilliant. That's 200 amp and I've welded ally as thin as 2mm with ease so stainless shouldn't be an issue

 

[Richard.]

Top brand bike exhausts are made of stainless/titanium and inconel and pretty much all of them are Tig welded. Akrapovic , yoshimura, Austin racing , two brothers the list goes on. All these high end exhausts adopt the Tig process for manufacter

 

[kul]

Looking at car main stream car custom exhausts so will be starting of as MIG, I've found MIGATRONIC AUTOMIG 273 MIG WELDER a little old but refurbed

 

[Richard.]

Ok. Best of luck with it.

 

[kul]

thanks for all your advise guys

 

[steviec_lj]

The two companies in spitting distance of me, predominantly car exhausts in stainless, swear by TIG'ing everything.

Have only had the pleasure of working for one company that insisted on using MIG for Stainless. Everyone else has been TIG.

 

[Richard.]

Mig on stainless in general is a great process, but we are talking about small cylindrical objects here with thin wall thickness. It's actually going to be more difficult in this case to achieve passable welding from a mig. Yes it can be done and yes it will be faster but the visual appearance of the weld will look better with Tig. Stop starts can be blended in better with Tig. A DC Tig can be sourced for 400-600 quid for something half decent. If this is a production line where speed is critical and visual beauty is not then go with the mig.