I have to weld some stainless to repair a friends boat lift. There is enough welding to be done that I don't want to bother someone with a TIG, and I don't own one. Before Google tells me what to do, I will ask you guys.
Is 80/20 shielding gas ok? Similar diameter wire to what I would use for mild steel? Same tips? Any precautions? This will be a structural part- any thoughts on imbrittlement? 3/16" plate to 3/16" 2x3 box tube. Thanks in advance.
I'm not an expert, however I know you need to use a different shielding gas. We just went through this a month ago. For the life of me I can't remember what it was that we bought though. Outside of that and obviously wire we didn't change anything and it worked just fine.
I don't know much about welding SS, but I've done a little research into it for welding on my brewing shit and Argon was what everyone talked about using.
In non cosmetic projects, I've just used er70s-6 mild steel wire with regular shielding gas. I'm not sure if this would meet your needs in a marine application but it will permanently attach two pieces of stainless together. If I want pretty welds I Always TIG. I've used shielded stainless wire before with pretty good results but I think you have to use a different polarity than mild wire. It's been a while I'm not sure.
Not to sound like a retard, but are you sure it's stainless and not aluminum? I've moved and set up tons of hoists around the lake my parents live on and never ran across one that had stainless on it other than the cables.
Helium or tri mix works best. Argon will work well too. Judging what it is for, argon is probably the best bet, since your color is most likely going to be pretty faded.
Tri mix is the way to go. Your gas supplier will lead you to it. Fluxcore wire with trimix will do what you need. I ran a Piping Fab Shop or four in the good old days. mY BEST 2 cents.
Stainless flux core still needs shielding gas, it just allows you to use a different mix of gas. It's sometimes called dual shielding.
IIRC solid stainless wire shouldn't be used with more than 5% co2 because the stainless grabs the carbon and that is what causes porosity. The flux core can use gas with more co2 in the mix.
We use .035 308L stainless wire at work and 98/2% gas. Run it hot and lots of wire with a good welder. I weld stainless all the time at work, shoot me a message if you have any questions.
Edit: also keep your gun feed line as straight on with the welder as possible. Stainless wire likes to "birds nest" up inside the welder. It's very sensitive wire.
I prefer to use 90/10 co2 over the 98/2 oxygen mix. The 98/2 seems to run a bit hot for what i use it for
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