Welding Gas Tanks

Hey guys!

I have a qurestion:
I ordered welding sticks (steel,alli and stainless).How can I tell which sticks are for which metal?
Only one portion of the sticks are stamped so I´m clueless.
Tried a magnet but the ones I thought are stainless are not magnetic....

Steel is easy (copper color)
Alli and Stainless is harder :)

thanks in advance!
 
Stainless filler rods are not magnetic. But a lot harder than alloy as mentioned. Alloy rods have a little duller whiter color than ss rods as well
 
Thanks guys that was my guess too...alli rods look more 'dull' and are lighter.

Waiting for my gas bottle,it takes two weeks here to get a bottle fill.
Using the time to organise my work space and making sure everything is set up properly.

What would you guys advise me to start out with?
Plain steel?
I thought starting out with tack welding would be good to get a feeling for the materials and tools.

Here are two pics of the table I'm planning its an old bending machine so the table will be rotatable.

Thank you!
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It doesn't matter much. I'd go for 2-3mm steel. Aluminium is a bit more forgiving in terms of burning through, but requires you to get multiple variables right from the start in order to form a puddle, whereas with steel you only have to get the amperage right and learn how to clean it thoroughly (even more so with aluminium). Just make sure you get plain steel or stainless and you'll be fine.
 
So guys I finally could set up the machine and get my welding table going.At the moment just a simple 2.5MM steel plate,will do for now.
Already started fabricating and welding little stuff.Its big fun but the learning curve is steep :)
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looking good, and good on ya for jumping in and learning.

That stainless bead looks nice, but something to keep in mind, the dark gray color of that weld is something you want to avoid on stainless steel.

Stainless derives its anti corrosion qualities from chromium.

When the weld turns gray like that, you've burnt away the chromium, and that area will then rust.

you will be looking for a colorful bead, and in a perfect world you would like those colors to be straw yellow and purple mostly.

Try to use the minimum amount of heat (amperage) as possible to complete the joint, which should remedy that issue.

Keep up the good work man!

Enjoy it!
 
HURCO550 said:
looking good, and good on ya for jumping in and learning.

That stainless bead looks nice, but something to keep in mind, the dark gray color of that weld is something you want to avoid on stainless steel.

Stainless derives its anti corrosion qualities from chromium.

When the weld turns gray like that, you've burnt away the chromium, and that area will then rust.

you will be looking for a colorful bead, and in a perfect world you would like those colors to be straw yellow and purple mostly.

Try to use the minimum amount of heat (amperage) as possible to complete the joint, which should remedy that issue.

Keep up the good work man!

Enjoy it!

Thank you man!
Actually youre pretty spot on: I "blasted" this one bead on with high amps (160A) to tack the round steel into place, then filled the hole I drilled from the backside...
Will do it differently next time!

Currently I´m experiment alot with bending full steel material and steel tubing.
Do you have any tips on bending tubing (exept the obvious filling with sand)?
Good heat and going slow I guess...?

I´m having a welding course in november and I hope to learn more about the whole welding universe, its a mind explosion!
 
HURCO550 said:
looking good, and good on ya for jumping in and learning.

That stainless bead looks nice, but something to keep in mind, the dark gray color of that weld is something you want to avoid on stainless steel.

Stainless derives its anti corrosion qualities from chromium.

When the weld turns gray like that, you've burnt away the chromium, and that area will then rust.

you will be looking for a colorful bead, and in a perfect world you would like those colors to be straw yellow and purple mostly.

Try to use the minimum amount of heat (amperage) as possible to complete the joint, which should remedy that issue.

Keep up the good work man!

Enjoy it!
No, you dont burn away the cromium. The grey scaly stuff is oxide, caused by too hot metal meeting oxygenated carbon rich atmosphere. Can be brushed or pickled off, then stainless again.
Try welding cooler, easier to get the oxides off and less prone to warping when you get even heat alomg the weld.
 
datadavid said:
No, you dont burn away the cromium. The grey scaly stuff is oxide, caused by too hot metal meeting oxygenated carbon rich atmosphere. Can be brushed or pickled off, then stainless again.
Try welding cooler, easier to get the oxides off and less prone to warping when you get even heat alomg the weld.

yes, it's due to chromium burn out or boil out. I'm not just pulling info out of thin air here bud. I'll post up some articles later.

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Yes, the oxide layer has burned off the cromium, but thats mostly because of the atmosphere, if you weld in argonboxes you dont get the same burn off or oxidization. Or if you use those titanium post-gas followers. I think we mean the same thing, but you can keep stainless in melted phase in a passive atmosphere, its when it meets active atmosphere that alloys burn off.
 
Chromium Oxide is the protective layer. Oxidation isn't the issue, it's already oxidized. That's what passivation is- when chromium reacts with oxygen to become nonreactive (4Cr + 3O2 → 2Cr2O3).

Stainless steel repairs itself much like skin. The issue you guys are talking about is when the surface is damaged to a point it can't repair itself or causes metallurgical change. The passive layer is only a few molecules thick.

(not arguing, just more 'splaining)
 
Relax guys!I love you all ;D

How do you guys treat your metals before welding?

I´m grinding off the "skin" of the mild steel with my sanding machine (how far would you grind?).Then a good wipedown with acetone.
How do you guys treat your ally and stainless?

cheers!
 
Ryan Stecken said:
Relax guys!I love you all ;D

How do you guys treat your metals before welding?

I´m grinding off the "skin" of the mild steel with my sanding machine (how far would you grind?).Then a good wipedown with acetone.
How do you guys treat your ally and stainless?

cheers!

depends on how strong I need the weld to be.
90% of the time I wire wheel it and go.
Aluminum or stainless get a real cleaning, mild steel not so much.
 
irk miller said:
Chromium Oxide is the protective layer. Oxidation isn't the issue, it's already oxidized. That's what passivation is- when chromium reacts with oxygen to become nonreactive (4Cr + 3O2 → 2Cr2O3).

Stainless steel repairs itself much like skin. The issue you guys are talking about is when the surface is damaged to a point it can't repair itself or causes metallurgical change. The passive layer is only a few molecules thick.

(not arguing, just more 'splaining)
Was not talking about the passive layer at all, now im no scientist, but i think hurco meant cromium being burnt out of the weld pool, which can happen when overheating ss steel. That grey scaly stuff is still oxide i would say. Idk, i've just been welding the stuff for over ten years now, i think i know what i need to know about it. Like how ss reacts in solid, molten and burning states and what type of atmosphere it needs when molten. In fact i make ridiculous amounts of money just by knowing this!
 
I have had best luck utilizing a tig welder and a aluminum-bronze or silicon-bronze filler rod. These have a much lower heat temperature and don't require you to actually melt the base metal.

Oddly enough, they also work better on A/C when working on mild steel instead of the typical D/C.




Still got quite a learning curve - and I've messed around tig welders better part of 15 years. Very narrow heat window with the bronze rods before the base metal melts and the filler over heats, but if you can get it to the right heat and keep it there, it works surprisingly well.
 
BillyGoat4130 said:
I have had best luck utilizing a tig welder and a aluminum-bronze or silicon-bronze filler rod. These have a much lower heat temperature and don't require you to actually melt the base metal.

Oddly enough, they also work better on A/C when working on mild steel instead of the typical D/C.




Still got quite a learning curve - and I've messed around tig welders better part of 15 years. Very narrow heat window with the bronze rods before the base metal melts and the filler over heats, but if you can get it to the right heat and keep it there, it works surprisingly well.
Sure, thats called tig brazing, works even better with a pulse function. Welded my bronze gas tank that way! With bronze you can actually talk about alloys cooking off, lead and tin going first. You can see it bubble off in the weld pool if youre going too hot. Excellent method really.
 
Ryan Stecken said:
I´m a lucky guy.

My wife will buy me a brand new TIG I just need to pick a model that will suit my need. 8) 8)

Do you guys have some advice on which machine I should pick and what I should look out for?

Just found the firm ELMAG...do you guys know if these are any good?Will have a meeting with a technician...

Thanks!
Just be sure to get a torch with thumb control, instead of a pedal, and high frequency start. Money well spent.


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Hey guys!

Its been some time since I posted,i´m totally lost into the welding :)

I try to weld as much as possible but the last days since we have a an oldschool brass workshop I started to TIG weld casting mistakes out of our brass objects.
I also started to practice stainless which is VERY VERY rewarding and easy to weld.

Since brass is quite poisonous to weld (zinc and lead burning of) I built a welding cart so I can move my welding machine to another room of the workshop where we have an extraction system and a window.Still need to cut out a piece of my welding mask in order to fit my respir mask :D
 
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