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  #11  
Old 01-03-2012, 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by www.kustomgarage.com.au View Post
Joey,
You could try Brazing flux that is used for Welding Brass and German silver.
I have used Brazing flux to sheild the back of Brass when using the tig for a weld or repair. Stainless welds well with Tig but I dont see why if sheilded apropriatly why you wouln't be able to Gas weld it. I will also experiment with this as I am now curious to see if it will work.
I will start looking around to see whats available and where to be able to make a paste, or buy a flux. Thanks for the help. Definitely post up your results if you experiment.

Quote:
Originally Posted by idickers View Post
I've used flux from Kent White at Tinmantech to weld stainless sheet metal. It works similar to gas welding aluminum. It's worth a try:
I will check out the links when I get a chance. Thanks for posting them. I figured it was similar to aluminum( meaning the use of the flux ) But I have still have not done any aluminum welding yet. which I would like to try.

So thank you again for the replies.

I decide to just try some stuff since thats what Im doing. Just trying and learning. Ill have to wait till later to post the pictures I took but I will at least describe it for now.

First to correct myself. The torch is a Smiths Airline. And the smallest tip I have for it is a double 0.

So I thought of the old TIG test of welding two razor blades together and thought I would try that to play with welding something that thin. I had the torch set too hot. The regulators are an even 2 lbs. So I turned the torch down till I had about a 1/16th in. long center point. This worked quite well. Although I had to move pretty fast I got a nice even weld and perfect penetration. So I figured this tip would be fine for how thin the stainless was.

I then moved to the stainless. First I tried a water weld just to see how it would react. Turned out the setting for mild steel was too cool for the stainless. So I turned the torch back up to where I had it. It worked out fine that way for the stainless. Got a nice little puddle and moved it along the piece a short stretch.

Next I trimmed off a short length made the edges have a perfect fit and thought this should be half decent (even though I was not using any type of flux.)
So I went to tack the two pieces together but the puddles would not flow into each other. So I ended up with a gap the length of the seam. Because I kept adjust the torch to see if that was the issue, and kept going till I had no where else to try.

Then I trimmed the edges back again to try something else. I took a thin strip off the inside lip with some snips to make a little filler rod. I thought if I could use the rod to touch the two puddles together that maybe then it would go from there. As usual I was wrong same thing just made a mess. Plus it was hard to control the filler because it was so thin and melted too fast. I then tried just doing a water weld with the filler rod. I got one drop to fall into the stainless the rest would melt too fast or lump on top the burn up.

So flux is a must. The only question is do I want to do it like aluminum and soldering. Meaning do I want the flux in my weld area or just the back side. I would assume both sides but just asking.

Thank you all again. I do appreciate the help.
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  #12  
Old 01-03-2012, 01:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by www.kustomgarage.com.au View Post
Joey,
You could try Brazing flux that is used for Welding Brass and German silver.
I have used Brazing flux to sheild the back of Brass when using the tig for a weld or repair. Stainless welds well with Tig but I dont see why if sheilded apropriatly why you wouln't be able to Gas weld it. As far as hammering out the weld you shouldnt have a problem, I have modified and repiared alot of stainless that I welded with the Tig and have had no cracking.
Make a paste with Methylated spriits or White Spirits and brush it on the back side of the weld area before you tack and dip your filler into it also. I will also experiment with this as I am now curious to see if it will work.
And I like that trim I just went back and saw the pictures.
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  #13  
Old 01-03-2012, 01:33 PM
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I just saw the site dickers posted. And see it says how to use.

But another thing I saw was it said to use a neutral flame.
A used a bit of a hard flame (more Oxy) like David has shown in his dvd to set up for brass. I did this under my own assumption that stainless was a harder metal and went with a little more oxygen for heat.
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  #14  
Old 01-03-2012, 07:02 PM
Richard-S Richard-S is offline
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I gas weld stainless sheet metal in my sculpture studio. I offer these suggestions:

Get the flux from Kent White, along with his little booklet on welding stainless.

You have to keep the filler rod in the flame at all times.

Don't move the flame side to side like with steel.

Stainless conducts heat poorly so it takes less heat than steel or aluminum.

Gas welding stainless hardens it to the point where a file won't cut it. To anneal it you heat it to 1900F and quench in water.

Be sure to use the waste trim as filler rod. Anything else and you will probably see a difference in color.

Get some stainless scrap sheet metal and practice first.
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  #15  
Old 01-03-2012, 07:24 PM
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It's not welding but, I have used silver solder and it works fine. I use easy flo flux. A Johnson Matthey product. It's mixed with water. Make sure that the job your soldering is very clean.
The solder runs fine. This is using a small propane torch and no oxy. Work's like a Bunsen burner . The flame is not to hot.

Last edited by Mark Fox; 01-03-2012 at 07:34 PM. Reason: needed to add to post
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  #16  
Old 01-03-2012, 09:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard-S View Post
I gas weld stainless sheet metal in my sculpture studio. I offer these suggestions:

Get the flux from Kent White, along with his little booklet on welding stainless.

You have to keep the filler rod in the flame at all times.

Don't move the flame side to side like with steel.

Stainless conducts heat poorly so it takes less heat than steel or aluminum.

Gas welding stainless hardens it to the point where a file won't cut it. To anneal it you heat it to 1900F and quench in water.

Be sure to use the waste trim as filler rod. Anything else and you will probably see a difference in color.

Get some stainless scrap sheet metal and practice first.
Thank you. Tomorrow I will be at my local welding shop and see what they have for flux to practice for the time being but will check into the other leads also to make sure I have the best stuff incase I end up with the job of doing all the stainless on the car. This is a junk piece I have now and felt it would be best to use trim and not sheet so I was using the actual piece to get comfortable with.

As far as annealing it. That was my biggest concern was the work hardening. And I would have never know to heat it that hot and quench it. Obviously why Im here. I do have and in fared digital heat gauge I don't know if it goes that high to be able to watch the actual heat.
Thanks again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Fox View Post
It's not welding but, I have used silver solder and it works fine. I use easy flo flux. A Johnson Matthey product. It's mixed with water. Make sure that the job your soldering is very clean.
The solder runs fine. This is using a small propane torch and no oxy. Work's like a Bunsen burner . The flame is not to hot.
This may turn into an option but for now Im still gonna try the welding. But soldering could be a cheaper route for the customer. I may try a bit just to compare the two.
Thanks.
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  #17  
Old 01-03-2012, 09:53 PM
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Silver solder will normally look yellow in comparison to the stainless. It will take less heat to perform, but will likely be visible/noticeable.
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  #18  
Old 01-03-2012, 10:01 PM
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Originally Posted by MP&C View Post
Silver solder will normally look yellow in comparison to the stainless. It will take less heat to perform, but will likely be visible/noticeable.
Yea I would prefer to weld and make it look untouched. Like its meant to be.
I don't even know if Ill do the work on this car or not. As of now I just told the guy I would mess with it.

Although I know I will have this cross my path one day and I will definitely want to have the know how. I don't like short cuts like hiding joints with clips or the soldering.

Just trying to entertain everyones ideas.

Although It is obviously proving it would be much nicer to have a TIG for this. I still like the idea of being able to do everything with a torch. And do things that most wouldn't even bother with.

Thanks again.
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  #19  
Old 01-03-2012, 10:55 PM
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Torch welding stainless steel requires a carburizing flame (acetylene rich) and flux. I have used the flux from Kent White as well as SOLAR Flux Type "B" available from welding supply houses and from the supplier on the internet (search for SOLAR Flux). I will use the flux on the back side of a TIG weld, and on both sides of a torch weld. Series 300 alloys are the easiest to weld successfully. For very thin section butt welds, I will form a copper backing plate to support and fixture the parent material. Stainless shrinks a lot in the weld area so post welding reshaping will likely be required.
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  #20  
Old 01-04-2012, 07:21 PM
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Just ordered the flux from the tin man as suggested. That website as a lot of body work tools. Ill have to go there again when I have a little money to get some stuff. So check it out if you have time.

Also the local air gas had only one type of flux for soldering basically. But I figured it would be worth a shot. Shame you cant buy anything at local stores anymore.

I may update here or begin a thread in the automotive section once I get the flux.

Thanks again to all for the help and suggestions.
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