Welding Tips and Tricks

I don't have a bake to be able bend 0.25 stainless steel, as part of a fabrication, I scored the metal to make it easier to bend. The question I have is should I weld in filler metal where I scored for the bend? I'm assuming without welding in filler metal, the overall strength will be reduced. Is there any reason not to. The overall strength is still quite good and the part doesn't support anything critical.

hello waverider. SO, what I'm reading in your post is you basically made one long cut or "stitch" cut the material in order to make the bend. I've done that on many occasions because I don't have a break. I did, however, weld (outside corners) where I made the "stitches" to make the bend look much better and I mine does have integrity for the build.
My opinion, YOUR project.

Yes you need to weld the score marks with filler to get full strength. Otherwise the score mark creates a stress point that will be prone to cracking.

Poland308 wrote:Yes you need to weld the score marks with filler to get full strength. Otherwise the score mark creates a stress point that will be prone to cracking.

Thanks - the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should do that.

waverider wrote:Thanks - the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should do that.

I was going to reply but didn't since both BillE and Josh did, but one thing I wanted to point out to you just so you understand...

I've also used this technique in the past to score and bend as I don't have a brake either, but one important thing to know when you do this is that you don't actually know the depth of how much you grind out, even if you could measure the end of the grind, you can't easily measure the entire length so you're not really sure how much is taken at each location along the score.

By welding it you ensure that the integrity is placed back into the corner/bend.

Food for thought.

Somewhat related: Recently picked up one of these vise-mount benders to use on 1/4" and below stock. Works very well. Have used it for 1/4" steel and stainless in both square and round.

Link below to the one I got which is currently out of stock it seems, but I think they are generic, so can probably find the same one elsewhere.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... UTF8&psc=1

Edit: Could maybe even go up to 3/8" without issue, but may break a sweat doing so.