Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all,
I have been welding stuff for a while but the more I read, the more I realise I still have to learn a lot.

I plan on making something like this:






I is basically a stainless steel sheetmetal box. The one posted here is 2,5mm thick and weights like 14kg. I was thinking about making it a tad thinner, say 2mm, to save some weight.

The thing is that I only have an inverter stick welding machine. Actually a Solter Cott S machine. I bet that for sheetmetal a MIG welder is the way to go but I have to make do with what I have now.

I only grab stainless rods (don't ask me which ones are right now because I have no idea, I need to check it out) when I weld stainless nuts on small pieces of stainless angle iron. So that's my unexistent experience with stainless steel rods. All I know about stainless rods is that slag pops off by itsell when you expect it the less so safety googles under the welding hood are a must.

My questions are as following:

- Is it possible to weld 2mm stainless sheet metal with my stick welding machine?
- Which kind of stainless should I try to get?
- What kind or rods and in which thickness? I guess the smaller the better... so I can run them at low amps and not blow too many wholes (some will happen no matter what).
- How should I approach this welds? Should I try to weld the inside corners or I am better off welding the outside ones? Maybe both just to make sure it doesn't fall appart?
- Stringers? weaves?
- Do theese rods fool you like 6013 do sticking only to both pieces of metal but leaving a slag filled crack in the middle or do they actually fill in the gap?

I will probably buy a whole 1000x2000mm sheet and have it cut to size so I don't screw it up cutting it with the small angle grinder. I guess I could save some welding having a few bends made. Big U shape and welding only the side plates if you know what I mean.

Well, I am open to suggestions!

Thanks in advance,
Mikel

can you "braze" (torch weld)?....some people say that GTAW or TiG welding is very similar to the brazing process, but I firmly believe that it is FAR easier !...i have recently purchased a small inverter welder from WeBay ,it's a ThermalArc 95s stick/ tig welder;...I have noticed that these little "pocket welders" are very popular and that almost all of them are designed to TiG weld.....you only need 80 AMPS max output to do Stainless steel up to 3/16".....you can get a TiG lead and regulator as cheap as $40.00 from a few online sales companies...
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.but,
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....if you don't feel like learning a new skill, you can always "stick" weld it with those 316L rods you described above!
...i have had a hard time getting pure Argon in my area (without an account at "AirAss") and most hardware stores don't carry exotic gasses....
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don't weave or butterfly, it causes major distortion,skip around the box ,inch here-inch there,maybe X-brace inside
and/or tack it to a steel table.....
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good luck.

tigamajig wrote:....I have noticed that these little "pocket welders" are very popular and that almost all of them are designed to TiG weld.....you only need 80 AMPS max output to do Stainless steel up to 3/16".....you can get a TiG lead and regulator as cheap as $40.00 from a few online sales companies...

My stick machine is not one of those El Cheapo welders... it is a Solter CottS 175 (you can check specks cliking on the link). It is an inverter machine that goes up to 160Amps and has a TIG "Lift Arc" feature. Seems like with this machines you need to scratch with the tugsten to create an arc and then start welding with it. No amperage pedal or fancy features. The TIG torch that goes with this particular machine is somwhere arround 90€ which translates to $122 or so.

I am not affraid of learning anything but I fear that the learning curve with TIG is going to be a lot harder than stick... lol. And trust me, I am not good at all with stick. I may very well just pick one of those torches, a regulator and see where I can find pure argon here... need to check that last thing first before I commit to buy anything. I don't want to end up with a lot of stuff in the shop I am not able to use due to the lack of gas.

Same goes for a MIG welder... I wouldn't mind buying something like the Millermatic 140 or so. Being in Spain it will probably be a 220 machine right away but same issue arises with the gas supply.

Thanks for the advice! And no, I never used an oxiacetilene torch... so brazing is also new to me.

Mikel

2mm is very thin, but my advice would be too buy the smallest 308, 309, or 316 rods you can. I have worked alot on stianless sheet metal and it can be difficult if not done the right way. Patience is key here. you need to move around the box, striking an arc, then almost immidiatly stop welding. jumping around helps alot with distortion and overheating. if you are cutting it yourself, try and leave a little exta material around the edges, as this will help add a welding puddle to the box, instead of a hole.

paitence is key, so maybe even stop a few times and walk away for awhile.

it'll look kindof bad when your done, so if you have a sander, or a grinder whitha sanding wheel, that will clean it up pretty good.

hope this helps,

-rick

get the smallest diameter rod you can then tack the hell out of it. stainless warps and distorts a lot so you may want to tack some crossmembers to keep it square. as for me i would only weld the outside corners. if it's not going to be waterproof i would only skip weld. good luck!