Welding Tips and Tricks

A freind wanted me to close up the handle holes and cut the top out of on old beer keg for a smaller tank
cleaning tank. Its got some kind of sealer on the inside that appears to be penetrated into the metal. When you
hit it with the arc, you get the nastiest brown crud you could imagine and the metal just blows away when it
tries to puddle. Also, if you do get any metal to stick, you can hear it pinging and crack as it cools.
What kind of junk is it made of?

Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:A freind wanted me to close up the handle holes and cut the top out of on old beer keg for a smaller tank
cleaning tank. Its got some kind of sealer on the inside that appears to be penetrated into the metal. When you
hit it with the arc, you get the nastiest brown crud you could imagine and the metal just blows away when it
tries to puddle. Also, if you do get any metal to stick, you can hear it pinging and crack as it cools.
What kind of junk is it made of?

I weld kegs all the time. They are 304 stainless. I have never seen one with any type of sealer or coating. They weld fine and I have never had any problems. There are old kegs made from aluminum. That may be what you have. Normally the series is stamped into the top of the keg near the valve. An SS keg will ring like a bell when you tap it..an aluminum kegs kinda makes a thud.

Hurray for exnailpoounder!
Picked up some .035" 308L rod this morning and had success!
Thank you for the heads up!

I got myself a new helmet this morning too, one with the delay settings.
My old Speedglas would flash me every time the arc got hidden, was starting to piss me off!
It's reserved for MIG use now
Oh, the new one is a Weldmark, 9-13 shade, 2 sensors- on top rather than bottom like my old one,
grinder mode, sensitivity, & shade adjustments, 1/25000 sec reaction time.
I'm impressed for 87 bucks, and its rated to go dark at 5 amps- perfect for tigging
and it takes Miller style front and rear covers and has mounts for my cheater lens-
no more masking tape

Just curious...what was causing the nasty brown crud and metal to be blown away? Sometimes the rings of a keg are 400 series stainless but 400 series welds as nice as any 300 series material so I guess I am confused as to why everything went south for you. I only want to know because I weld kegs ALOT and if something might be a potential problem, I like to know beforehand.
I have never seen any but I know long ago some kegs were aluminum and they may have had some sort of liner in them to shield the contents from absorbing the metallic taste that aluminum imparts on food. Other than "pinging" a keg to know if it's SS, a simple scratch test will let you know if it's aluminum. Another tip...when you weld on a keg...hit the welds and fittings with some Barkeepers friend or CLR to dissolve any iron particles that may have gotten introduced into the SS so it can repassivate itself.

exnailpounder wrote:Just curious...what was causing the nasty brown crud and metal to be blown away?

Brown crud- it has a tan coating of some sort on the inside, I'm sure to prevent tasting the metal.
blown away- thinking AL, I used AC current and kept adding amps to try to get it to go.= Fidos butt

Just a note about kegs, not really welding. I know you guys are on the other side of the border, but here in Canada there are still a lot of aluminum kegs kicking around, new and old. I ended up having to source a stainless keg through the US as aluminum wasn't suitable for my needs. So just posting for anybody on this side of the border, there's still tons of aluminum out there, and is the most common when you are getting from the beer store.

Drunken Moose wrote:Just a note about kegs, not really welding. I know you guys are on the other side of the border, but here in Canada there are still a lot of aluminum kegs kicking around, new and old. I ended up having to source a stainless keg through the US as aluminum wasn't suitable for my needs. So just posting for anybody on this side of the border, there's still tons of aluminum out there, and is the most common when you are getting from the beer store.

Good to know. I have seen a few really old aluminum kegs for sale on Craigslist but in the US all in service kegs are SS. I read somewhere that it was about sanitation. I learn something new every day...thanks moose

Guess where they sent all the US aluminum kegs when the rules changed.

Poland308 wrote:Guess where they sent all the US aluminum kegs when the rules changed.

Im thinking somewhere NORTH