Welding Tips and Tricks

This will be my first technical post on this forum but I'm sure it won't be the last. I was wanting to do some silicon bronze tig brazing and picked up a spool of silicon bronze because they didn't have any in tig rod, so I twisted a couple pieces of .035 together with my drill and vice. I ran a couple beads on some 304 stainless pipe and the welds are not gold looking at all. They have more of a dark grey and blue hew, the weld seemed gold prior to brushing but once I brushed the gold tint went away. Do I have improper shielding gas or am I melting too much of the base metal in with the filler metal? Thanks for any responses!

Miller, just a guess here, but how long did you let the metal cool before you brushed it? Was the brush stainless steel, new/clean?

Let it cool well first, and be sure the brush is stainless and free of contaminants. Any oils (even from the original manufacture of the brush) will discolor a hot bead. Try buffing your "dark" beads again, with some fine sandpaper; This will tell you if the color is on the surface from one of the above problems, or throughout, from some other problem.

Steve S

Thanks for the response, I deff brushed it with a stainless brush that I've used on other stainless and aluminum. I'll try letting it cool off first this nest time and I'll also sand the initial weld and see if that sheds any light. Thanks again brother

Millerismyname wrote:Thanks for the response, I deff brushed it with a stainless brush that I've used on other stainless and aluminum. I'll try letting it cool off first this nest time and I'll also sand the initial weld and see if that sheds any light. Thanks again brother

Save yourself future headaches. Get a brush for each material you work with. aluminium loves to cling to bristles. Steel will rub off on stainless later leaving rust. So just get a brush for everything. don't use the brush from the dirty parts washer in corner of shop either