Welding Tips and Tricks

Just wondering why stainless is pretty much only welded with TIG? I make some stainless furniture when im bored, and haven't really tigged much (in other words i suck), and use the mig for the 1.2mm stainless tubing i weld. I find it pretty much hassle free, I use the spot technique and most welds come out dime stacked, but most of the welds are sanded flush and taped up for a brushed finish. I have successfully used 2mm stainless rods on 1.6mm rhs as well....just took a bit longer to sand back and finish....

Is there any reason why stainless furniture is never mig welded from what I see? And the other way around, as mild steel furniture from 0.9-1.6 is commonly mig welded, sanded and painted, and rarely tig welded. There might be something I am overlooking here. I can understand if the welds were left to show, as the MIG welds when not finished can look a bit rough.....I do have a TIG and should stop being such a pussy, but just find it easier to pull out the mig a blast away, as well as a lot faster.

I welded up a stainless coffee table for a mate that insisted it was to be TIG welded, welded it up with the mig, sanded back, taped up and brushed it up, told him i tigged it and he's chuffed with the end result. I know that's a bit sly, but it worked....

If a customer asks for a specific process then that's what I give them. I don't think sly is the word you meant to use. Tig will give you better penetration and more concistancy than tacking on a tack to make it look like a weld.

I think the main reason SS furniture is often TIGged is the consumable costs. The price of helium (and therefore tri-mix) discourages the use of MIG when a TIG weld (Argon) takes very little additional time on small welds. For a repetitive weld, I can TIG very nearly as fast as I can MIG at a significantly lower gas cost in a high-production setting.

In custom work, this is a non-issue as consumables costing is part of the deal.

I see no reason from a strength/quality standpoint to choose one process over the other for furniture.

Steve S

as most of the tubing is thin, im not too worried about penetration (If i set the beast up well, it will penetrate well even with a spot technique. I just wasn't sure if their was any critical differences compared to mild steel material property wise as I always wondered why tig wasn't applied to mild steel anywhere near as much, and i found out vertical down of stainless sucks ass pretty quickly.

Good point on the gas though, i never thought of that. I was lucky enough to run off with two small bottles of 98/2 mix from work for free. Not sure if its the best gas, but it works after you clean it up.