[Spartan]

Looking good! Been waiting for you to share some pics!

For certain your welds will look better than mine...

Can you post a link to the anti-seize you used??

I used Permatex, got it at O'Reily's Auto.

Permatex Aluminum Anti-Seize 81343

It actually is for Aluminum, but it was the only anti-seize they had...says -60f - 1600f

They have one for nickel when I was looking online, it's good up to 2400f, metal will be meting at that point, seriously, mild steel melts at about 2300f. The nickel one is 77124, get that if you can.

All of them are that messy silver $#!T that gets all over everything, even with a small dab. I was so careful to add it to the threads and screw the bolt in all the way, even wiped it off and cleaned it, but still go some on me anyway. At least I didn't end up looking like a martian.

RE: Tensileweld, it seems to flow really nice, not that I could really tell, but it seems to flow better than ER70S-2/ER70S-6.

Thanks for the info! I have that one sitting in my shop already by happenstance. I've always been reluctant to try any anti-seize when welding since I figured it would just smoke out and run to high heck, but I'll give it a go next time a situation calls for it.

[TraditionalToolworks]

Also... Was welding some tool steel splines to stainless round stock today, and thought "dang, I could sure use that tensileweld rod TTW was talking about, bet that would be perfect for this". Definitely going to pick some up now.

I didn't mean to cause a flurry on Tensileweld, I had it on hand as I had got it from my LWS.

spartan, do you suppose just asking for 312 will get you the tensileweld or are the two not synonymous????

That's what my LWS said it was. Online I saw a lot of people using 309 like Josh suggested, but as I mentioned above this is 312, AFAIK.

I looked around online...didn't see a whole lot of options. Ended up getting it for $19/lb from the link TTW sent. They seemed reputable and had a paypal checkout option which made it fast and easy.

No particular reason I sent that link. Oscar once posted a link to it that had it for $14/lb, and I thought it was either Weldfabulous or WeldingSupply, but I can't for the life of me find it there anymore so they may have been closing it out. I paid $18.95 at my LWS. FWIW, I always use PayPal whenever I can as I have had them cover me if an item wasn't received. I also used them to purchase an old Chevy pickup from MO as a form of insurance also...I think I had to pay about $250 on an $8500 purchase, which I was more than willing to do. Everyone was happy in the end.

Here's a funny story...the other night I pulled out 2 rods and set them on the welding table, but realized I didn't have any anti-seize...when I was cleaning up just before welding the flanges on, I thought they were 4043 as I didn't see any marks on them, so put them back in the Blue Demon tube...then I realized they were actually the Tensileweld...I was scratching my head thinking, how can I figure out which ones are the Tensileweld now? And then it dawned on me...Mighty Mag to the rescue...yep, picked those 2 rods out of a tube like magic...living safely again with their Tensileweld siblings...

The Blue Demon rods are marked faintly on one end, but mine were mixed around as Jegs/UPS busted up the end of the tube when shipping so I put them in another Washington Allow tube. Anyway, some aluminum is magnetic, but 4043 doesn't seem to be. Good to know.

[cj737]

Thanks for the info! I have that one sitting in my shop already by happenstance. I've always been reluctant to try any anti-seize when welding since I figured it would just smoke out and run to high heck, but I'll give it a go next time a situation calls for it.

It won't smoke, but it will bubble up a bit due to the heat. So be mindful to use "just enough" to very lightly coat the threads. Wipe away any excess outside the threaded joint with Acetone.

There are several versions of the product- silver (nickel based), copper (high heat applications, think exhausts) black (used very often in machining applications to prevent galling of similar metals). Any will serve the purpose for weld-resistance.

I keep the silver and copper on hand in the shop. I use silver whenever I screw into aluminum casings, stainless welding, and copper for automotive applications.

[TraditionalToolworks]

So be mindful to use "just enough" to very lightly coat the threads. Wipe away any excess outside the threaded joint with Acetone.

My experience with anti-seize is that no matter how little you use, it will still wind up on your hands and clothes....

I should take your advice and clean those bolts off, I got some on my hand last night as they were sitting on the bench...I picked one up by accident...