Hi All, Well I just bought my TIG welder and am planning to learn how to do basic body work and weld some SS. So, I have a radiator shell for my 1930 Model A that needs to have some dents knocked out and two cracks welded. For those who weld, I am assuming I should weld from the inside so that it won't show as much. Is this correct? I have another shell where it was welded on the outside-very nicely (well mostly) but there is a weld bead showing. Can I grind the welds down and smooth the shell out and have it not show-or at least as much? Also, I may have picked a hard part to start with but I have to start somewhere. There are some dents in the shell I will be working on. What are some of your suggestions at knocking them out. I have time to do my research as I can't really do anything until later this spring/summer anyhow. Pics to follow. Thank you, Mike
And that somewhere would be some scrap stainless. You don't start on the part that is a focal point - especially one that you can't fill and paint. Yes, carefully, working to finer and finer grits, hand finishing. Smooth files can be useful if access allows. It should end up invisible. Also work out dings carefully. Don't stretch the material. It's basically the same as working with stainless wheel covers.
Yep, I will hit HD or a scrap metal dealer to get some approx. thickness material to practice on first! Ok. as long as I can get rid of the weld beads then. May take practice and patience. Mike
The least amount of heat you can use to get it to flow, and use smaller diameter filler material than the base material.
0.8mm (1/32") MIG wire works well for fine work with TIG. It's difficult to straighten, so I feed it through a short length of small diameter copper tube rather than hold the MIG wire directly in my hand, then I can either push the wire forward with my finger where it pokes out the tube, or if I'm using a foot pedal I just let the weld pool 'freeze' for a moment with the wire end in it and pull some more wire out.
Watch YouTube weldingtipsandtricks, that guy will improve your welding by 75% right off the starting line.
Buy a can of this Solar flux type B and your welds will be better and it will be easier. If you don't back purge SS, it will oxidize the chromium in the SS and form a mess on the back side of your welds. You can buy the methanol to mix it with as a gasoline additive (Heet, etc.) at your local parts store. I had a friend who was trying to weld SS trim and he was having a terrible time until I loaned him this flux. He thought the difference was amazing. I use it on any SS that I weld since I don't need food grade quality and don't have the equipment to back purge my welds with argon. https://www.amazon.com/Weldcote-Metals-Solar-Flux-1Pound/dp/B00IN6JXT2
These are all good points. Invest in a quality welding auto darkening helmet. I like my Lincoln Viking, but there are others. Practice on scrap again and again until you master the technique, using the correct filler wire for what you are welding. I too like the Solar flux.
You might try an .045 tungsten to keep the heat down. Also, weld from the top, as you generally get bleed through on thin stainless.
I know your repair is relatively small, but be sure to wear a respirator when you do your welding. I don't know what composition of stainless steel Henry used, as there are about 30 ranging from 302 to 446. All contain chromium and nickel that give off noxious fumes when inhaled.
Thanks for all of the tips guys. Just picked up the welder and will slowly get everything organized over time. mike
I love welding stainless steel, very easy. One secret is to not get it too hot, when it turns blue, its getting to hot, yellow is O.K.. Using a heat sink will help to keep the stainless from getting to hot. I never used any flux but that isn't saying much either. A great book to read is: " Metals and How to Weld Them"
get the new 400$-something Lincoln helmet. Don't settle for anything less. (does it have an odd name like 4C or something?) I bought a few other "good quality" auto dark helmets , and thought I could see pretty well, and blamed my glasses for not having the right lens. I thought I could see well, but when a lady friend bought me as a gift the new best Lincoln helmet, I found out that my seeing well hadn't been working very well. Now I can really see the intimate stuff the other helmets had not shown me very well before. I had no idea I wasn't seeing as well as I could have been seeing... I am very new at tig stainless, but I did manage to bend and weld a scrapyard stainless fridge skin into a curved "bumper" cover without visible welds. yeah yeah, I know I should have purged or protected the back side but I just wanted to see what the welder actually could weld. I am happy to say that I was able to file and sand my first welds to make them vanish, and the part to look one-piece. Quite a feat for my early experiment.. I kept seeing stainless restaurant and industrial food processing counters, etc at the scrapyards that looked flawless on top but visible welds when I looked under in inside... hmmm, so thats how they do it.. I discovered by careful inspection that the huge one piece 20ft long counters, multi shaped looonng tables etc were full of ground and polished welds that were made to be invisible and look one-piece after polishing. I read that the best way to not take a chance of having the weld metal color not perfectly match the part metal color was to cut narrow strips and use those strips as the tig ribbon style welding rods. That worked great for me, but the 308 tig wire worked just as well color,wise so I can't verify the value of that tip I am only posting these slightly embarrassing crappy-job photos of my very first trials with my very first machine to show that you can still make a pretty nice looking stainless part even long before you actually figure out what you are doing. I have gotten much better since last summer, but I have been making and welding up cool linkages, brackets, mounts etc out of the scrapyard scrap stainless pile, so I don't have many photos to show off with yet. So I guess my long windedness has 3 points.... Get that best Lincoln helmet so you can truly see what you didn't know you weren't seeing before. Once you get a stainless weld filed and sanded, and looking beautiful, you may become hooked on the beautiful stuff you can create, and never go back to the primitive crude welding methods ever again. The local recycling scrap yard may become your best friend as you become hooked on the great finds and great stainless and aluminum parts source. I get wonderful shapes and stampings piled up from everywhere with all the inspiring shapes and ideas I need to piece the coolest things together. I am hooked on making cool stainless stuff now. horrible horrible backside. Don't look. Found out very early about protecting the back, not heating up so hot, and fitting things better. Sent from my SM-G981V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Now that I have a few months practice with my new tig and the stainless scrap pile, I am now making some cool cool stuff . I don't give a hoot about trying to tig a "stack of dimes" . I like to go smoothly as I wave the wand to keep going smoothly. Look at this bike front end I just made. I am about 2/3 of the way through the most beautiful STAINLESS Studebaker truck tailgate you have ever seen Pics due this summer... heh heh Polished Stainless Studebaker Tailgate pictures due in the spring when I catch up. Sent from my SM-G981V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
"Earls Fork"? Is that what its called? I scratch built it so I can lower the bike way way down "below the wind" . It is barely the street legal minimum headlight height now. A regular fork was almost twice that high. I went on a Craig Vetter Mileage Challenge" ride a few yrs ago, and think I know how to beat their 150 miles per gallon champ. I've already said too much. I've already gotten over 140 mpg with a tall bike almost completely unmodified. IT'S JUST FOR FUN. I just want to see if I can hit 170 mpg or 180 miles per gallon and make a fun trip for giggles and the adventure of it Even if I don't do anything notable, it will be a real blast anyway Now the secret is out .... this "off topic" reply may get us kicked... Maybe if I mention my Stainless Steel Studebaker Tailgate again, it may save this post from being erased Sent from my SM-G981V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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