Or is there another way that is required to weld stainless? I'm thinking of building a tank for my RPU, and I figured I'd build it out of stainless to keep it from rusting inside, or at least help keep it more rust resistant. Any tips or ideas that'd help me with welding stainless? Thanks!
Depends on what kind of stainless. If you use 304ss then you have to tig it you could use 409 but if you mig it it will rust where ever you've welded. You'd be better off doing it out of aluminum which you have to tig weld anyways.
Ya you can! ive done some of it for work but it looks horrible.... a guy told me the trick to making it look good is using flux core stainless wire with the gas. The way we did it was just solid stainless wire with argon, never could make it look good. Can anyone confirm using flux core with gas being the answer?
If you mig with steel wire it defeats the whole purpose of using stainless because it will just rust. You might be able to find some stainless wire but I've never seen any
it won't rust if done properly. we mig weld all of our liquid containers at work and they don't rust. you use a 98% Argon 2% Oxygen mixture. Stainless MIG wire can be found at any welding shop, but it's $$$
You can weld stainless steel with ordinary mild steel MIG wire but as said previously it will rust, but usually welds nice. Other wise you use a stainless steel wire and the correct MIG gas with it and it will work, but it seems more difficult to weld nicely usually get a lot of spatter I found. TIG would be better than MIG if you want to do some serious S/Steel work
Welded miles of SS with mig. A Tri mix gas is what you want to use and SS wire is readily available. Wire speed needs to be set pretty precise, so spend some time dialing it in on some scrap. Even with a tri mix gas, splatter is a problem, so use a good anti splatter and I've found that Waters (or maybe Walters?) brand of anti splatter works the best.
Worked alongside a crew that installed Dairy barn equiptment.......their MIG welds were nicer than most folks Tigs.
yes you can mig it! just use stainless wire and and C/25 argon mix gas and your set to go. welds really nice and i have built a lot of stainless handrails and platforms using a mig (a lot faster than tig welding). be sure to pressure test your tank before putting everything up migs are notorious about leaking if your not used to welding with one alot.
What about just making the tank out of regular 1/8" steel? Any major issues and drawbacks to justdoing that way?
Are you here to cause trouble? The point of most on this site is to build their skills, not just use some silly part on their car (from an idea they got from OSR mag) and throw in the towel because "welding is too hard". Welding is a skill well worth learning, and with a lot of practice, its not only not hard, but something I find quite enjoyable. I have welded stainless with a mig, and it was for a part that had to get painted anyway, however I think over the course of time, the dissimilar metals fused together will eventually cause a chemical reaction and corrode.
14-16 ga. is plenty for a gas tank. I cut the ends off a old freon tank, rolled up a piece of 14 ga. and welded them on. Cheap and easy.
I've got a finite area underneath my RPU where I'm planning to put it. I figure I'm going to try to have the sheetmetal shop around the corner from my house bend it up out of 1 sheet and then I'll only have to weld 3 sides of the ends and one long seam. I'm thinking of having the filler neck extend into the rear fenderwell area as this would get it up plenty higher than the tank itself and also serve as the vent for the tank as well. My approximate dimensions right now are 9" x 11" x 30-36" as I don't know just exactly how long I can make it and have it still fit just yet. This'll give me somewhere between 12-15 gallon capacity depending on the length.
Your gonna want a baffle in there also. FWIW-Here's a couple of drawings of a tank of a similar size/config.
I thought about a couple of baffles in it. I like the octagon shaped ones you've presented. Should be easy enough to reach inside and lay down a few short beads to lock it into place. What would be a good rule of thumb as far as baffling a tank like this? One baffle per foot? Every 6-8"?
18 gauge is plenty heavy. 2 baffles would also be enough ,a 1 inch triangle off each corner of the baffle would be all you need. Are you going to run a fuel gauge sender? If so allow for its float swing whatever you do with baffles. Also on the free edge have the metal shop break a 1/2" flange so you are not trying to weld a corner weld,this will give you a lap that is easier to weld. This is what I did building the tank on my T.
One in the middle, as shown, should be fine as you just need to slow down the slosh, unless you're road racing or autocrossing. I just have one in my round tank and its about 12" dia. x 30" L. no problems.
Yeah, I'll run a sender, and it'll swing between the baffles. That's a great idea. That'll make it much easier to weld up, and help prevent leaks. I may have them brake the end pieces to give me a bit more recess to make a nice and neat welded seam.
Gotzrider, Yes, you can mig weld your tank out of stainless. I use 75/25 Co2/Argon and don't have much spatter problem. Just to encourage you in trying it I will send you a 2 pound spool of 316 - .030 solid wire if you will pay the postage from OKC to Tulsa. Call or PM me if you're interested. 405-641-5653
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