Stick welding stainless steel & aluminium

[Turtle_au]

Hi I agree, welding is therapeutic. I think it's beause with the helmet on and the tinted lense you can shut out everything and the only thing you see is this magical dancing weld pool that you command.
I mainly use MIG and oxy, played a bit with TIG, but for the life of me I just can't do stick. I think it's because I'm an electrician and the arc from stick is too similar to the arc from electrical faults.
I finally found a use for the free gasless MIG wire I got with my welder. I connect my air compressor to the welder, wack the current up and use it for cutting.

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[GQtdauto]

Hi I agree, welding is therapeutic. I think it's beause with the helmet on and the tinted lense you can shut out everything and the only thing you see is this magical dancing weld pool that you command.
I mainly use MIG and oxy, played a bit with TIG, but for the life of me I just can't do stick. I think it's because I'm an electrician and the arc from stick is too similar to the arc from electrical faults.
I finally found a use for the free gasless MIG wire I got with my welder. I connect my air compressor to the welder, wack the current up and use it for cutting.

Sent from my SM-T355Y using Tapatalk

Sorta like a poor mans plasma cutter , very clever , used to use 5mm rods on the highest amps an old machine could handle to put holes in railway iron for fencing wire .
Mig is easier than arc to learn but if I was welding something that mattered I would use arc , some electrodes are very forgiving and easy to start making it much easier to learn .

[GQtdauto]

I'm a newbie to TIG but I know it's my favourite.
I used normal TIG electrodes from Bunnings. Thanx for the tip about Thoriated(red tip) ones.
Also thanx for tip about dust mask. I guess it's paramount to follow those safety protocols to make sure we don't get cancer in no time. While focusing to make sure I take care of my eyes from radiation, I completely forgot about the carcinogenic dust we inhale from welding.
Just mild steel and for the time being, 'cos I'm waiting for my AC/DC machine to start ally welding.
I need to learn to do ally welding pretty well, pretty fast, 'cos my upcoming hobby ideas will demand it.

I have heaps of hobby ideas to make out of scraps. Exercise equipment(some new ideas, some old ideas revived to be new, etc), push bike trailer, motorbike trailer, and mod my old rusty trailer into something weird looking, etc etc.
I also wanna make a tandem trailer from scratch, but don't have room.
I am onto making a bike trailer, which I need sometime soon.

Cheers

Reason for caution using the red tipped ones is the thorium being a radioactive element , electrodes for Tig are not the same as electrodes for arc they are classed as not consumable , which is partly true .
Each electrode is mainly tungsten with an alloying element to suit welding different metal types .
Zirconiated tungsten = aluminium welding using AC current , white colour
Thoriated tungsten = stainless steel , low carbon steel etc , red colour
Ceriated Tungsten = universal can be used for pretty much anything , grey colour .
The hardest material to weld is Aluminium if it's not meticulously clean and I mean clean , aluminium oxides almost instantly with a thin film covering and it's this thin film that stops a weld pool from forming , if this happens you apply more heat but you're more than likely to just melt a big hole before you get the weld pool you're after .
Never use a normal wire brush on aluminium, brass or stainless wire brush , clean area to be welded with a non metalic scouring pad and acetone but only clean as much as you can weld .
Only problem with using acetone is when you're welding bright metals like stainless and aluminium but in particular stainless is the reaction of the gasses formed while welding you can't see them but there there and nasty .
Which is why they invented the welding helmet with forced ventilation I believe , the gases mostly are very close to the area being welded and just out of reach for you to breath in under normal circumstances.
Hint here is if you can smell any petroleum product in the area your welding which includes turps based paint try and remove the source of the smell .
You have certainly picked a few big jobs to tackle there mate , if you need advice I'll help where I can if you need a brush up on skills etc I will see what we can do , not sure how far away you are .

[dom14]

Hi I agree, welding is therapeutic. I think it's beause with the helmet on and the tinted lense you can shut out everything and the only thing you see is this magical dancing weld pool that you command.
I mainly use MIG and oxy, played a bit with TIG, but for the life of me I just can't do stick. I think it's because I'm an electrician and the arc from stick is too similar to the arc from electrical faults.
I finally found a use for the free gasless MIG wire I got with my welder. I connect my air compressor to the welder, wack the current up and use it for cutting.

Sent from my SM-T355Y using Tapatalk

Thanx for that tip. It has never crossed my mind it can be used as a cutter.
Cheers

[dom14]

Sorta like a poor mans plasma cutter , very clever , used to use 5mm rods on the highest amps an old machine could handle to put holes in railway iron for fencing wire .
Mig is easier than arc to learn but if I was welding something that mattered I would use arc , some electrodes are very forgiving and easy to start making it much easier to learn .

I've never used 5mm ones. That would demand some serious amps to get it going.

[dom14]

Reason for caution using the red tipped ones is the thorium being a radioactive element , electrodes for Tig are not the same as electrodes for arc they are classed as not consumable , which is partly true .
Each electrode is mainly tungsten with an alloying element to suit welding different metal types .
Zirconiated tungsten = aluminium welding using AC current , white colour
Thoriated tungsten = stainless steel , low carbon steel etc , red colour
Ceriated Tungsten = universal can be used for pretty much anything , grey colour .
The hardest material to weld is Aluminium if it's not meticulously clean and I mean clean , aluminium oxides almost instantly with a thin film covering and it's this thin film that stops a weld pool from forming , if this happens you apply more heat but you're more than likely to just melt a big hole before you get the weld pool you're after .
Never use a normal wire brush on aluminium, brass or stainless wire brush , clean area to be welded with a non metalic scouring pad and acetone but only clean as much as you can weld .
Only problem with using acetone is when you're welding bright metals like stainless and aluminium but in particular stainless is the reaction of the gasses formed while welding you can't see them but there there and nasty .
Which is why they invented the welding helmet with forced ventilation I believe , the gases mostly are very close to the area being welded and just out of reach for you to breath in under normal circumstances.
Hint here is if you can smell any petroleum product in the area your welding which includes turps based paint try and remove the source of the smell .
You have certainly picked a few big jobs to tackle there mate , if you need advice I'll help where I can if you need a brush up on skills etc I will see what we can do , not sure how far away you are .

Thanx mate.
I'll drop a PM when I need some advice. I'm in eastern suburbs.
Cheers
Dom

[Turtle_au]

Thanx for that tip. It has never crossed my mind it can be used as a cutter.
Cheers

The compressed air helps to expel the weld metal and keep the gun and surrounding metal cool.

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[GQtdauto]

The compressed air helps to expel the weld metal and keep the gun and surrounding metal cool.

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You have reinvented the carbon arc air cutter gouger.

[GQtdauto]

No worries Dom glad to help where I can , just remember going away for 8 weeks but if I get a chance will check in .

[dom14]

No worries Dom glad to help where I can , just remember going away for 8 weeks but if I get a chance will check in .

Where are you heading to?