Welding Q for the 'Eggsperts

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Righty Ho then

I have just treated meself to a new whizzy Synergic Welder, currently is loaded with 1mm Stainless

and Pure Argon, and welded it (stainless) up an absolute treat- truly amazing bit of kit...

Now....

I have also got some Standard Mig wire (.8mm)and Argosheild light,

so

question is if I leave it all set with Pure Argon and Stainless wire, but weld mild steel

what the situation with the quality and strength of the weld will I have compared say with

me changing to MIG 0.8mm Stabndard wire and Argosheild Light and Synergic settings etc ?

Nige

(and yes I am a tad broke )

[longlandy]

I wont claim to know that one with the pure argon and the synergenic settings to stainless, but when welding steels of unknown property I use stainless wire and argosheild heavy.

[simonr]

I thought one of the points of a synergic welder is that it will adjust the settings itself to optimise the weld quality. I guess therefore that it depends more on the programming of the welder than anything else!

Try it! You know as well as anyone how to asses if the weld is good (as far as you can without an X-Ray machine and tensometer.

Si

[nickwilliams]

You should have no problem welding non-stainless items with the stainless wire (or, at least, no greater problems than normal). In fact, the gas choice may well make a bigger difference than the wire choice.

I find 0.8 wire to be better for all round jobs than anything bigger.

Nick.

[FridgeFreezer]

If you're skint I would have thought welding mild with pure argon + stainless wire was a bit counter-intuitive, you can weld stainless with argosheild & mild wire and the pain in the wallet is much reduced

[LandyManLuke]

If you're skint I would have thought welding mild with pure argon + stainless wire was a bit counter-intuitive

Indeed!!

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Indeed!!

I seem to have in my mind that 2 x bits of steel welded with Stianless even with pure argon gives a more brittle

weld than 2 x of steel Migged with Std wire + Argosheild light ???

But I can't rememeber where this memory came from

Then again, sometimes I forget who I am and where am I (except when in A&E that I do know and remember )

Wibble

Nige

[TheRecklessEngineer]

Then again, sometimes I forget who I am and where am I (except when in A&E that I do know and remember )

Isn't that because they've got a photo of you behind the desk?

[longlandy]

Stainless does not give a more brittle joint hence its use in dissimilar steels(in correct application). Stainless steel shrinks under cooling much more than m/s .This can be noted when tacking up thick inflexible pieces and when stick welding stainless and the slag pinging off when the weld is shrinking.

[Range Rover Blues]

you can weld stainless with argosheild & mild wire

Yuk. I've seen it done. A procedure for a field fix I wrote years ago involved modifying the steam heating systems on stainless pressure vessels. One depot in Houston welded the adapter (supplied from our stores) to the heating system with mild steel wire. The corrosion was shocking and the modification failed due to stress corrosion.

Conversely tank bodies are welded with stainless because mild steel cannot deal with the stress and cracks. I've used stainless to restore car bodies before and you get a much tougher weld with no corrosion in the heat effeced zone. To date I've had no problesm long term, less in fact than using mild.

I'd go with the rule of thumb, if you aren't sure what you are welding use stainless, as others above have stated.

I tried to find out recentlty what the big difference between using CO2 and Argon are, according to one text book CO2 is MAG and Argon is MIG, the carbon cools more and adds trace carbon to the welded metal making it tougher/harder was the best answer I could get (that makes it active gas).

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

One BIG consideration is also a 5KG Reel of MIG wire is £20 and a 3.7KG reel of the stainless was £112

Thanskf or the info above all

Nige

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

I would ask exactly where you are buying your S/S wire from ? ................... I recently paid £60 for 5Kg of S/S 316(SS316LSI) @ BOC !

Welcome to the synergic world, where welding becomes a passion rather than a chore, however, your original question is probably answered by the fact that with most Synergic programs you only have the ability to vary the wire speed by +/- 25% (some machines are less) so I would guess that getting the wire speed right would be tricky ..............

When welding 316 I have found that the difference between Argosheild lite and pure Argon is minimal.

[Astro_Al]

One BIG consideration is also a 5KG Reel of MIG wire is £20 and a 3.7KG reel of the stainless was £112

Eh?????????

I pay about £20 for 15kg of mild steel wire. I bought a 15kg roll of 316 stainless for £130-ish. Where do you shop, and... why?

Al.

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

it was 312 29.9 1mm 4kg reel

[zim]

Eh?????????

I pay about £20 for 15kg of mild steel wire. I bought a 15kg roll of 316 stainless for £130-ish. Where do you shop, and... why?

Al.

We pay £30 for 15kg mild steel wire.