Welding kit, which one?

[Bonzo]

If memory serves me right, the gas welding of stainless is not an option.......Can't get a hot enough flame with Oxy/Accet

Then there's the heat distortion that comes from using Gas

AC/DC TIG is the way to go

[mark]

Originally Posted by Bonzo

If memory serves me right, the gas welding of stainless is not an option.......Can't get a hot enough flame with Oxy/Accet

Then there's the heat distortion that comes from using Gas

AC/DC TIG is the way to go

As usual i cant disagree with Ronnie when it comes to fusing metals together!

You can achieve very good results with gas welding but heat distortion can be a real issue

Buy yourself a good tig set if you can stretch to it

[7ishNZ]

ac/dc tig is cheaper to run than gas and the finished result is much better. You will need a foot pedal if you are doing ali...

[Davey]

Originally Posted by 7ishNZ

ac/dc tig is cheaper to run than gas and the finished result is much better. You will need a foot pedal if you are doing ali...

Understand your point but I beg to differ, I've done literally tonnes (and in ally that's a lot ) of ally work with TIG and never used a pedal control, you just move progressively faster.

I confess that I hadn't heard that SS work was not feasible with gas and seeing as that is the major reason for getting kit it looks like TIG is the way to go. Like I said earlier I've done (hundreds of ) Tonnes of stick and MIG work on mild steel (0.8mm up to 35mm thicknesses), (tens of) Tonnes of stainless and ally with MIG and TIG from 0.8 up to 5mm thickness and even some cast iron work with stick but never had enough time/opportunity to master gas welding.

Trouble is the gas kit is cheaper and overall probably more use in my workshop than the TIG set (although this iswhat I'd really prefer along with a plasma cutter ).

D.

[AshG]

if its just to make a stainless exhaust then just chuck a roll of stainless wire in the mig. as long as you are using some kind of argon mix you will be ok. the welds will be a bit brownish but they will go that colour from the exhaust heat anyway.

you can tig ali just fine without a pedal i put the welder on 2t and set the slope out to 4-5seconds. if the pool starts getting too hot then i just take my finger off and it slopes off the power. i have tried to use pulse but i dont get on with it too well. thebest thing you can have on a tig for ali welding is square wave control as it allows you to increase decrease the size of the weld pool vs pool depth

[twinturbo]

have you seen the price of stainless wire!!!

TT

[Davey]

I'd rather use TIG for the stainless work, it just gives a so much better finish. I haven't looked at the price if welding wire, either rolls for the MIG ir rods for the TIG but if every decision was made on cost I'd never do anything more outrageous than put me slippers on.

D.