watertight welds small mig 304 stnlss.

Date 04-05-2002 21:52

Is it feasable to obtain watertight welds on 20 - 16 guage 304 stainless with a small 85 amp 120 volt mig. What type of wire would work best? I'm looking to fuse the edges at right angles. Tried it with mild steel .030 and argon /CO2 shield and got some trial welds to turn out quite nice,(although quite balck and dirty looking). Also had some blow right through the metal. What would happen if Argon/ CO2 is used with 308L wire? Would it corrode or crack quickly. Will it behave about the same as the mild steel did? It's quite expensive so I don't want to buy it if it's a lost cause.

By Niekie3 (***)

Date 04-07-2002 17:14

I am sure that you will be able to perform the weld on the thin plate you propose. Theoretically you could weld two razor blades together with GMAW in the dip transfer mode. (Theoretically!)

I would recommend that you set your amps at 20V or below (this puts you in the dip transfer mode) and experiment a bit. The gas would however be better if you used Ar + 1-3% O2. Generally not so good to use CO2, but you can under certain circumstances, but then the CO2 content is also rather low.

If the weld is safety critical, then you will need to perform some tests to make sure you are getting proper penetration because with dip transfer. a lack of fusion is often a problem.

Regards
Niekie