I hope y'all won't mind a non-welder posting a question here. I'm looking for someone who can weld stainless, and am not having much luck. Perhaps I will do better with a little advice from the experts.
Background: I'm a glass beadmaker. I wrap molten glass around a release-coated mandrel to form beads. My mandrels are made from 3/32" stainless welding rods, which I pick up at the local welder supply shop and cut to length. At the stamped end is the number 504919; I can't make out all the numbers on the other side -- there is a 3 or a 9, followed by 16L.
Problem: I want to be able to make two-holed beads, so I need a mandrel with two parallel rods. I thought it would be a simple matter to find someone to weld two short lengths to a cross-piece, then weld a handle to that, making sort of a tuning fork shape, but it hasn't been simple at all.
The cross-piece should be fairly short, as I want the parallel rods to be no more than .25" apart.
Is that distance unrealistic to ask for, or should I be able to find someone who can weld to that level of precision?
After I make a bead, it goes directly into a hot kiln for annealing; the temperature is 970 F. When I'm done working, the kiln temperature is ramped down by a digital controller over a period of 6-7 hours.
Can I expect welds to stand up to that temperature and the heating/cooling cycle over time?
Finally, what kinds of shops or businesses are likely to have the required equipment/expertise to weld these rods?
I will be very grateful for any insight y'all might be able to offer.
Thanks very much,
Rikki Mitman
Houston, Texas
Hello Rikki, I would have a couple of suggestions for you. What you are asking is definitely possible, most tig welders will possess the skills to do this for you. Due to the heat that you are subjecting this to it may be somewhat of a throwaway item after a certain number of cycles, so you may have to have a design for this so that you can have it replicated for future needs. If you have a community college, technical college, or trades center in your area that has a welding program you might first approach these folks to see if they are interested in helping you out, do not assume that they will but it is worth talking to them first. If they aren't interested you will need to go to a welding shop to have this done, here again the schools can probably suggest someone with the skills and facilities to take care of this for you. Stainless is not an inexpensive material to work with so be prepared to spend some money. Hope this gives you a little to go on. Best of luck and Regards, aevald
By rikkim
Date 03-25-2006 17:07
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. There are a number of community colleges here and I would guess we have several trade/technical-type schools, as well. I will look into that.
Hey Rikki,
I read your post with interest. As Aevald explained, constant heating and cooling will take a toll on the number of times these will be usable. I am setup to fabricate this kind of item in multiple quantities. The initial setup would take a couple hrs to fabricate and a constant dimensional configuration would be maintained. Then they could be produced in quantities at a very reasonable price. Also the grade of stainless will make a difference. If you are interested in discussing details, e-mail me at dennymo@alltel.net.
Denny
Why not just take a piece of the welding rod and bend it in half over a piece of material that will set the distance between the two legs to the distance you desire? You could then grip the resulting device in a vise-grip or other device you may prefer while you work. Probably need to build some sort of fixture to hold them in the annealing oven but you will only have to build that once. 316L is at least a number likely to be found on welding rods.
Bill
By rikkim
Date 03-25-2006 17:15
Thanks for the suggestion, Bill. Bending it is a very good idea -- a time saver and, as you suggest, a good way to achieve consistent sizing. Experience has taught me that I do need the handle, though. When a bead is finished, I need to get it into the kiln fairly quickly. I have to pull on gloves before reaching in to place the bead; I find that if I have to detach vice grips or another type of temporary handle, the task becomes too complicated and takes too long. I end up having to reheat the bead in the flame to keep it from cooling too much, which can lead to thermal shock.
