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Welding mild steel to stainless

I wanted to make a little addition to my "welding cable/torch hanging tree". The plan was to take a stainless panel, that I already had, approximately 6x18 inches, and weld it to some steel support block, and then weld that to the top of the existing tree.

I was not sure whether welding stainless to mild steel was OK, but in this instance, there was very little if any load. The total weight on the panel would be the weight of a foot pedal and 4" angle grinder laying on top of it. Maybe 15 pounds total.

Anyway, I did it and I used 6013.

The panel seems to be securely attached to the post after welding. That is, it does not fall off if pushed or pulled by hand and that is all I need.

If that weld ever fails, no big deal, the angle grinder will fall 20 inches and that's it.

My question is what is the general rule about welding stainless to mild steel. I am sure that for high stress connections, something better than what I did would be necessary.

Reply to
Ignoramus28189
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Works just fine. I believe Ernie likes to use SS filler for regular steel welding. I've welded various SS hardware to mild steel frames with regular 70S2 filler with no issues either.

Reply to
Pete C.

The welding shop recommended 312 to stick-weld 316 to mild steel. It ran well but the fumes are irritating.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

The rule of thumb is that the weld material needs to be of higher grade than the base metal. For dissimilar metals, the lower grade base metal will predominate as the weld determinant.

Reply to
RoyJ

Exactly. As long as this shelf holds the pedal and grinder, it's all I want. Does not seem that it will suddenly snap for no good reason.

I was originally afraid that it may act like a cast iron weld and crack right away after welding, but that did not happen.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus28189

Anything with carbon content over something like .5% is a candidate for HAZ issues, above 1% carbon or cast iron is dicey for stick weld without special procedures.

The 300 series alloys have mostly nickel and chrome, the nickel adds ductility and toughness (good), the chrome adds the chromium oxide that makes it sta> >> The rule of thumb is that the weld material needs to be of higher grade

Reply to
RoyJ

I'd have tried 309 SS but I'm new to the group so I probably don't know diddley ;-)

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Reply to
TinkerTanker

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