My neighbor wants us to TIG weld up a bracket for a stabilizer link on a
4WD , mild steel part . I have 309 and 308 SS on hand in 1/8" , and can easily get mild steel meant for OA welding . Will one of the fillers I have on hand work well ? Will we be better off arc welding it with 7018AC ? 6013 ? 6011 ? ? MIG ? We have machines capable of welding this thickness in all of these choices . Though there is a certain something about a nice TIG bead ...
You WILL have him sign a release of liability form BEFORE starting...right?
"The socialist movement takes great pains to circulate frequently new labels for its ideally constructed state. Each worn-out label is replaced by another which raises hopes of an ultimate solution of the insoluble basic problem of Socialism, until it becomes obvious that nothing has been changed but the name. The most recent slogan is "State Capitalism."[Fascism] It is not commonly realized that this covers nothing more than what used to be called Planned Economy and State Socialism, and that State Capitalism, Planned Economy, and State Socialism diverge only in non-essentials from the "classic" ideal of egalitarian Socialism. - Ludwig von Mises (1922)
How about none of the above. The stainless choices will work, but the fill er is more expensive than what is needed. The rod for mild steel is ER70S-
6, or ER70S-2 or 3. These are higher strength than the rod for gas welding and are intended for TIG welding. The -6 has a bit more stuff in it to ta ke care of oxygen ( as in slightly rusty material ). Your local welding supply should have it.Ernie has a web site that you ought to know about. It is
# Stagesmith Metal Links
Dan
My experience mixing stainless and common steels has not been highly favorable. Apparently stainless tends to absorb carbon from steel and sometimes gets very hard and brittle. I once tried to machine a cast iron cylinder head that had been tigged with stainless filler rod - the "stainless" bead took the end off my end mill :-)
For whatever it is worth I have been most successful welding with a rod to match the parent metal :-) Plain old cold rolled - 60 series rod :-)
Web site bookmarked !
Just ordered a 10 lb package of 3/32" ER70S-2 ...found some on ebay that cost right at 3 bucks per pound delivered . Mild steel was the only kind of filler I didn't have . I should be covered now for pretty much anything but exotics , and I don't see me welding any titanium or magnesium any time soon .
309 is for dissimilar metals, and will hold up better than 308 in cyclic loading, but a tougher carbon steel would be best.
A clean stick weld with 7018 would be great. The same weld would be achieved with ER70S-2 TIG rod or ER70S-6 MIG wire
For a higher strength weld, if it is a critical part, you could use ER80S-D2 TIG rod.
You can buy small amounts of high strength TIG rod from
I have a problem with any stainless steel being used for a cyclically load part. Stainless steels tend to fracture much faster than mild steel under such loads.
309 is tougher than most, but until you go to duplex stainless steels (17-4 PH) you can't get the toughness of normal steel.10 pounds of ER70S-2 is already on the way . This , along with the stuff I already have on hand , should cover most anything I'll be welding .
Wouldn't there normally be comment about chloride stress corrosion cracking
- vehicle - salt on road - stress ??? Read that the experienced opinion here is don't make anything like a boat trailer or parts for vehicle out of stainless? Plain "carbon steel" - only general corrosion which is easy to see - never corrosion cracking which you cannot see but hits you in the instant of failure. ???
Whole thing rendered moot , the neightbor welded it up on his own MIG with ER70S6 .
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