stainless steel welding workshop in the home - 3 easy and affordable way

For weld quality must be pre-trained on unnecessary scraps stainless steel.

You do not know how to weld stainless steel products? In fact, welding of stainless steel at home - it's not such a difficult task. I will describe several methods of welding and explain how this can be done by hand in his garage or home workshop.

Why stainless poorly cooked

Stainless steel - an alloy of iron with the usual carbon black addition and complex dopants (chromium, nickel, molybdenum, titanium, manganese, etc.). These metal additives impart good corrosion resistance and high mechanical strength.

By introducing dopants change and physical properties of stainless steel, so its welding technology has the features:

1. Low thermal conductivity:

• Stainless steels have a thermal conductivity significantly lower than that of low carbon metal, so the heat from the welding zone is given worse;
• To eliminate the burn-wall, stainless steel products should be cooked with a smaller current (15-25% less than for the black metal).

1. metal Shrinkage:

• Stainless steel has a higher coefficient of thermal linear expansion, so it can shrink and deform greatly after cooling;
• To reduce thermal distortion, it is necessary to leave sufficient tolerances and gaps between the article to be welded;
• For the same stainless steel cooking does not need a continuous seam, and a short piece of tack point.

The diagram shows how the application point on the tack weld.

1. High resistance to:

• Electrical resistance is substantially higher alloyed steel than the ferrous metals. This leads to an increase in temperature in the welding zone and burning the electrodes;
• Therefore, for such work uses tungsten electrodes or chromium-nickel steel, and their length should not be greater than 350 mm;

1. Temperature erosion:

• At very high temperatures, atmospheric oxygen environment dopants may fade alloy;
• Because of this, corrosion resistance of stainless steel deteriorate, and eventually begins to corrode the weld;
• To protect the alloying components must limit the flow of saturated air with oxygen in a molten metal zone;

During operation, be sure to use a protective mask, otherwise you may get burned retinas.

To reduce burnout dopants, the weld after setting it is necessary to cool down as quickly as possible. Ate size allows the finished product can be immediately dipped in a bucket or tub with water.

Methods of welding stainless steel

several available methods can be used for sealing and permanent connection of stainless steel products:

1. Welding, Tungsten:

• In this case, the electrode is used only for ignition of the arc;
• During operation in the molten metal zone is fed inert gas (argon) and additive stainless wire;
• Under argon-arc welding of a base metal is not overheated, so the weld quality is obtained and durable;
• The only drawback of this method - the high price of argon-arc machine.

1. Welding with coated electrodes:

• For operation can use an ordinary arc welding machine, preferably of inverter type;
• From high temperature electric arc the electrode is melted and fills the weld;
• electrode coating is also melted but remains above and protects the metal from oxidation and burning in air;
• Welding of stainless steel tubes electrode is used only for thick-walled massive products.

1. Welding semiautomatic:

• For operation using a conventional semi-automatic welding;
• It is installed with a coil of stainless steel wire, and to the burner instead of carbon dioxide cylinder is connected with argon balloon.

Driving conversion of semi-automatic welding of stainless steel.

To connect or repair of small thin-walled stainless steel products, can be used instead of welding or soldering brass tin-lead solder.

How to weld stainless steel

The table shows the comparative characteristics of certain methods of welding stainless steel.

Preparation of welding equipment

To cook products of stainless steel with their hands, need a small metal workshop and one of the sets of welding equipment:

Illustration	Welding equipment
	Argon arc welding: Apparatus for argon arc welding (pictured); Interchangeable tungsten electrodes; Filler stainless wire; Cylinder argon.
	Welding electrodes: Inverter welding machine; The electrodes are made of stainless steel with a protective coating.
	Semiautomatic: Semi-automatic welding; A thin stainless steel wires in the coils; Cylinder argon.
	Auxiliary tools and equipment: Metal welding bench; Large bench screw; Powerful clips or clamps; Average hammer; Wire brush; Pliers and side cutters; Flat and Phillips head screwdriver; Roulette and metal gon; Protective face mask, leather gloves and a tightly sealed suit.

Method 1: tungsten arc welding electrodes

Illustration	Description of work
	Preparing the Machine: Stainless steel is better to cook with alternating or direct current straight polarity; For this cable from the connector with a "plus" should be connected to the weight of the product; The cable from the "minus" terminal connected to the electrode holder; The composition of the filler wire should include greater dopants than in the base metal.
	Welding under argon: Before working on the torch push button and hold for 3-5 seconds to fill the gas system; Bring the tungsten electrode 3-4 mm to the metal surface, and pressing ignite an arc; When the parent metal melts, enter into the arcing zone of the filler wire; Smoothly without vibrational motion to move the torch along the joint, gradually filling it with molten metal: The finished product is cooled in air or in a bucket of water. To reduce the burning of the electrode, it is necessary to hold down the burner 5-10 seconds after the arc is extinguished.

Method 2: arc welding with coated electrodes

Illustration	Description of work
	Preparation of electrodes: For manual arc welding with stainless electrodes are best brands RLA-8 CL-11or NIAT-1; The diameter should be selected depending on the thickness of the walls to be welded, but not more than 4.5 mm; They should be completely dry, immediately prior to use so it is better to dry in an electric furnace.
	Welding of stainless steel electrodes: Stainless steel cook better DC straight polarity; Positive lead from the device connected to the product, and the negative lead - to the electrode holder; amperage initially set a minimum and then gradually increased, if necessary; In order not to burn the metal, it is necessary to cook short arc small tack point; Scalded product cool quickly in a bucket of water; After cooling, the weld obbit small hammer to remove scale and slag.

Method 3: Semi-automatic welding in argon

Illustration	Description of work
	Preparation of semi-automatic: The feeder semi-automatic welding set coil with stainless steel wire; Press the start button and wait until the end of the wire emerges from the burner nozzle; By the gas connection is connected via a reduction gear cylinder argon.
	Welding stainless steel semi-automatic: Obkusit side cutters projecting end of the wire; Semiautomatic install a small feed rate and minimum current; Burner nozzle attached to the parts being welded at an angle of approximately 45 °; Press the button on the burner and wait for the arc; Burner smoothly move along the joint vibrational-rotational motion. After semiautomatic welding slag is formed, so it is not required obbivat.

conclusion

You are able to make sure that the welding of stainless steel is available for any handyman, even without the use of special equipment. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments, and do not forget to watch the video in this article.