Stainless welding project

joeu235 · Nov 9, 2018

jrsavoie said:
If you have a DC welder, you can hook up a tig torch to it. Main pain is no auto gas shut off.

304 will rust a little.

I've got a Bobcat 225 which has DC but I don't have the TIG setup. I plan on getting an inverter TIG/Stick machine someday but have other things to spend money on now.

jrsavoie · Nov 10, 2018

joeu235 said:
I've got a Bobcat 225 which has DC but I don't have the TIG setup. I plan on getting an inverter TIG/Stick machine someday but have other things to spend money on now.

All you really need is a TIG torch, flow meter, bottle of Argon and a DC welder. I never have had a foot control or even a gas switch by someplace handy.

If you keep an eye out you can be ready to TIG fairly cheap. I never bought anything new. I have a high freq and water cooled torch, but don't have $500 invested in everything.

And that's including the loss I took on the 400 Miller gasser that I should never have sold.

If anybody is looking and stumbles across a Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC. They are good little welders. The Thunderbolts that are strictly AC are worth about $50

joeu235 · Nov 15, 2018

I got 3 pounds of 309 rods today for $8.50 a pound. Much cheaper than the 312 from TSC, like 4x cheaper! Thanks for the help.

joeu235 · Dec 6, 2018

I finished the decoration in time for our Thanksgiving swap. I think it turned out well. It was a lot of welding with 1/8 rods and I definitely got better the more I did it. Stainless wasn't really any more difficult than 7018 but sure does hold the heat. It took almost 2 hours to cool down to ambient. If it was something with real function, I probably put too much heat into it. Please enjoy the video.