Gas welding stainless trim

[slammed 58 chevy]

Hello all.

Ive done some searching and pretty much only come across TIG info.

As much as some of the reading was interesting and may be useful in the future none of it relates to gas.

Any way. A friend of mine chopped a 49 Merc and needs to do the exterior window opening trim.

He had another friend, who is quite a good metal fabricator and has a lot of years working with stainless doing kitchen type stuff.

He tried with a TIG and told our mutual friend it would just blow up before he could get started. I don't know what machine he is using but this stuff is paper thin.

So anyway I told him I would try with the torch since the heat is slower to start.

I just wanted to come here for some advice/tips before doing anything. He gave me a bent up scrap piece to experiment with. Not only does the height need to be changed but the B pillar was slanted. So the angles of the corners need to be changed. Shrinking and stretching isn't really an option because the piece is not a square channel.

Im thinking go with a triple 0 tip on the aircraft torch I am currently using and start there.

I guess just cut and butt weld back together. If I need filler Im thinking use another piece of trim to have the exact same type of stainless.

Im gonna guess the hardest part won't be the welding, but the hammering and filing. Mainly because it is so thin.

I also have no actual experience with stainless. I do know it is a challenge to work with. My biggest concern is it cracking from working it too much.

Thanks in advance to anyone who chimes in.

[slammed 58 chevy]

Forgot I have pictures.

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[Resto Rod Race]

It can be done with a tig, but you need a good machine and lots of practice, good luck with the flame, im sure it can be done. Two other possibilities are, make a backing piece to silp behing the joint, so that its just a butt joint (not Welded) but supported by the back piece. or you silver solder the butt joint. When its polished you only have a very thin line of different colour, not real obvious. Making a cover for the joint, like they do on some windscreens is a option as well but really depends on what you want.
cheers

[Joe Hartson]

Take a look around on this site. http://www.cut-like-plasma.com/
There is a welding demo on welding stainless with the Henrob. Might be of some help.

[MP&C]

Joey, do a search over on the HAMB, there's a guy on there chopping Merc's that does it regularly. Think he used TIG, if I recall....

[Marty Comstock]

Welding stainless with gas is more difficult than tig because of the flux needed and you cant go above a certian temp because of sugaring. I think. I have tried it a few times with no sucess, maybe I didnt try hard enough.

Welding that with Tig is interesting, to say the least. I have done it enough to know that its time consuming, tedious, and you have to be patient. Best tricks I can say is to use parent material for filler, and turn down the hi frequency arc force down or off (scratch start) because that in itself was enough to prematurely melt the trim I was trying to weld.

The harder part was filing and polishing the welds to perfect condition.


Marty

[MP&C]

Joey, here is the thread I was thinking of.....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=147728

[slammed 58 chevy]

Originally Posted by MP&C

Joey, here is the thread I was thinking of.....

Thanks Robert that was a good thread I had thought about searching the hamb but didn't think there would be that well detailed info. That was a good read though.

Originally Posted by Marty Comstock

Welding stainless with gas is more difficult than tig because of the flux needed.Marty

What type of flux is needed. I guess I could just call my local welding store. I wasn't sure if flux was needed like aluminum. But I knew shielding gas was important with the TIG.

Originally Posted by Joe Hartson

Take a look around on this site. http://www.cut-like-plasma.com/
There is a welding demo on welding stainless with the Henrob. Might be of some help.

Ill have to check that out. Im sure I won't purchase the 400 dollar tool to play with this. But Its similar to a regular welding outfit. So Im sure there will be some info there. Just my internet usage at my shop is a pain. Im sitting out in my car right now and its cold haha.

Originally Posted by Resto Rod Race

It can be done with a tig, but you need a good machine and lots of practice, good luck with the flame, im sure it can be done.

This is more an experiment/challenge. I know the TIG would be ideal here but I do not have one and even if I did I would not be ready to tackle something like this with it. The clips made sense for a good cheat, same as the soldering. But I would really like to give it a shot at doing the impossible. Im sure my biggest issue will be with too much heat and not over working after actually getting it welded.



Thanks for all the replies so far. Maybe David Gardiner will chime in at some point since he is about the most versatile gas welder on here with brass and everything else.

[www.kustomgarage.com.au]

Joey,
You could try Brazing flux that is used for Welding Brass and German silver.
I have used Brazing flux to sheild the back of Brass when using the tig for a weld or repair. Stainless welds well with Tig but I dont see why if sheilded apropriatly why you wouln't be able to Gas weld it. As far as hammering out the weld you shouldnt have a problem, I have modified and repiared alot of stainless that I welded with the Tig and have had no cracking.
Make a paste with Methylated spriits or White Spirits and brush it on the back side of the weld area before you tack and dip your filler into it also. I will also experiment with this as I am now curious to see if it will work.

[idickers]

I've used flux from Kent White at Tinmantech to weld stainless sheet metal. It works similar to gas welding aluminum. It's worth a try:
http://www.tinmantech.com/html/stain...ing_suppli.php