Stainless welding question

[Jaxom]

I just picked up a stainless turkey fryer setup in my local Sam's club dent and ding area. Big savings, normally this setup was $90, I got it for $25, just because the pot and the stand were slightly bent.

This is a nice LARGE pot! 34qts! Only problem is the stainless bowl I wanna attach is just a hair too small to clamp or otherwise seal onto the top of the pot, so what I was thinking of doing is cutting out the center of the pot's orginal lid, leaving the orginal lip of the lid and welding the bowl to that. Basically extending the lip of the bowl.

The thing is this, I did buy a mig welder, I just don't have the money right now to buy gas for it. Can I do this type of weld without gas? Or should I keep saving my pennies and wait?

tia,

Jaxom

[golden pond]

You will have to have gas.

[Bujapat]

Arc welding is another solution, but you need to have the tool... or to know someone who has the tool!
A good link on stainless welding : http://www.brazing.com/techguide/proced ... inless.asp

[Jaxom]

Which gas though? One tool store suggests CO2 only, with tank $90. And he only refills if you buy your tank from him. A Welding shop where I got my stainless wire from said $140, but he mentioned something about a three way gas... CO2, Argon, and something else. Book on welding says normal 2 way CO2/argon.

Mind you, I'll also be doing copper to stainless once I get this part done. FYI, I don't mind buying my tanks, after putzing around in retail managment for 20 years, I'm going back to school to get my mig certification. Both the above prices include buying the tanks as well as a gas fill. The first one is used tank, the second one are those fancy aluminium ones. 20lbs sized.

Jaxx

[golden pond]

Probley best to use the CO2/ Argon mix.

[Bujapat]

Sorry, I didn't understand well your question...

Mig, as I know, can't be done without gas (Argon, C02).
It's possible to solder SS with coated electrodes without gas, but the tool isn't the same...(SMAW - Shielded Metal Arc Welding or Stick Electrode)
It's also possible to braze SS, but you need a torch able to reach high T°, I think with 2 gases : oxygen and acetylen, that's the way a friend soldered my SS/copper flanges.

[nimrod77]

You can't use MIG to weld stainless. You need to use TIG. And no you can't weld without the gas as oxygen will penetrate the weld causing it to look like an aerobar (full of bubbles) and be very week.
Better off getting some one who knows how to weld SS with a TIG do the welding.

[Jaxom]

Thanks for all the replies folks! Guess I'll wait for the gas then. I may be a newbit to the welding world, but I have done some research, I only asked this question because I'm going nuts waiting for job interviews and training classes to begin. Just wanted something to do with my time. Oh well...

I did do some research before asking though, I was pretty sure I would need the gas to mig this together, I was just hoping to keep busy.

FYI, I did buy two books on welding, everything from arc to plasma. And both books by different authors said that some mig welding CAN be done without using gas. I just wasn't sure stainless was one of those instances. I'll take the adivce I got here and wait till I can afford the CO2/argon mix. Tank looks nicer too!

Mig vs Tig. Beleive me, before I plunked down $500 for a welder, I did do ALOT of reading and asking questions. At that time, it was 1) the best I could afford 2)Did pretty much all the things I wanted it to do. At that point I still had my last job and wasn't thinking of switching careers. According to the instructions on my Lincoln welder, I CAN do stanless with it. Just not that thick. I put a micrometer on both pieces, the lid is .050 and the bowel is .027 or so, if memory serves me. The wire for my unit is .030.

Thanks all!!! You folks are great!

Jaxx

[stillman]

Hi Jaxom,

For mig welding stainless you will need a mixed gas. I don't know which welding supplier you are using but Home Depot or something like that is not going to give you the right answer. You have to find an industrial welding supplier in your area. This should be easy. They are everywhere. Look in the phone book.

That said, You are going to havea hell of a time trying to weld thin Stainless bowls and pots with a mig. I used to weld stainless sinks into countertops for a living. Tig is the way to go IMHO. No fuss No Muss. Especially if you are going to try to stick copper to stainless.

Good Luck

[hornedrhodent]

Sorry, I didn't understand well your question...

Mig, as I know, can't be done without gas (Argon, C02).
It's possible to solder SS with coated electrodes without gas, but the tool isn't the same...(SMAW - Shielded Metal Arc Welding or Stick Electrode)
It's also possible to braze SS, but you need a torch able to reach high T°, I think with 2 gases : oxygen and acetylen, that's the way a friend soldered my SS/copper flanges.

I think gasless mig has fluxcored wire.
a stick welder will melt holes in thin stuff.
Oxy/Acetylene and silver solder will work but overheating and distortion would make this job very difficult.

Distortion will probably be a problem whatever you use with thin material so you'll probably need to use a dough seal.

[junkyard dawg]

not to be negative, but thats a tough welding job even with better equipment.

so, there is a flux cored stainless wire, but I think it still needs co2. That link above talks about one type...

Trimix gas is the best bet for mig and stainless...

with the equipment you have, I suggest getting a keg for your boiler and using that pot for something else. you can make a column connection that uses threads or a triclamp and have only minimal welding.

[golden pond]

You can't use MIG to weld stainless. You need to use TIG. And no you can't weld without the gas as oxygen will penetrate the weld causing it to look like an aerobar (full of bubbles) and be very week.
Better off getting some one who knows how to weld SS with a TIG do the welding.

Sure you can weld Stainless with MIG, its done every day. I have both .035 and .062 stainless welding wire for MIG.

[TRANSPLANTED HILLBILLY]

$90 IS a hellofa price for that rig. I would be curious about that pot being stainless steel and not aluminum. That's 8.5 gallons worth of stainless, my 7.5 gallon cost $130.00 by itself not to mention the burner rig you got. Maybe its stainless clad, got some of them too. At any rate if it is aluminum and you try to weld stainless with stainless wire to it your gonna have a mess on your hands.

Not trying to kill your buzz, just be sure what you have before you have a pot that ain't worth the box it was shipped in.

[Jaxom]

Actually I did buy the welder from Home Depot, and I do agree, some of thier folks don't know much. Although in thier defence, unlike most companies they do try to train most of thier staff. But I only bought the unit there, the rest of the stuff I'm buying from a local welding supply house and a tool store.

Reason I wanna use this pot is for any washes that may have more solids in them then a sugar wash. I actually do have two kegs, a 7.5gal and 15gal. But for those I was going to grab one of those adapter thing from brewhaus, and just make up columns for those.

Jaxx

[DBM]

Jaxom;
Is there any reason you can't just take your stuff to the local machine shop and have them weld it for you? It would probably cost less tha 20 bucks for a professional welder to do it for you, and will look better too.

[Zed9Zero]

I'm not sure why you want to attach a bowl - is this an icewater / wok setup or are you just trying to build a domed boiler?

I love those "turkey fryers" - my main heat source. Also a good excuse for noy doing reflux math.

[Jaxom]

Naw, this is a 34qt stainless turkey cook pot. Got it as part of a turkey fryer setup at sam's club...dent and ding area, normal price for sam's is about $90, although I've seen simlar set-up at camping places much higher.

Ya know the more I think about it, the more I wonder if I really need to have a bowl ontop. I could just mount the column straight to the orignal lid. I think the only reason I was thinking I would have to use the bowl set up is becuase if I knock the rivits holding the handle on the lid out, I'll have two small holes in the lid, but this could be easily fixed with a couple of stainless bolt-washer-nut rigs.

Jaxxx

[Zed9Zero]

I thought I needed to weld when I prepared my first boiler. I bought MPS gas and oxygen (with a simple bernzomatic torch) to get the feel for welding. I used them to cut the hole in the top of my lid.
When I had the hole I realized I didn't need to weld to get the pressure fit I needed. I bought a threaded black metal flange (1 1'2" to fit my column) whcich had 4 bolt holes in it. I got a fat (non-circular) o-ring to fit aroung the hole but inside the flange's bolt holes. I got bolts, spring washers, wing nuts and built little washers out of red rubber sheets.

Put the washers under the bolt head INSIDE the boiler and screw down the wingnuts OUTSIDE the boiler with pliers and you have a tight friggin seal.

Gas expands - it doesn't really need a tapered upward passage..