Pickling Stainless welds

[johnhopper1957]

I have got to say they are the nicest welds I have seen I am guessing you do specialised stuff on the TIG?
Ref the gas lenses, I looked for them in Australia awhile ago but no welding supply places seem to have them. Do you have a link to a supplier who takes PayPal and ships internationally?
Thanks in advance

[XFABCALGARY]

I have got to say they are the nicest welds I have seen I am guessing you do specialised stuff on the TIG?
Ref the gas lenses, I looked for them in Australia awhile ago but no welding supply places seem to have them. Do you have a link to a supplier who takes PayPal and ships internationally?
Thanks in advance

hey thanks... no specialty just a regular Alberta certified journeyman welder with an interprovincial red seal, i think once you do out of position work ie tig roots on pipe and get decent at that you can do very well in the easier positions flat for example or positioning pipe for max comfort. i am an impeccably good fitter though and i do contract welding of all sorts.

um i use air liquide for my consumables (local welding supply). the lenses i use as i have a weld craft torch are Weldcraft 45V41 Gas Lens. i can stick the tungsten out 7/8 inch and still have clean welds. i know http://www.weldfabulous.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow does international shipping and they are a top seller at ebay. i bought a smith cutting torch from them a few years ago and all was good http://myworld.ebay.com/weldfabulous/?_ ... 4340.l2559" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow not sure if i can post those but i own no part of the linked company just a safe bet for welding supplies.

Regards R

[aliced]

As a note; ordinary garden lime can be used to neutralise the HF pastes. I use some of the pickling pastes on occasion, gloves and respirator, I am in truth scared shitless of the stuff and always hope to be. After it has cured 5-7 minutes then I douse it in the lime until it stops bubbling then hose it off into a sump. Same as in the body, the calcium in the lime breaks it down, or it breaks the calcium down, and becomes neutral.

[Oxbo Rene]

Awesome beauty ! ! !

[HookLine]

I tried Muratic acid first. An overnight soak at 50% solution dulled the stainless and removed some but not all of the black discoloration.

Not surprised it dulled your stainless. Muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) is no good for pickling (passivation). Has the opposite effect.

Chlorine based compounds are kryptonite to most grades of stainless (I think there are one or two exceptions). They attack and destroy the protective passivated surface on stainless. That is why some of these compounds (particularly hydrochloric acid, ammonium chloride, and zinc chlorid) are used in flux for soldering stainless.

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is also bad news for stainless.

If you want to passivate stainless, then citric acid or dilute phosphoric acid are probably the best choices, especially for hobbyists. Easy to get and cheap. Citric is very safe to use, and phos is fairly safe with a bit of care and common sense.

Citric, phosphoric or acetic acid all work well to chemically clean up copper. (Plain white vinegar is just a dilute acetic acid solution, and is very safe to use.)

[HookLine]

Damn nice welds there, johnhopper1957 & XFABCALGARY.

And nice still head, johnhopper1957.

••••••

Everybody, for fucks sake, stay away from hydrofluoric acid. No good reason to even think about using it for anything we do here.

[mash rookie]

I have been enjoying more success with argon. No where close to those beautiful welds Sir fabulous Calgary does. I need to figure out what a gas lens is.

Well, sure as hell the next project was mild steel. Basic stuff probably about an hour of welding with the MIG. The argon didn’t work worth a damn. I did not try the tri mix. I jumped in my car and went out and bought the third bottle of gas that I should have anyway.

$180 later I know have the three gasses necessary for my work. I had to switch out to tri mix yesterday to MIG some stainless. Having the right tool for the job is everything.

Hook, I am using citric acid now. It was cheap from our same supplier that I buy Calcium Carbonate from. After a few hour soak I scrub the parts with soap and water.

We grind and polish most welds like JohnHopper and Oxbo. (I weld, my shop guy makes me look good) If I ever lay down a weld that looks like Fabulous Calgary’s work I will never get anything done again. I will just sit and stare at it.... Maybe drink and stare at it. Not likely to happen.

[Kirko]

Did anyone mention Sparex? That's the brand name of sodium bisulphate. You can buy it from Rio Grande, Albuquerque, it works well on stainless and copper both.

[mash rookie]

Thanks Kirko. Have you used it on stainless? I Googled it and did not find any reference to it being used on stainless. One post stated that it was a stronger safe alternative to citric acid. Most references discuss jewelry cleaning.

I read several articles about pickling and passivating stainless steel. Most referenced hydrofluoric acid for cleaning weld scale and discoloration and nitric acid for passivation. I did find one reference to citric acid being used as a mild passivating acid. I am learning that they are or can be separate processes.
One post mentioned a TIG brush for cleaning a weld. I am going to have to research that.

[Kirko]

I can't answer you there, but it is a good pickling agent, it has little affect on stainless steel itself, I get good results, as for your particular welding byproducts, it's worth a try, it's cheap enough, safe enough and easy to store as it comes in a dry mix. I think the same company sells nickel pickle but I don't know what it is.