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Iv welded a bunch of stainless with stick,, good for heavy stuff not so good for light gage.

For thin material like 1.5 I use a 2mm stick that has printed on it E308L - 16 CONARCO if no tig available.

Ya I have welded lots of stainless with my stick welder.. if you gonna try to weld on a keg and you have never done it. Don't.. a keg is really thin and you will burn right through it if your not careful. I have welded on mine using 1/8" good stainless rods.. Turn you heat down to about 70 on low power to start. You can always go up but if your to hot when you strike an arc you will burn a hole.( trust me on that I know first hand) also on the keg weld a small spot then stop and let it cool.
I just put a filler neck on my keg tonight but hell I silver soldered it. That shit is strong if you have a good tight fit.
KS

My stick welder is a 30 yr old transformer type and is a heavy barstid that stretches the arm. Today they are lightweight and cheap. I tried stick welding two saucepans together using 2mm stainless rods at the recommended 40A and 90V. Burned many holes and filled them with silver brazing alloy afterwards. I think it's easier to do it this way because brazing alone causes so much distortion of the parts during the bazing. Next time I'll use the stick welder to tack the seam and follow with the brazing rather than trying to weld the whole seam.

The trick with thin guage is to do as KS says, strike a quick spot to thicken the metal. Let it cool and repeat. Soon the metal is thick enough to lay it on.

Two big saucepans at $1 ea from the recycling centre joined rim to rim = one approx 10L fuel container. A short 1" stainless tube for a spout, and a cork finishes it.

Good topic this and I'm looking on with interest.

I'm wondering if you could join copper pipe to stainless using a stick welder, I've had nothing but shit luck trying to solder the two together.

Some get it first go, but I've tried everything I read here and have to resort to flour paste

Cheers.

I have successfully fuzed stainless together using the oxy-acetylene torch. Fusing stainless and copper is possible because the fuzed alloy of stainless and copper is fairly stable but not as strong as pure copper or pure stainless.

TIG is similar to the oxy-acetylene because TIG is an electronic flame. You use the flame to melt the parent metals and add a filler if needed, and the filler can be either a parent metal or a solder.

Stick welding is similar to MIG. The flame automatically adds the filler depending on the rod or wire. I think stick and MIG will join stainless to copper but MIG has the advantage of an inert gas.

Ayay wrote:I have successfully fuzed stainless together using the oxy-acetylene torch. Fusing stainless and copper is possible because the fuzed alloy of stainless and copper is fairly stable but not as strong as pure copper or pure stainless.

TIG is similar to the oxy-acetylene because TIG is an electronic flame. You use the flame to melt the parent metals and add a filler if needed, and the filler can be either a parent metal or a solder.

Stick welding is similar to MIG. The flame automatically adds the filler depending on the rod or wire. I think stick and MIG will join stainless to copper but MIG has the advantage of an inert gas.

I think you will agree Ayay, the trick to joining copper to stainless like you said Acetylene for the heat it offers, but you have to get the two metals hot enough to make the silver solder flow correctly. I know some folks have had trouble with this and I really think it must me heat related. If I were tying to join stainless cooking pots I would go with the Silver solder.

Also you need to clean the stainless very very well.

I hope we are not dragging this topic too far away from Spuds intentions, my apologies if this is the case.

I am ready to give up on SS to copper joins, my new build will only have one SS join with a threaded adaptor, any other joins where tri clamps could be used will be done with slip joins..... I'm over it

Cheers.

Your right AN.. I think I am guilty of getting off track here.
sorry for hoggin your thread spud.
KS

Spud1700 wrote:No this is good, I am learning a lot, I have been thinking about copper to stainless as well. I'll be happy if I can just get stainless down at this stage. Saves me having to bug the fella at work all the time and then wait for him to do it with the TIG.

I'm going to buy a stick welder and some stainless rods and see how it goes. 3 inch condensor controlled still her I come

Thanks Dude,

If your mate at work wont do your welding I'll put you in touch with my bro up at Towoomba, he'll tell him to do it

Will you have the build done in 3 weeks? I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

This stainless to copper thing has got me stuffed, some seem to get it straight up yet others like myself just keep fugging it up..... thank god for flour paste

Cheers.

Spud1700 wrote:All good KS thanks for the info this is good, I am learning lots. I was thinking of joining 2 kegs so appreciate the heads up on the burning holes with them with the stick welder.

Hey that is awesome I have thought about trying that myself ( just did not want to take a chance on screwing up 2 kegs).. Let us know how it works out.. You do know that Pics are required here..
KS

You must have really tall fences

I was thinking tall fences too!

My fence is 3 foot tall but nobody can see over it, I love living in the bush