Stainless solidcore MIG wire for TIG welding? Want to make a cold-wire feeder...

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I have a 25lb roll of stainless steel .045 wire on my Miller 22a wirefeeder but no welder to run the feeder off at the moment of so the roll is just going to sit there collecting dust.I have some stainless steel that I want to weld where I need some thin wire and was wondering if this would work?  I don't have the info off the roll of wire, but I want to know in general if this would work.  Assuming the stainless wire matches up with the stainless I am welding, would it be suitable for running an open root pass on some small stainless pipe?  Or for welding some light gauge material like 16-24 gauge.Also, if it will work, one of my plans for the feeder is to build a simple power source to power up the wirefeeder so that I can build a cold-wire feeder to tig weld with like seen on this page:http://www.arc-zone.com/catalog/web_....html&cart_id=Any ideas on how to fab up a powersource or a pen gun for this purpose by utilizing a Miller 22a feeder?  I was thinking of buying a cheap gun and hacking it apart, buying some scrap plastic/copper tubing and JB welding a little cold-wire pen gun together.  But not sure how to build a power source for it.Last edited by WelderBoy; 07-17-2007 at 08:19 PM.
Reply:When doing thin stuff..Tig with small mig wire.. I have a spool of .045 4043 aluminum just for small stuff..No reason at all not to use it.. ...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:what zap said, I have also cut it and folded it in half and twisted it tight to make a larger filler when needed.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:WelderBoy,I think you have a brilliant idea for using the MIG feeder for a TIG feeder, I have had the same thought for a feeder I have, but have not done anything with it yet.Also not sure what type of variable power source is required to drive the MIG wire feeder.  I suggest getting the manual and electrical schematic for your feeder, see what you can figure out from that, then call the manufacturer and talk to a service tech.Your SS MIG wire is most likely 308, the most common SS filler metal, and it is suitable for welding 304, 316, 302, and most any 300 series SS, unless it is a specific special corrosive enviroment.
Reply:Right on, thanks for the replies.If I get my cold-wire feeder and pen gun put together I will post some pics as well as the welds it helped me lay down.
Reply:I have an extra Cobramatic feeder I have thought of using to experiment with making a cold TIG feeder.   It runs on 115v, just plugs into the wall, so no power source needed to make it feed the wire, just a switch to close the contact to start/stop the drive motor.   The wire speed is a different issue on mine though, since it is made for use with the Cobra motor-drive push-pull torch that has a speed control on the torch instead of on the feeder, so I would need that pot from the torch to adjust the wire speed.  The other thing I'm thinking is the minimum wire speed on this thing might be too fast for feeding into a TIG weld....  Jim at Arc Zone thought that it might work.  I havent tried it.   It looks like it would be easy to hook up the TIG pen to the Cobramatic since the Cobramatic uses a seperate connection for each hose/cable on the torch, unlike a typical MIG welder that uses one big powerpin connector that houses everthing.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op