stick weld 304 ss shaft collars to 2" 17-4 ph shaft

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I don't know anything about welding, and should just pay someone to TIG up my little dumbell project, but it would cost a lot . Picked up 7' drop of 2" , 17-4 ph (it was marked,only reason I can even ID it) in a salvage yard here in Houston. It was turned ,ground and polished, so I guess it's a drop off from a pump shaft , but I have know idea to what extent it was age/heat hardened. Had a machine shop cut  two 2' pieces and turn them down to 1.955" to make dumbell handells to fit Olympic style weights. Now I need to weld 2 'inside collars on each bar, so I think I will go with four 2" inside bore shaft collars 3/4" wide and 1/2" thick made from 304 stainless. I went here :http://www.sandmeyersteel.com/17-4PH-spec.html#9and looks like I need E630 rod. I may try 5/32 size rod. I have a small miller 220 volt 'cracker box'  and on the face of the machine it shows 5/32" 308 ss rod ampherage as about 160. So, I guess I'm going to practice welding these two dissimilar metals on scrap pieces first. The above reference says ' Keep interpass temperatures below 248 degrees F.' I don't know how I'm supposed to do that .My question is : will E630 stick rod weld these 2 metals?  I have done a google search and can't find anything. Thanks in advance.Tom.
Reply:I weld 17-4 pieces for a company that manufactures rescue equipment. I use TIG on these but here's what they consist of. One is a hardened, chromed shaft with a 17-4 cast piece on each end (looks like a barbell). The shaft is recessed into the 17-4 piece 1.25" and retained with a 1/4" set screw. I weld the shaft to the 17-4 using silicon bronze as these shafts are always used in compression and the weld is not structural.The other piece I do is 17-4 with a 16ga 304 sheet metal cover. For these I use ER630 and it works great.I have no experience with stick welding so I'm not sure if there would be any differences or ill effects by using it.Hope this helps (at least somewhat).- Paulhttp://all-a-cart.comWelding Cart Kits and accessories
Reply:Paul, thanks for the reply, and yes , it does help. I made a phone call this morning to Specialty Steel Supply (pump shaft quality 17-4 ph) here in Houston, and he said  he was not  a welder,but he had never heard of E630 not working the way I described.So, I'm headed in the direction of E630 stick rod. Tom.