Seeking advice re welding 16ga. cubes for a sculpture

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I am not a professional but certainly care about quality and aesthetics. I have a project that involves welding 12" square 16ga stainless cubes together. They will be stacked by placing a corner of a cube at the middle of the cube beneath it and so on. Therefore a strong corner and edge of the top cube welded into the "weakest" part of the bottom cube.Obviously I can't get behind the weld to place a heat sink and I am very nervous about warpeage..the stacking of the cubes has to stay uniform. Any suggestions? Tig or mig? I was hoping to use mig as I am just starting tig and there are 24 Cubes! Any help would be great. I have a Miller0 211 no pulse and an AHP 201xd tig w pulse. Really appreciate any advice. I've been staring at the cubes too long. I actually tried some space age adhesive but its thickness for was an issue in and of itself and I am concered as the cube assembly will be outdoors and I worry about expansion/contraction.The group's wisdom would be welcomed!
Reply:The only person I knew that did sculpture uses a Victor torch. Chris Sorensen  in Fresno California . He also owns Weco Oxygen Dave

Originally Posted by 3dbmcg

I am not a professional but certainly care about quality and aesthetics. I have a project that involves welding 12" square 16ga stainless cubes together. They will be stacked by placing a corner of a cube at the middle of the cube beneath it and so on. Therefore a strong corner and edge of the top cube welded into the "weakest" part of the bottom cube.Obviously I can't get behind the weld to place a heat sink and I am very nervous about warpeage..the stacking of the cubes has to stay uniform. Any suggestions? Tig or mig? I was hoping to use mig as I am just starting tig and there are 24 Cubes! Any help would be great. I have a Miller0 211 no pulse and an AHP 201xd tig w pulse. Really appreciate any advice. I've been staring at the cubes too long. I actually tried some space age adhesive but its thickness for was an issue in and of itself and I am concered as the cube assembly will be outdoors and I worry about expansion/contraction.The group's wisdom would be welcomed!
Reply:Yes ,you can put chill bars behind the first eight welds, the last four you can put chill bars on the outside. I like to use aluminum on stainless sheet metal. No matter what process you use you will have to skip weld around, and let cool. Is your fit up really really tight, if so you can set your tig machine to high frequency pulse(DC 200hz,background 50%), and just fusion weld the edges like on sanitary pipe. You will need to experiment with your settings on some sample metal. MIG is possible too, tri mix is recommended for 304,316 short circuit, ,030" 304lsi would be my choice. I have had better results with.030" than with .023" personally , someone else may have a different result. If you do use mig because you have so many linear inches of weld (it it is possible to get a good result) you will need to protect the rest of the cube from the spatter. This could be done by using angle aluminum clamped to the joint to create a valley for the weld, and spatter to be directed away from the clean metal on the cube face.What type of finish are you looking for ? Will you be sanding / grinding them for appearance? Brushed, or polished, are you going for the illusion of a solid cube  ? On a final note, if you do decide to mig weld stainless , be sure to use proper safety gear like a real respirator. and fume extraction. MIG welding(even low amperage)ding  releases significant amounts of toxins ( hexavalent chromium) so please be aware, low amperage TIG welding doesn't create very much. Good luck (pics are appreciated)Airco 250 ac/dc Heliwelder Square waveMiller Synchrowave 180 sdMiller Econo Twin HFLincoln 210 MPDayton 225 ac/dcVictor torchesSnap-On YA-212Lotos Cut60DPrimeweld 225 ac/dcPrimeweld mig180Miller AEAD-200
Reply:Oh, Just occurred to me 2 minutes after I posted. Why 16 gauge ? It would be much easier if you used 10 or 11 gauge . Or are the cubes already made ?Airco 250 ac/dc Heliwelder Square waveMiller Synchrowave 180 sdMiller Econo Twin HFLincoln 210 MPDayton 225 ac/dcVictor torchesSnap-On YA-212Lotos Cut60DPrimeweld 225 ac/dcPrimeweld mig180Miller AEAD-200
Reply:Might get warpage from the weight of one on the other.  How bout screws welded onThe corner and Rivinuts in the flat surface.  Good luck.  It’s stainless too.  Good luck, again.
Reply:

Originally Posted by tapwelder

Might get warpage from the weight of one on the other.  How bout screws welded onThe corner and Rivinuts in the flat surface.  Good luck.  It’s stainless too.  Good luck, again.