Regular steel with stainless rod

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Friend of mine gave me 10 lbs of stainless rod.... Since the new garage has no 220 in it yet, tonight I had the last straw. I whipped up a bx extension cord, threw it out the window into the yard, plugged in old blue and laid a few beads.I cant believe how cool this stainless rod looked, I might just weld everything possible with that stuff, the colors were amazing, I've seen them before, but it was like seeing a naked lady for the first time again!!!!! Gonna make a bedframe and use the stainless, and grind everything else nice n shiny.Sorry, I'm a big loser, but I had to share my happiness with you all.Miller blue star 2eLincoln 175
Reply:Have you actually tried grinding it yet?  That will prove interesting...
Reply:10 lbs of stainless rod? yeah it looks amazing the color..I don´t know in USA but here in mex stainless rod is very expensive 8Sbtw is Arc rod right? or tig rod?My Babies: HF Drill pressHF Pipe Bender3   4.5" Black and Decker angle grindersLincoln Electric PROMIG 175that´s it!
Reply:There is nothing I hate more than having to repair something someone welded together years ago with stainless!In my work environment, things get broken A LOT. Some guys weld everything with stainless.It makes the next repair job miserable.I've asked my boss more than once to keep the stainless rod under lock and key!Patrick
Reply:I have run into that a few times too, some one welded a mild steel part with stainless.  Usually it was the maintainence department in a mill.  What a pain.  It works and will make good welds.  Just lay it down right the first time. DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Originally Posted by FearcityINCFriend of mine gave me 10 lbs of stainless rod.... Since the new garage has no 220 in it yet, tonight I had the last straw. I whipped up a bx extension cord, threw it out the window into the yard, plugged in old blue and laid a few beads.I cant believe how cool this stainless rod looked, I might just weld everything possible with that stuff, the colors were amazing, I've seen them before, but it was like seeing a naked lady for the first time again!!!!! Gonna make a bedframe and use the stainless, and grind everything else nice n shiny.Sorry, I'm a big loser, but I had to share my happiness with you all.
Reply:Originally Posted by David RI have run into that.....Usually it was the maintenance department in a mill..... David
Reply:The way you guys are casually talking about welding carbon steel (CS) with stainless steel (SS) rod may give the idea that this is totally ok and a neat thing to do, because it looks cool, but we all should be aware that there can be severe metallurgical problems when doing this, and for anything somewhat critical, you should think about whether CS or SS rod is the best choice. Originally Posted by Sober_PollockI don't know why, but the stuff they fix with stainless rod always seems to get broken when they are not there to do it over.....and I end up having to fix it the second or third time around!
Reply:ya i agree with pulser and if you grind all the mill scale off the metals to be weldedbasically to a relective chrome looking finish then weld with steel rod you get the same effect with the colors as long as you use a glass lens.or atleast i do and ive seen people using stainless rod and they end up getting in a rush and burning the stainless rod mid way through the job and have to grind it out so be careful.but all in all it does look good6G zirconium 702 GTAW 2" xxheavy6G P.E.D. carbon steel GTAW 2" xxheavy3G titanium Gr. 2 - Gr. 7 GTAW up to 3/4" 3G 316L stainless GTAW up to 1" 3G carbon steel GTAW up to 1" 3G Hastalloy GTAW up to 3/4"1G tantalum GTAW up to .060"
Reply:Originally Posted by pulserThe way you guys are casually talking about welding carbon steel (CS) with stainless steel (SS) rod may give the idea that this is totally ok and a neat thing to do, because it looks cool, but we all should be aware that there can be severe metallurgical problems when doing this, and for anything somewhat critical, you should think about whether CS or SS rod is the best choice.There may be a very good reason why the repair of carbon steel with stainless steel rod fails, it may be that the wrong SS rod is being used.  The most common SS rods are probably 308 and 316, both of which are NOT suitable for welding of CS because the weld metal chemistry may become easily hardened and brittle, by the formation of martensite, even with a relatively slow air cooling.Type 309 SS is generally the correct choice for dissimilar metal welding because it is rich enough in alloy content, that when mixed with CS in the weld, the chemistry remains austenitic and non-hardenable.  Even 309 SS could give you problems if it diluted in weld with too much carbon steel."Yummmm Beer", "Ohhhh, stainless, that's pretty":  Homer Simpson
Reply:Ok X2 and Tensaiteki tooMy Babies: HF Drill pressHF Pipe Bender3   4.5" Black and Decker angle grindersLincoln Electric PROMIG 175that´s it!
Reply:Havent tried to grind yet...like I said,,,,just screwing around with it, it was arc rod....and no, I will not be building a nuclear battleship intergalactic space invader. Just MESSING AROUNDMiller blue star 2eLincoln 175
Reply:Are you guys talking about tig or stick? Either way, are you saying that you should not use SS filler rod when welding mild steel? Where I work, they only buy 316 filler and 4043 al filler when we have to do aluminum. I tig mostly stainless but sometimes I have to do cold rolled steel and I can't use al rod so I have to use the 316 filler. BTW, we make metal cabinets for labs, hospitals, etc. so it's nothing that is structural or anything.
Reply:It CAN be done, it just isn't the strongest weld and sometimes it can be prone to cracking or other effects, but sometimes also it's just a pretty way to weld mild steel, assuming you don't have to grind it later.Mild steel rod is the BEST weld for mild steel.
Reply:The correct alloy rod/stick/wire to use depends on the alloy being welded and the service conditions the weldment will be exposed to.The are often a few choices that will work OK, there are a few that might be preferred, and there will be many filler alloys that are not right to use with the base materials being welded, for various reasons.   Sometimes the result of using the 'wrong' filler is obvious and instantaneous (using steel filler to try and weld aluminum, or visa versa), but more often the weld may look OK (at first) and then you have a problem later on.  Maybe you had an incorrect stainless filler when you welded some stainless steel together, and the weldment fails later because of corrosion problems, or brittleness problems, or strength problems.  Or it seems to weld OK, and then cracks as it cools.   Maybe you had the incorrect aluminum filler when welding some aluminum together.  It seems to weld together just fine, the puddle flows nicely, the weldment cools and stays together nicely, and then the part goes out for anodizing and all the welds stand out as grey-black areas on an other wise nice weldment.  Doh!  You probably used 4043 filler when you should have used 5356.   Or you weld your aluminum pieces together with 5356, everything looks good, the puddle flowed and wet out nicely, the weldment cooled and no cracking occurred, everything looks good.  The weldment goes out and fails in use, because the service temperature of the weldment is over 150F.  And 5356 filler has elevated temperature usage limits at 150F.  Doh!   Similar issues can occur when welding steel, whether mild steel or low-medium carbon steel or alloy steel or stainless steel.Use the right filler (rod, stick, or wire) for the job!