Stainless sheet butt joint

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Hi,I'm knew to this forum. I've been TIG welding for about 2 years now and I love it. I work mainly with stainless steel 304 sheet from 24ga to 14ga thickness. I am reasonably comfortable with most stainless welding except for the dreaded "Butt Joint"!!!! I fabricate s/s countertops and at times I require a butt joint seam in my tops. I've talked with experienced welders locally and am still unable to find a process that looks great. I've seen some butt joint seams in countertops made of 18 or 16ga s/s sheet on display and it amazes me how flat the finished seam area is. I've tried the following techniques:- I use a .040 or 1/16 tungsten, 40amps, argon backed, aluminum chill blocks clamped on.- Method 1: tacking top and bottom, then filler welding on top.- Method 2: tacking top side at one end and leaving a gap at the other end, then filler welding continuous top side- Grind weld area with 4 1/2" 100 grit disc, followed by scotchbrite discs to match grain.End result is not bad, but still detectable by touch and sight.Can some experienced welders offer some advice? I'm desperate to master this.ThanksLast edited by rapidross; 02-28-2006 at 01:00 AM.
Reply:Friction weld?
Reply:Rapid,interesting question, I don't have experience with this, but am also interested in how thin SS sheet such as a counter top could be butt welded.I know seam welding equipment securely clamps both sides of the joint and provides chilling and backside shielding, similar to what you have tried.  I wonder if the major difference between the your manual process and the seam welding machine would be the the machine could travel very fast and weld with minimum heat input.Look forward to hearing more about your progess, hope to see some photos also.Thanks
Reply:RapidrosYou are doing the process the right way. You will always feel the slight deveation in the metal.  That's OKKen
Reply:Thanks for the info guys. Any tricks you know of to flatten out minor distortions? I've tried the hammer and dolly but it's easy to damage the thin sheet further if you not extremely careful.