wood burning camp stove

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hey guys ,i'm new here and i have a question about welding blak iron to stainless...i have an old beer keg that was once a very productive still....now that i'm old and have kids we do a lot of camping,and i would like to turn my keg/still into a camp stove...my question is ,can i weld ss, with a reg wire feed for mild steal on the inside without any real problems ..i know i can do it i was just wondering about welds breaking under about 600-800 deg ..i will tig the outside to make nice, but am not good enough to do inside through a 10x10 hole with a tig ...the reason for this is i have an old powcon tig converter and my brother has a really nice miller wire feed.and ss flux core is more expensive than a store bought stove...thanx for any input guy s      fly... P.S...you guys need welder smilies
Reply:Welcome to the forum.Most kegs I have seen are alum but some might be SS. I don't drink enough to need a keg!You can weld SS (300 series) to mild steel with no problems with standard wire. When you say "black iron", I assume that you want to use plumbing pipe. The pipe is steel, the fittings may or may not be depending on the supplier. Most are either cast iron or cast steel. It's hard to tell the difference by looking. If you grind the fitting and see short red sparks its most likely iron. There are chances that the iron will crack as it cools from the weld. The fire heat most likely won't be enough to cause problems.You don't say how you plan to build this so I can't make any recommendations on how to avoid the pipe fittings.Tom37 asked some questions not long ago about some fire pits he is building for the Scouts.http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=20819Take a look at that and see if some of this may help.Good luck and be sure and post some picts as you go along so we can all see.
Reply:Braze it and you should have no problems unless you plan on getting your stove really hot.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:i dont need fittings, i'm welding ss to ss (in canada ,any food eqip must be food grade ss)...i am welding some ribs on the inside and want to weld rebar in the bottom for the wood to sit on ,i want to use my brothers wire feed to do it .we have done it before in our shop ,i was wondering about heat on two pcs of ss welded together by reular wire feed ( the concequences)also if i cant get a 1/8 plate of ss for the top ,i will use 10 ga mild steal ,the vent is not stove pipe but 24 ga c-venting,as i am in the sheet metal biz and this stove will not be used indoors i am trying to convert this keg as cheeply as possible useing the equip in my first post ,i am going to do it ,i just wanted to know how long the weld will last .....thanx guys
Reply:For your use, it should not be a problem as long as the SS can be welded. Some SS, specifically the 400 series SS, can not be easily welded even with SS wire. If the SS has been welded before, you should be able to weld it with standard wire and have it hold together in your application.You may have some problems welding the rebar, as rebar is often made on misc. scrap. It is not uncommon to have porous welds on this kind of crappy metal. Some seems to be ok and other stuff wont weld  well at all.Last edited by DSW; 04-27-2008 at 10:24 PM.
Reply:hey dsw  thanx for the heads up on the rebar, i'll scoop some 3/4 shaft bar from work..as for welding ,i've done lots on this can in the past ,it has a 12 '' high 6'' dia with a 4'' insde  that as a primary condensor wth a 120 deg  6'' to 1 1/2'' ss elbow to a 1 1/2'' pipe with a 3'' pipe over it as a secondary condensor all hand made fittings ...like i said in a previos post, a very productive still,after the cost of fab it cost 20$ canadian to make 5gal  50% rum ,or whisky...i hate to see it go but i dont want my kids to get hold of er...i havent payd for booze n many yrs ,took a few batches to get the recipe rght  any ways enough of the past .......if i cant get a 1/8 plate for the top  i will use 14 or 16 ga.ss .and weld a 1/8 mild steal plate to the under side with some plug welds to stop warping and we can cook on it ,and every time we use our beer keg stove i'll think of its hstory thanx for all the help guys
Reply:Originally Posted by flychuckerhey dsw  thanx for the heads up on the rebar, i'll scoop some 3/4 shaft bar from work..as for welding ,i've done lots on this can in the past ,it has a 12 '' high 6'' dia with a 4'' insde  that as a primary condensor wth a 120 deg  6'' to 1 1/2'' ss elbow to a 1 1/2'' pipe with a 3'' pipe over it as a secondary condensor all hand made fittings ...like i said in a previos post, a very productive still,after the cost of fab it cost 20$ canadian to make 5gal  50% rum ,or whisky...i hate to see it go but i dont want my kids to get hold of er...i havent payd for booze n many yrs ,took a few batches to get the recipe rght  any ways enough of the past .......if i cant get a 1/8 plate for the top  i will use 14 or 16 ga.ss .and weld a 1/8 mild steal plate to the under side with some plug welds to stop warping and we can cook on it ,and every time we use our beer keg stove i'll think of its hstory thanx for all the help guys