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Stainless filler

1143 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by TortugaTonta, Jun 21, 2009

TortugaTonta

Discussion Starter · Jun 18, 2009

Sorry if the topic has been brought up before. . .

Any thoughts on using stainless wire for tig welding?

I have been using er80sd-2 with no problems but the other thread about stainless tubes reminded me of a friend that used stainless wire because he felt that it melted at lower temperatures and made it easier to tig thinner wall material (he built mostly road bikes).

Good idea, bad idea, anyone doing it, have you tried it??

I tried it and it seemed the puddle flowed at lower temperatures, seemed being the key word, I have no way of knowing positively.

Edited to clarify: stainless wire with nonstainless tubes

My other thought is that since I don't build a whole lot of bikes the wire itself would be more "stable" over time, not corroding or corroding less I should say.

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Walt

· #2 · Jun 18, 2009

880t

Many TIG guys (including me) are using the Weld-Mold 880t. It works well for joining non-stainless tubes, as well as joining stainless (dropouts, or whatever) to non-stainless. Nice mechanical properties too, according to smart enginerds like DWF.

Downside is it can be hard to source and it's pricey. I buy big 10# tubes direct from Weld-Mold - if you need a pound or two, give me a call or email.

-Walt

TortugaTonta said:
Sorry if the topic has been brought up before. . .

Any thoughts on using stainless wire for tig welding?

I have been using er80sd-2 with no problems but the other thread about stainless tubes reminded me of a friend that used stainless wire because he felt that it melted at lower temperatures and made it easier to tig thinner wall material (he built mostly road bikes).

Good idea, bad idea, anyone doing it, have you tried it??

I tried it and it seemed the puddle flowed at lower temperatures, seemed being the key word, I have no way of knowing positively.

Edited to clarify: stainless wire with nonstainless tubes

My other thought is that since I don't build a whole lot of bikes the wire itself would be more "stable" over time, not corroding or corroding less I should say.

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jay_ntwr

· #3 · Jun 18, 2009

Walt said:
Many TIG guys (including me) are using the Weld-Mold 880t.

Ah ha! That's what I'm using on mine. Someone asked me and I said, "I dunno, it's what Walt uses."

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TortugaTonta

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 18, 2009

Outstanding, thanks for the offer.

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dbohemian

· #5 · Jun 18, 2009

I sell it 880T pound at a time on my website.

http://www.bohemianbicycles.com/tchotchke.html

Dave Bohm

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BeatAFool

· #6 · Jun 19, 2009

I saw this the other day. http://www.cumberlandenterprises.com/inv_weldingtools.htm

they have 880 listed for $1.50 a pound??? I have to believe I'm not reading it right or it's a misprint.

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dbohemian

· #7 · Jun 19, 2009

BeatAFool said:
I saw this the other day. http://www.cumberlandenterprises.com/inv_weldingtools.htm

they have 880 listed for $1.50 a pound??? I have to believe I'm not reading it right or it's a misprint.

Yeah, that is an awesome price but that diameter is huge. We are not welding oil pipelines. 5/32nds.

Dave B

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kampgnar

· #8 · Jun 19, 2009

dbohemian said:
Yeah, that is an awesome price but that diameter is huge. We are not welding oil pipelines. 5/32nds.

Dave B

Turn it to size on the lathe for that price.

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Cracked Headtube

· #9 · Jun 19, 2009

DB- I just ordered some, thank you for offering it and making ordering SO easy.

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TortugaTonta

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 20, 2009

I'm glad I asked your opinions on this one. I played around with some stainless I had laying around and I'm real happy with the results, its a little different rythem with the pedal, a faster rythem I guess. At first I was overfeeding the filler and getting beads that looked more like aluminum than steel

but I got the feel after a little.

I tried something else today. I'm sure you guys have a system you use and are happy with but I was allways disapointed in the precision of the usuall bi-metal hole saws. I was allways curious about trying annular cutters for their precision but was afraid of how aggresive the teeth are. Well I picked one up off of ebay for cheap and decided to give it a whirl. I used a painfully slow feed rate but was able to get zero gap miters with no touch up. One problem I have had with hole saws is doing pierced down tubes (I know, you guys will never use a 1 3/4" down tube) you would end up with a 1 9/16" hole instead of a 1 1/2" hole because of the wobble of the cutter. Well the annular cutter gave me an incredabley precise hole.

Check it out. . .

Thats a 1.5" tube going directly through a 2" tube and it is equally tight all the way around both sides, I could never get those results with a bi-metal hole saw. :thumbsup:

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Rody

· #11 · Jun 20, 2009

Holesaws are still superior for the bredth of mitering use, just gotta know how to prepare them...

- chuck the hole saw in the lathe, arbor wall out and face it flat

- thread in a oversized arbor (like a paragon), re-chuck and turn down the sides of the holesaw so all is tight and round

miter true tight holes at will...the only thing holding you back will be your skill during set up.

FWIW, I use 2" downtubes, so I understand your necessity for accurate tooling.

Back on topic, 880 kicks arse :thumbsup:

cheers,

rody

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BeatAFool

· #12 · Jun 20, 2009

Yeah, that is an awesome price but that diameter is huge. We are not welding oil pipelines. 5/32nds.

It's worth a call to see if they have smaller diameter.

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18bikes

· #13 · Jun 21, 2009

regarding truing holesaws, what type of lathe tool are you using? i have tried this and have trouble on the teeth, the rest of the holesaw is no problem, maybe i have speeds/feeds wrong but the teeth seem to just cut the lathe tool, i always face the back of the holesaw, seems to make a big difference and seems to make them easier to remove from my experience

regarding filler i recently changed to stainless filler, not 880 as i couldn't find it over here, but it made a massive difference!

matt

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TortugaTonta

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 21, 2009

You really don't want to cut or "true" the teeth, they are supposed to have a certain angle of cut to provide the kerf of the rest of the hole saw. Being that they are not a fluted cutter they need that wider kerf to prevent binding.

Not trying to spam and I have no affiliation, here is the cutter I bought. . .

http://cgi.ebay.com/Champion-RotoBr...66:2|39:1|72:1205|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

Note that it is a 3/4" shank on those annular cutters. I am using a small mill with a r-8 taper so it is not a problem, on a drill press you would need to make some type of adapter that would probably loose a lot of the ridgitity and precision of the cutter.

Like I said, most of you will have a system you are happy with, otherwise this might be worth a try for you, just remember, very slow feed rate, preferably with the bed and not the quill.

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