Getting Started

[bearcat6973]

Hello,

Just finished up a community education class and as a class finishing project built a welding table. I found my welder on craigslist and am going to start with my little projects. I found a MM 211 package for a good price and am looking to build a brew stand and smoker to start. I am wanting to learn more about stainless MIG procedures and metallurgy- so point me in the right direct please gentlemen. I plan to weld some ferrules onto a SS keg for homebrew in the near future and realize TIG would be probably best but I am going to MIG the connection since I don't have a TIG yet. So in search of the property wire/ gas combination.

Thanks

Bearcat.

The table I made is 30x60 with an adjustable shelve and adjustable legs and plan to add a vise on the 1/4" sheet end.

[DSW]

Hello. There have been any number of threads here on SS mig. One thing you will have to do is protect the back of your weld from exposure to the air. Take a look at pict 3 in this thread. It shows what happens to the back of an unprotected weld on thin SS. Usually you shield the back of the weld by purging the weld area with argon to remove the oxygen, though there are fluxes that can be used instead. The problem with the fluxes is that they can be hard to remove afterwords if you can't get access to the back of the joint, so pipe and sealed containers are usually done with gas.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=112251&highlight=stainless

A few search terms that might help. Back gas, purging, Sugaring ( what the 3rd pict shows, Sanitary welds, Stainless mig,...

You'll find any number of threads on brew stands an kettles here as well to look at.


You might want to post this in the General questions area or the mig area. Not a lot of guys look at the intro section and you'll probably get more responses there if you ask a question there on building a brew stand with SS mig.

[bearcat6973]

thanks for the link I will start reading. Just wanted to introduce myself and my goals for the short term.

[Bistineau]

Since you have a welding table already, you might want to give some thought to doing what I and many others have done. That is, adding receiver hitch set ups to the table for adding and removing accessories as needed. Here's what I did weldingweb.com/showthread.php?t=88711 this is a lot more handy to have than mounting your vice to the table. You can install and remove it easily as needed, so you have full use of the top when you don't need a vice and only takes a couple of seconds to put it on for use. You can use this set up for any number of tools that are normally bench mounted without having any of them mounted permanently. They can also be used in a receiver hitch on your truck if you work somewhere that you don't have the weld table with you. This link does not seem to be working, but you can type it into your browser or use the search function and look for "welding table additions". You will probably appreciate having your vice and other equipment mounted in this way.