welding stainless (304)

[rudy]

i need to know what rod to use when welding 304 stainless steel. this is the first time that i had to make the call. its usually done by my boss.

[Banzaitoyota]

I use 308L(or is it 309?) wire in my HH135 with Tri-mix, havent done SS with the HH175 yet. Someone with LOADS more experience will jump in here and correct my amatuer butt

308L is fine, 309 is for welding stainless to mild steel.

I finally found the link to a chart for filler selection:

http://www.jwharris.com/welref/techg.../filler_metal/

and here is the procedure for welding stainless:

http://www.jwharris.com/welref/procs/stainless/

[Engloid]

As mentioned above, 308 is fine for 304 to 304.
309 wire for 304 or 316 to carbon steel.
316 for welding 316 to 316 or 304.

If it's not a govt job or anything, you may want to go ahead and get 316, as it will also work fine if you get some higher grade stainless down the road, but will still do fine on the lower grades or welding to carbon steel.

Personally, if I have to weld stainless mig (especially if I can move the stuff to weld flat), you really can't beat fluxcore wire and pure C02. It's best welded with wire angle straight in or slightly backward, dragging constant or a little oscillation. You really don't want to oscillate much though.