stainless smaw

[Scrapman Industries]

just curious how often yall mobile guys gotta break out the stainless stick electrodes for repair work.

[albrightree]

I'm not mobile, but I use stick stainless at least once a month somewhere inside or outside of the facility. I have MIG, and TIG capabilities, but sometimes it doesn't make sense to drag alot of equipment outside on a silo , or inside on a big machine to put in a few inches of weld. You can get some nice looking welds with S/S SMAW , just watch out for the slag popping off the weld on its own. It always seems to pop directly out at my face.

[snoeproe]

That’s one of the great attributes of stick welding, you can break out a couple stainless electrodes, do a quick repair and your back in business. Smaw is fast to switch for welding different materials. No need to swap gas bottles or rolls of wire etc.
I use stainless smaw process when I have to weld stainless. I always have some 309 and 316L electrodes on hand.

[Scrapman Industries]

Thanks. I'm thinking of trying to start my own welding business here soon. like get it up and legit when i get back from deployment. I've done a few things here and there for people and most of its like mobile stick or flux core work. but I was just wondering how most of these mobile guys go about repairing aluminum or stainless. I've done both with the stick welder before but not often. neither was too bad. People said aluminum smaw was like the worst thing they've ever done. personally I didn't find it too terrible, won't be winning any beauty contests with it though. as for stainless i've only ever ran 1 pack of hobart 312's to cover a rust hole with stainless diamond plate on my junk truck so i didn't know how common it was to stick weld stainless. I know alot of guys who tig weld it, but that won't be an option for awhile.

I was also wondering like whats the advantage of using 309 over say 312? i believe 312 has a higher tensile strength so whats the advantage of 309? just trying to do my research now so i can hit the ground running when i get back.

[albrightree]

Electrode selection is determined by several factors, most importantly the metals being welded. This link is for the ESAB electrodes. I'm sure Lincoln, and Hobart have something similar. Mostly I use 308, 309, and sometimes 316. Most of of my work is 304 to 304 (E308-16), 304 to carbon steel (E309-16), and sometimes 316 to 316 (E316-16). I've only used 312 for crack prone repairs with TIG.

" 5.11.0.4Many times, type 310 and 312 electrodes are used erroneously for welding stain-less to mild or low alloy steel. In many cases, not only can more dependable welds be made with 309 electrodes, but appreciable savings can be achieved because of their lower cost. " © COPYRIGHT 2000 THE ESAB GROUP, INC.LESSON V

[albrightree]

Sorry, forgot the link.

Here it is , https://www.esabna.com/euweb/awtc/lesson5_16.htm

Its part of a paper on stainless steel welding, the link is the page about selection of electrodes, hope it helps.

[Scrapman Industries]

thanks one more question i was trying to find info about that i couldnt find on that link. maybe i just skipped past it i dont know, i did read alot on there is how do you tell the difference of grades if your trying to repair something random and the grade isn't stamped or printed on the metal? i know you could hit it with that fancy gun we got at the junk yard, but those things are extremely expensive and i'm not welding titanium and other crazy alloys enough to justify getting one for welding. I know 316 is usually stamped somewhere but what about the others?