Stick Welding Stainless Steel Sheet

So you could weld 304 stainless steel with a 308 or 316 rod wire but you shouldn t weld 316 with a 308 rod wire.

Stick welding stainless steel sheet.

We need to establish what is considered thin metal. Gas metal arc and flux cored arc welding. Typically a 309 or 312 stick electrode is being used. A wire feed or tig welder is ideal for sheet metal but we will assume that you don t have one.

3 3 austenitic stainless steel the austenitic stainless steels contain 16 26 cr 8 24 ni mn up to 0 40 c and small amounts of a few other elements such as mo ti nb cb and ta. The general rule with welding stainless steel is to weld it with either the same grade of welding rod tig wire or mig wire or a higher grade. This is the number one most crucial thing every welder must do before beginning to weld. A 309 or 312 smaw electrode is a good choice for stick welding stainless steel especially for maintenance or repair applications.

To stick weld stainless steel make sure to set amperage low enough so that you get a smooth arc from start to finish. After you are finished welding make sure to clean up the slag with a brush made of stainless steel. Put on your safety gears. E308l 16 is the most commonly used.

The step by step process to weld stainless steel both mig tig welding so now that we have all the pieces in place let s combine them and get the actual job done. 308 and 316 grades of welding rod wire are often modified from the basic alloy. The balance between the cr and ni mn is normally adjusted to provide a microstructure of 90 100. Choosing a electrode to weld stainless steel depends on the grade of stainless steel you are welding here are the two most common stainless steel electrodes.

It offers high cracking resistance and good strength and typically can join stainless steel already in service even if the specific material grade isn t known. The real trick to weld sheet metal is to use a wire feed. Stick smaw stainless steel welding electrode selection choices. Just kidding this tip is to explain how to weld sheet metal with a stick welder.

It is used for welding 304 and 304 grade stainless steel.