Electrode, Filler & Gas Selections

[Toysrme]

Aint seen ne1 post one so I figured I'd write one real quick.
SMAW (Stick)
Carbon Steels:

• E6010, Run DCEP. Flat beads, deep penetration, common & cheap, good on poor preparation. Good for root passes, especially on pipe.
• E7018, Run DCEP or AC. Low-hydrogen, great for fill / cap passes, low skill involved, high quality welds.

Stainless Steels:

• 301-305 to 301-305 Stainless steels use E308-XX
• 301-305 Stainless to non-stainless steels use E309-XX
• 316 Stainless steel use E316-XX
• 321 & 347 Stainless steels use E347-XX

XX denotes -15, or -18 (EX: E308-15)
-15 runs DCEP & is easier out of position
-18 runs DCEP and AC. Has less arc blow & good for thicker metals.

Cast Iron:

• #55 (EniFeCl), stronger, less ductil & cheaper.
• #99 (ENiCl) high nickel, easier to weld

Pre-heat to 350*F, maintain 350-600*F between weld passes. Post heat, and insulating (sand / blanket / dirt) is recommended. Once welded, do not disturb for 48 hours.
I do not recommend welding turbo manifolds. Because the nickle will expand much more than the cast iron under excessive temperatures, it will eventually crack. (The best way I know to weld an exhaust manifold successfully is oxy-fuel / tig with a real cast iron filler.)

Aluminum:
E4043
I do not recommend. Requires too much experience, not enough common selection of rods.

GMAW (mig), and GTAW (tig) wire / filler
Carbon Steels:

• ER70S-2, Easy to weld all positions, most common, least cost. use C25 gas.
• ER70S-6, Most resilient to mill scale & rust, use C02 & higher currents.
• ER70S-A1, Even more expensive. Addition of Moly increases weld strength & corrosion resistance at high temperature.

Stainless Steels:

• For 301-305 to 301-305 stainless steels use ER308, or ER308H. The higher carbon content of ER308H rods increass strength at high temperature.
• For 301-305 stainless steels to carbon steel forgings use ER307.
• For 301-305 stainless steels to carbon steel castings, and general mild carbon steel use ER307, or ER309. 307 is stronger at high temperature, 309 is more resistant to corrosion.
• For 316 stainless steels use ER316, or ER316H. The higher carbon content of ER316H rods increass strength at high temperature.
• For 321 stainless steels use ER321 or ER347
• For 347 stainless steels use ER347

Aluminum
ER4043, ER4145, ER5356 are common.
Please consult a chart for the correct choice.

FCAW (flux-core, wire feed. sex welds)
Carbon Steels:

• ER71T-1M, DCEP. All position (no downhill), cheap, dual-shielded requiring C25 shielding gas, multi-pass is OK when flux is cleaned.
• ER71T-7, DCEN. All position (no downhill), cheap, no shielding gas, multi-pass is OK when flux is cleaned.
• ER71T-9, DCEN. ALl position (no downhill), cheap, dual-shielded requiring CO2 shielding gas. multi-pass is OK when flux is cleaned.
  ER71T-13, DCEN. All position (no downhill), cheap, no shielding gas, single pass only. If you have a chinese welder, or are welding under atleast 180amps. This is the flux-core wire you want to buy.

Note. All non-EXXX-13 FCAW welding is done in spray transfer. HF/chinese buzz-boxes can not achieve the current & voltage needed for spray transfer. They should be avoided at the gross amount of inclusions in the weld if weld quality is a concern. If you are using one... To get a quality weld you must use ERXXT-13 wire, and it can-not be multi-passed.

GMAW (mig) gas selections!
Short Circuit (low currents & voltage ranges). Primarily small boxes.
Carbon Steels use C25. High speeds, minimum spatter & distortion. Good apperance. Good control out of position. And virtually eliminates undercut if you're remotely in the ballpark of correct welding angles.
Stainless Steels use a tri-mix. 90% Helium, 7.5% Argon, 2.5% C02. No effect on corrosion resistance, minimal distortion. Good apperance, virtually no undercutting, small heat aaffected zone.
Aluminum use pure argon on sheet metal and, 75-25 mix of argon & helium on 1/8" and greater.

Spray transfer (high currents & voltage ranges)
Carbon Steels use argon + 3-5% oxygen. Improves arc stability, easily controlled weld puddle, nice bead, minimizes undercutting. Higher speed welding than pure argon.
Stainless steels use 99-98% argon, 1-2% oxygen. Use 9822 for thinner steels. Use 99-1 for thick steel.
Aluminum use pure argon for the least spatter. Use 65-35 argon-helium, and 75-25 helium-argon when even higher heat input is required.
Higher weld currents need more flow rates. For short circuit typically 10-15 CFH is good. For spray transfer 15-40CFH is typical, helium mixtures may require 40-50 CFH as it's lighter than air.

GTAW (tig) gas & electrodes!
Don't be a dork. Use 100% argon, or a helium mixture for DCEP & aluminum welding. 15-20CFH with argon. 30-50CFH for helium mixes. If using a large cup (#8+), or a gas-lens the CFH requirement may be half of normal; all things depending. 10-15CFH.

• 2% thoriated (red) for DCEN steels, grinding dust is radioactive, but longest useable life
• 2% ceriated (orange) for DCEN steels and AC welding on inverter units, not radioative.
• 1-1.5-2% lanthanated (black, gold, blue) for DCEN steels. not radioative.
• Pure tungstens (green) for AC welding on transformer units.
• Zirconiated (brown) for AC xray **** you'll never do.

Any corrections, suggestions, additions, go for it!

 

[Treynon]

Thanks Toysrme I was looking up information about 321 stainless and got it here. I do have a question though, what filler would you use for welding 321 stainless to 304 in case one couldn't get a hold of a 321 stainless collector? ER308H?

 

[cjsupra90]

Finding 321 filler is almost impossible. 321 is a stabilized Use 347 filler. A simple way to go-by when it comes to SS to SS welds is to use equal or higher grade filler then the highest grade base / parent metals that you are using.

 

[cjsupra90]

sorry, internet problems during my last post and the B.S. 5min edit time limit was up. Please refer to this one.

What I was trying to say was use 347 filler for joining 321 to 304. 321 filler is pretty much impossible to find. The reason behind this is because 321 is a stabilized grade of SS and uses Titanium to stabilize the Chromium. The Ti is lost (basically evaporates) at the weldment during the welding process and there for allows carbide precipitation to accure. 347 on the other hand is also a stabilized grade, but uses columbium to stabilize the chromium and it is not lost like the Ti is. An easy way to go about choosing fill when welding SS to SS is to always use a higher grade filler then the highest grade base / parent metal that you are using.

On a different note, an admin that might read this, I love the site, but think that the 5min edit thing is a bunch of B.S. Sorry, but it is my oppinion. Also, if you want to delete my 1st post in this thread, please feel free to do so.

 

[vvega]

I use mg600 series for all dissimilar welding
TBH if it wasn't such a expensive rod .. id weld everything with it