When I had my mig I remember reading that you could weld stainless if you used that wire and also changed the wire liner. I'm definitely going to go down the stick route first I think as its cheap enough to give it a go and see how I get on with itOR-----https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/0-8mm-blister-pack-0-5kg?da=1&TC=GS-010130510
When I had my mig I remember reading that you could weld stainless if you used that wire and also changed the wire liner. I'm definitely going to go down the stick route first I think as its cheap enough to give it a go and see how I get on with it
Just been looking at a couple of small stick welders on eBay that are supplied in a hard case for mobile use, sounds ideal for what I need.
stick welders are ok for med - thick steel 3mm+ not very good for alu tho if your dont know what your doing
I did a lot of welding before becoming an eIectrician, coded to Asme X1 in Tig and Arc and a lower level (BS/EN) for Mig, also did submerged arc welding on machines for pressure vessels
Tig welding isn't that hard really, especially Steel/Stainless, its Aluminium, Titanium and alloys that are tricky , also obviously the thinner the gauge the harder it gets!
On one particular product we used to just use the arc to weld with no rod , this was on 2 x 1.0 mm pieces of steel ie 2 flat sections side by side so the join was between the 2 aligned edges , allowing the arc to melt the steel edges together this was surprisingly strong!
If your thinking about going to commercial premises ie kitchens etc I would say learn to Tig weld as its a lot cleaner than arc welding which is obviously a factor
plus most catering equipment the steel can be quite thin , again more suited to Tig (DC) welding.
Depending on how much welding you anticipate doing, its usually a good idea to pay a bit more and get the next size welder up from the one you think you need, I'm not saying this for the higher current rating but for the duty cycle of the inverter, nothing more frustrating than having to stop halfway and waiting for it to cool down!
Yes previously the guys before me used to stitch Mig weld this product and grind the welds down flush, but they did do a lot of things which made little sense and a lot of their work was worse than agricultural! !!
, but I wasn't keen as the penetration was minimal and the remaining join would split after a short while, plus when you have 10 rows × 50 metres to do on one job its a weeks work, I don't mind hard work but this was senseless!
Using Tig like this gave a really clean tidy finish with 5× the penetration with the Mig and I liked the lack of a weeks work grinding !