waddiejohn Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 A friend of mine wanted me to put half cock notches on a set of Ruger New Model Vaqueros in Stainless Steel for his mounted shooting competition revolvers. To do this one must weld up certain parts and machine or file them to a different configuration. I TIG'd up the hammers using a 3 1/2% Nickel Steel rod. The flow of the weld puddle was not as good as i'd have liked, but I put the parts in the mill and machined them to the configuration I wanted and decided they were acceptable, but could have looked better. Next was the cylinder latch. It would be more difficult for me given the way this rod flowed. I finally got the part to "pretty good" but not what I'd like. I have a day job at a high tech company as a machinist and the plumber there is always welding up S.S. tube and pipe. I notice that he used 316L and asked him about it. He said it was all he used for stainless or welding dissimilar metals and gave me a piece to try. He made a believer out of me. I welded a piece of flat spring raw material to the thinest portion of the cylinder latch. Approximately .050"x.100" and that metal flowed exactly the way I wanted it to flow. There were no hollows where the weld began and ended and the part came out beautiful. I don't know if this will help anyone out there, but it might. give it a try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay28 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 316l filler wire is for welding stainless, is a higher grade than 304. 309L filler wire is for welding disimilar metals, that what I use anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddiejohn Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Well, like I said, In this case at least the 316L worked great on high carbon steel welded to stainless. The guy that put me onto this worked for a big name mechanical contractor locally and said that was about all they used on their stainles plumbing systems and welding dissimilar metals. I'm not saying it's the only thing out there, just that I'm very happy with the results. Happy welding, WJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 316 stainless has molybdenum added to improve resistance to chloride ion pitting (primarily in marine applications) and increase high temperature strength. 316L filler is a low carbon filler specific for welding 316 steels. It can be used to weld any austenitic stainless steel but be careful welding steels that already have a medium to high molydbenum content. That additional moly from 316L will cause HAZ cracking. ER316LSi is another option that has silicon added to better work with dirty stainless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNkEyT88 Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I use ER316L fill rod at my house. When I build my chrome-moly tubing lower control arms. (4130) The correct fill rod to use is ER70S-2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddiejohn Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thank you John and Monkey. That's good info for me. Modern gun steel as you know is Chrome Moly and I sure don't need to induce fractures. What is HAZ? I've never heard the term. I've been living in the sticks too long I suppose. The 3 1/2% Nickel is suppose to be great for guns and blues nicely. I've not tried bluing it yet but will try that soon. Thanks again, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 HAZ is Heat Affected Zone and is generally the area of parent metal adjacent to the weld bead and the weld bead itself. With stainless welding the area around the weld is more susceptible to cracking/corrosion then the weld itself due to carbide precipitation - where chromium carbide forms along the grain boundaries. The "L" in 316L means low carbon and reduces the chances of carbide precipitation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 When I build my chrome-moly tubing lower control arms. (4130) The correct fill rod to use is ER70S-2 ER80S-2 if you are stress relieving after welding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waddiejohn Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 John, I think you should write a book. You are a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 The book has already been written, way back in 1933: http://www.amazon.com/Procedure-Handbook-Welding-Fourteenth-14th/dp/B000FBCQ4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1232570450&sr=8-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHO-Z Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 The L series SS rods were developed for the Nuclear industry at Hanford Washington for welding SS piping systems. It runs cleaner and flows better. Learned this when I worked there about 20 years ago. Also 316L stainless does not loose as much of its yield strength at higher temperatures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNkEyT88 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 ER80S-2 if you are stress relieving after welding. I was originally going to use ER80S-2, but I read somewhere on the internets that ER70S-2 was better if the end product isn't getting heat treated. I'd rather use a stronger fill rod. Scratch my earlier comment, I will use ER80S-2 because you cant believe everything you read on the internets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 Scratch my earlier comment, I will use ER80S-2 because you cant believe everything you read on the internets! Except you just read my recommendation on the Internet... Go to either the Lincoln or Miller web sites and search their knowledge bases. You can also buy this book from Aircraft Tech: http://www.actechbooks.com/products/act622/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNkEyT88 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Except you just read my recommendation on the Internet... Go to either the Lincoln or Miller web sites and search their knowledge bases. You can also buy this book from Aircraft Tech: http://www.actechbooks.com/products/act622/ It's funny, that book is endorsed by the "EAA", which is based in the city I live in. What a small world. LOL Anyway, I bought it online, lol, I could of gone to the EAA museum and bought it. Hopefully it will give me some good tricks for working with tubing. I've actually met one of the authors. He has some cool planes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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