Welding Cast Iron to Stainless to Mild with 211 Autoset... yea I know

[bigdmcc]

So I welded a cast iron drum off a big truck of some kind, scrap yard, to a 3/8 or maybe 5/16 stainless steel plate today with .035 mild steel wire and your typical 75/25 gas. I know this is totally wrong. Making a stand for bender/grinder/vise n such. Anyways the first tac cracked and broke upon placing the second weld. Surprisingly though after a few 1-2" beads it went okay. My friend, who is an experienced/trained welder actually ended up turning the heat down to get what he thought was the best possible setup ( I had just cranked it to 10/~80 on the 211 autoset). So I welded the the whole thing because at this point we figured may as well try it out, and it didn't weld good or anything like that but both materials were definitely melting quite well. It has fully cooled off and hasn't cracked, popped or fallen off. I cut about a 10 or 12 inch diameter circle out of the plate with my plasma and grinded to a smooth surface before welding, also prepped the drum quite well to a shiny finish. Anyways next step will be to weld a 3 or 4 or 5 inch steel pipe/tube/whatever is roughly that size at the scrapyard. Probably just gonna go for it as this stainless is quite a pain to drill through. Thoughts on this process? I know it's not ideal but I'm just making a tool stand primarily for my hydraulic bender setup, so there's not going to be a lot of force going through the welds, they just need to hold it together, hopefully. Once again I completely get it that this is the the totally wrong way to go about this and if it were anything structural or load bearing I wouldn't even consider it. After it cooled I smacked it around a bit and it's doing fine.... so I'm just wanting some experts to tell me if they think it will hold well at all. I obviously haven't welded the pipe/tube to the stainless plate yet, can bolt it down if I must but my HSS drills do not like that thick stainless, although they got through it for my circle cutting jig for my plasma. Save yourself the time and don't rip me for doing it wrong, this is the internet I don't care, but any useful tips going forward would be greatly appreciated. Any kind of flux core wire I can grab that will make the mild to stainless weld better, I've considered getting a cylinder of pure argon for welding aluminum, with my miller spool gun, that I haven't used yet, because I haven't desperately needed to weld aluminum.Thanks

[nfinch86]

So I welded a cast iron drum off a big truck of some kind, scrap yard, to a 3/8 or maybe 5/16 stainless steel plate today with .035 mild steel wire and your typical 75/25 gas. I know this is totally wrong. Making a stand for bender/grinder/vise n such. Anyways the first tac cracked and broke upon placing the second weld. Surprisingly though after a few 1-2" beads it went okay. My friend, who is an experienced/trained welder actually ended up turning the heat down to get what he thought was the best possible setup ( I had just cranked it to 10/~80 on the 211 autoset). So I welded the the whole thing because at this point we figured may as well try it out, and it didn't weld good or anything like that but both materials were definitely melting quite well. It has fully cooled off and hasn't cracked, popped or fallen off. I cut about a 10 or 12 inch diameter circle out of the plate with my plasma and grinded to a smooth surface before welding, also prepped the drum quite well to a shiny finish. Anyways next step will be to weld a 3 or 4 or 5 inch steel pipe/tube/whatever is roughly that size at the scrapyard. Probably just gonna go for it as this stainless is quite a pain to drill through. Thoughts on this process? I know it's not ideal but I'm just making a tool stand primarily for my hydraulic bender setup, so there's not going to be a lot of force going through the welds, they just need to hold it together, hopefully. Once again I completely get it that this is the the totally wrong way to go about this and if it were anything structural or load bearing I wouldn't even consider it. After it cooled I smacked it around a bit and it's doing fine.... so I'm just wanting some experts to tell me if they think it will hold well at all. I obviously haven't welded the pipe/tube to the stainless plate yet, can bolt it down if I must but my HSS drills do not like that thick stainless, although they got through it for my circle cutting jig for my plasma. Save yourself the time and don't rip me for doing it wrong, this is the internet I don't care, but any useful tips going forward would be greatly appreciated. Any kind of flux core wire I can grab that will make the mild to stainless weld better, I've considered getting a cylinder of pure argon for welding aluminum, with my miller spool gun, that I haven't used yet, because I haven't desperately needed to weld aluminum.Thanks

Hello;
Well that's a fine mess you have there........ Lol . Just kidding !

To begin with, you can use stainless to weld cast if in a pinch, of course Ni-Rod ( nickel ) is for welding cast iron.
As far as drilling in stainless steel, the best drill bits I've found are Cobalt, more expensive, but they do a great job without burning up .

Good Luck & I hope all goes well for you !

Norm

[Tryagn5]

cobalt-

Hello;
Well that's a fine mess you have there........ Lol . Just kidding !

To begin with, you can use stainless to weld cast if in a pinch, of course Ni-Rod ( nickel ) is for welding cast iron.
As far as drilling in stainless steel, the best drill bits I've found are Cobalt, more expensive, but they do a great job without burning up .

Good Luck & I hope all goes well for you !

Norm

colbalt drill bits drill stainless easily but remember stainless work hardens. So if you overspeed the drill bit and push to hard the stainless will get harder and harder. Simply use a good cutting oil and cut slow with light pressure.
kevin

[bigdmcc]

thanks for the replies guys, i was able to drill it with my hss bits, went nice and slow and had to use my cordless because the plate is too big for my press, so i probably wasnt pushing as hard as I would have with the drill press. It took a few minutes, but the chips were consistent and once I broke the surface it went much better. I just started using anchorlube for my cutting lubricant and I love it, no mess and no waste. I have a friend that purchased a 29 pc cobalt bit set (up to 1/2") from harbor freight for $40 and he is very impressed so far. I'm waiting for him to wear one out so I can sharpen it and see if it cuts good again. If it works, I'm onboard.