stainless cage

[fun4now]

silly ???

is the cage going to stay in the truck or do you put it in and out a lot??

was just thinking maybe you could unbolt the back of the truck bed cap slip in the cage and rebolt the cap.this could get old if you put it in and out a lot, but if it stay's in there it would keep you from having to alter it at all.

[wrench3047]

The cage is only put in the back of the truck for trips (once a month to 6 weeks). Once we get to the inlaws place we put in the garage to keep the dog from jumping on the doors when he decides to wakeup at 4. The most it stays in the truck is about 6hrs.

[fun4now]

MIG it

sounds like you get to play with the MIG

[HAWK]

The dog cages I have seen like that are zinc plated, and yours doesn't look like SS to me either. Will a magnet stick to it? If so then, odds are it is plated steel and you can weld it with flux core MIG.

Walker,

This is true of 300 series stainless steels. In the annealed state the 300 series (303, 304, 310, 316) will show little if any response to a magnet. Most other stainless steels are responsive to magnetic fields. Also 303 and 304 can respond to a magnet if it is cold worked rather than annealed.

In most cases the annealed grades of 304 and 316 are commonly seen and the magnet trick should be reliable.

[walker]

Hawk, I realized that, which is why I said "odds are it is plated steel". It is just one more tool to help narrow down the list. The rust is also a good indicator, but stainless will rust too, so that is not always reliable either.

[HAWK]

Walker,

I am sorry my post came out wrong. I figured you knew the scoop, but was posting for general information on the board. I was thinking back to a job I had a few years ago where nobody was familiar with the base metal. It passed the magnet test, but looked like stainless steel. After a call to the manufacturer it turn out to be a 400 grade stainless. The stainless was mainly cosmetic and the cheaper 400 series(containing no nickel) was used to make the product.

[BCarlucci]

Hey guys,

Even if it is S/S or Steel, there are stupid welding rods that can be used when the Base metal is not know, for example MG600 - i used it on a base metal that i thought was steel and using my normal 7018 rod kept coming out pot holed, so i grabed the 600 and it welded fine, come to find out it was S/S not sure what series of S/S it was. but it worked on the demo i was doing and the guy bought 2 lbs of it. It's a little pricey but when you don't know what the metal is it worked great.

BC

[wrench3047]

update

today I finally got back to the cage. I believe the cage is stainless steel. I found the webpage of the manufactor and all there products except the wicker one was stainless. when I started working on the cage I realized there was an almost white oxidation on the metal. when I cleaned a part of it, it did look like stainless. Almost done in just this afternoon. First thing I tried was 1/16" 6013 I had hiding in the corner. It worked but after four tacks it was time to change the rod, so I switched to flux core to see how well that worked. I did the rest of that side and the two others that needed the mod each differently. I did have trouble trying to get the settings right with FCAW. The horizontal rounds are 3/16 and the verticals are 1/8. When I got to one I didn't leave extra 1/8 round hanging past the point of the tack I melted it away. Did it on about 5 of them. Had to build it back up with the wire, let it cool, 1 sec of trigger then cool or I would melt it back. When I turn the setting down absolutly no pentration. The wire brush knocked the weld I put on. I did on the last side figure out the way to do it fairly well just have to go back and grind away the extra 1/8 round I left hanging off to help absorb the heat. To rap up the long story the flux core worked, I learned a little bit about working with small dia round stock, AND I think I will finally finish a welding project at home this decade. THANK YOU and I will post pic tommorrow.

[wrench3047]

Last update on the cage I finished it today. Thank you for the help. It worked well. Has anyone worked with 1/8 and or 3/16 rod before. After I removed it, it was just a little less than straight. I didn't think about it at first and clamped it in two spot and welded. When it was done one end was about 3/16 difference at one end from the other. Would ya'll just have tack adjusted tack adjusted to the end or clamped the heck out of it and welded. Just curious. Thanks again.
ps my son still fits in it oh yeah the dog too
pps my son finally wanted to help past the 2 min normal he says the arc on the mig looks like parachutes

[dyn88]

my freind takes his kid around town the same way. LOL HAHAHAHAHA i kill myself im tellin you

[Terence638]

You had us all believing that the cage was fro your dog...This changes things. LOL

[wrench3047]

Don't call child services on me. I showed yall in confidence. LMAO

[dyn88]

your secret is safe with us.