Stainless steel problems

[Cheesie]

Having problems trying to achieve a better quality weld, I've tried just about everything more dabs less dabs more gas less gas torch angle, tungsten stick out more amps less amps being anal about how clean and prepped the pipe was bigger gas lens smaller gas lens it looks like too much heat input, only thing I haven't tried is a different gas company which is next on the cards, any input good or bad would be great full, next exhaust I do will try autogenious on pulse it's frustrating

 

[Munkul]

What's wrong with that?! Looks pretty bloomin good...
Looks about as good as you can get for regular TIG with a 12 cup and purge... and good amount of heat in the welds, doesn't look too hot or too cold...
How good is your purge? Do you wrap all of the unwelded joints in foil tape before welding? I'd be interested in seeing the inside before judging further.

You could possibly change technique and use a lay wire technique and pulse, but it would be tricky getting the amps just right for penetration as well as the torch angle, more bother than it's worth.
If you wanted less oxidising colour, you'd have to weld inside a purge chamber...

 

[Rrobson]

The question here is what do you think is lacking in quality and what do you want to improve? Looks decent to me…

 

[Cheesie]

The question here is what do you think is lacking in quality and what do you want to improve? Looks decent to me…

I want a colourless weld

 

[Cheesie]

What's wrong with that?! Looks pretty bloomin good...
Looks about as good as you can get for regular TIG with a 12 cup and purge... and good amount of heat in the welds, doesn't look too hot or too cold...
How good is your purge? Do you wrap all of the unwelded joints in foil tape before welding? I'd be interested in seeing the inside before judging further.

You could possibly change technique and use a lay wire technique and pulse, but it would be tricky getting the amps just right for penetration as well as the torch angle, more bother than it's worth.
If you wanted less oxidising colour, you'd have to weld inside a purge chamber...

I'll post a picture when I get home of the inside

 

[Cheesie]

 

[voipio]

I want a colourless weld

Then we're talking about electron beam welding in a vacuum chamber, or a good post-weld clean up with similar abrasive to that used for the weld prep. Is it 100% pure argon?

 

[Munkul]

I want a colourless weld

You won't get colourless unless you either weld extremely cold, or you do it in a purge chamber.

There's a guy on our site who used to work for an exhaust company down south making titanium exhaust parts in purge chambers, it's quite interesting actually. He said they still needed an argon feed through the torch and cup even though they were in an O2 monitored 99.999% argon purge, or it welded funny.

However,

Your pipe purge is not amazing, looking at that pic. It should be shiny as a minimum, and a near-to-perfect purge will give you golden inside welds. This will also help the outside weld a small amount.
If you wanted to do yourself a favour, you'd buy a purge monitor, they aren't cheap but you only need a tiny amount of o2 leaking in to give you that sort of problem. A good purge is harder to achieve than you'd think.

 

[Morrisman]

If anything an unsteady

I want a colourless weld

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that sort of currently trendy pie cutting exhaust without that colouration. As soon as you apply welding heat to stainless you’ll get the colour.

Whatever happened to the days guys would use short bends to make exhausts, without 300’ of welding?

 

[Cheesie]

Maybe I'm just chasing the dragon, first header was worse I learnt of it there are parts that are grey/oxidised I swapped to foot pedal for second header for better heat control welded at around 45-50 amps I had the welder set at 60, 304 pipe but 316 1mm rod all pre cleaned

 

[Munkul]

Whatever happened to the days guys would use short bends to make exhausts, without 300’ of welding?

I don't understand why people want all those pie cuts on standard stainless parts either. It's got to be far more time consuming and therefore expensive, than cutting pre-formed bends, as well as not flowing as nicely either.

 

[Munkul]

Maybe I'm just chasing the dragon, first header was worse I learnt of it there are parts that are grey/oxidised I swapped to foot pedal for second header for better heat control welded at around 45-50 amps I had the welder set at 60, 304 pipe but 316 1mm rod all pre cleaned

I think you are to be honest mate, the quality is very very good as it is, there are a lot of companies producing absolute crap in comparison, and people still buy it.

 

[Cheesie]

If anything an unsteady

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that sort of currently trendy pie cutting exhaust without that colouration. As soon as you apply welding heat to stainless you’ll get the colour.

Whatever happened to the days guys would use short bends to make exhausts, without 300’ of welding?

Not my exhaust not my design lots and lots of time and gas doing pie cuts, give me the opportunity to learn as I've never made anything like it

 

[Brad93]

Check your gas system for leaks. You should have no colour in the inside if purging.

 

[Cheesie]

Check your gas system for leaks. You should have no colour in the inside if purging.

Think you're right I was expecting it to be cleaner

 

[Morrisman]

Not my exhaust not my design lots and lots of time and gas doing pie cuts, give me the opportunity to learn as I've never made anything like it

I dread to think of the end customers price, but if that’s what they want, it gives you plenty of practise.

Win/win.

There’s definitely money to be made in the custom exhaust game.

 

[backpurge]

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, the “Hollywood” welds you sometimes see on YouTube etc may look pretty but are not always the most structurally sound welds.
The discolouration is easily removed with a stainless steel wire brush whilst the weld is still warm or if you want to ensure good anti corrosion properties you can pickle and passivate the weld, Looking at the penetration beads you could do with paying a bit more attention to the residual oxygen content before you start welding

 

[Cheesie]

I dread to think of the end customers price, but if that’s what they want, it gives you plenty of practise.

Win/win.

There’s definitely money to be made in the custom exhaust game.

View attachment 325361

I've kind of tried to move away from making sheet material goods at home because it can be difficult without a guillotine and brake press I'd been using the machines in work, you're right there's definitely a market for one off exhausts intercooler pipework etc

 

[frank horton]

not that long ago I got a quote for £1500 for an exhaust to be made like this ...inc the long horizontal heat sheild....
can't tell u what I said.....!!!!!
will try over here, if it's still stupid will make from one mild steel and get it heat proof painted or just wrap it in that special cloth which is all the rage now....

 

[Cheesie]

View attachment 325401 not that long ago I got a quote for £1500 for an exhaust to be made like this ...inc the long horizontal heat sheild....
can't tell u what I said.....!!!!!
will try over here, if it's still stupid will make from one mild steel and get it heat proof painted or just wrap it in that special cloth which is all the rage now....

Can't really see what going on in that picture, what I made was very very time consuming, I know I'd get faster with experience, I've thought about buying a junk harley engine and frame to keep as a template if there was the work, I know this, the more cuts to form a bend the more cost to the finished product, the owner of this set is talking about a cafe racer Royal Enfield next, for this I reckon I'll get some sort of tube roller and use cut bends, as it is I'd have to charge a fortune for what I've made because of time alone to make it worthwhile