Thread: TIG Welding Cast Hollow Bar (CHB)

HI,
I am not sure if Karl is refering to a particular Tig Filler Rod to Weld the CHB with, but I have been wondering if this Filler Wire (ER70S-2) might be more suitable 1.6 CARBON STEEL ER70S-2 (5.0KG) :: Tig Filler Wire :: Bob the Welder . The Tig Filler Rod is suitable for Rusty Material, although the Part is not Rusty as You have Cleaned it. I was just wondering if this might be a more suitable Filler Rod to Weld it with ?.
What Grade of Filler Rod did You use anyway just out of curiousity ?.

Seriously though, I don't know what you were building, but if it is at all critical, ie. could cause damage or injury in the case of failure, then I would be getting an offcut, doing a test weld and then breaking it to check for HAZ cracking and the like.
Sometimes one may get away with applying preheat to the job before welding to alleviate some of the symptoms.
It's all a learning curve and the best of us get caught occasionally, some aluminium grades are definitely not considered weldable as are ferritic stainless steels.

Originally Posted by steran50

HI,
I am not sure if Karl is refering to a particular Tig Filler Rod to Weld the CHB with, but I have been wondering if this Filler Wire (ER70S-2) might be more suitable 1.6#CARBON#STEEL##ER70S-2#(5.0KG)##::#Tig#Filler#Wire#::#Bob#the#Welder . The Tig Filler Rod is suitable for Rusty Material, although the Part is not Rusty as You have Cleaned it. I was just wondering if this might be a more suitable Filler Rod to Weld it with ?.
What Grade of Filler Rod did You use anyway just out of curiousity ?.

'
What I was actually referring to was more the need to use at least an ES2 classified filler wire, (this refers to the Silicon content, and thus the ability to deoxidise), when TIG welding steel, the next most common is ES6, which is even better. Oxy Acetylene Welding can get by with mild steel wire - even fencing wire has been used as the flame and lower travel speed handles troublesome oxides better. The brown, glassy substance found on tig and mig welds and often observed in the molten puddle during welding is actually the silicon from the filler wire.
Rusty material is not really the forte of the tig process and the weld will be prone to porosity if attempted, not to mention the time spent grinding tungstens covered in splatter, (for a really good example, have a go at welding either zincaneal or zincseal sheet).
There was a stick electrode available once, (Sulpharod I seem to remember), that was designed to weld steel with a high sulphur content, both sulphur and phosphorous are considered impurities in steel normally, but sulphur does have the property of improving machinability hence the greater levels found in free machining steels. I am not aware of a tig filler wire that serves this same purpose.
By the way excess sulphur can hinder the galvanising process as I understand it.
If I had to weld this type of component with a TIG, I would use an ES6 filler wire or better and would even try 316L stainless if all else failed, with reference to my earlier post suggesting a destructive weld test in critical applications. On the other hand, if the weld is not particularly stressed or subjected to vibration then it probably matters less.
My first thought though, as it is for most difficult jobs would probably be the good old stick welder with a good low hydrogen electrode. With a Low hydrogen electrode one can handle - Mild steel, High tensile steel, Cast Iron and many machining steels. All while welding outside in the wind if need be.
I wish more people would leave it in their arsenal rather than relegating it to the ranks of obsolete processes.

Re filler rod - I have proper TIG rods. The stainless (which worked the best) is 316L, and I bought it from Bob the Builder. I cant recall the grade of the mild steel but its for TIG welding and is copper coated, I bought it from a welding store here.

Re welding gal - I know what a pain in the ar se that is. I wont go near the stuff.

The part isnt critical. Im making a grain mill for cracking malt (for all grain home brewing). The CHB happened to be close to fit inside the 32mm tube I have plenty of offcuts of from another project. In turn an axle will run through the inner diameter of the CHB. In hindsight, I would have been better off using other material but hey, this is what I had on hand.

Originally Posted by steran50

HI,
I am not sure if Karl is refering to a particular Tig Filler Rod to Weld the CHB with, but I have been wondering if this Filler Wire (ER70S-2) might be more suitable 1.6#CARBON#STEEL##ER70S-2#(5.0KG)##::#Tig#Filler#Wire#::#Bob#the#Welder . The Tig Filler Rod is suitable for Rusty Material, although the Part is not Rusty as You have Cleaned it. I was just wondering if this might be a more suitable Filler Rod to Weld it with ?.
What Grade of Filler Rod did You use anyway just out of curiousity ?.

I had a query about tig filler wire a while ago: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f160/t...-steel-117087/

Since then I've got some er70s-6, s-4 and s-2.

the s-2 does actually seem a bit better if there's some rust around, like welding a tube joint and the welding brings out that orange haze from the inside of a tube from rust that couldn't be ground clean.

the s-6 is my fave and seems to work nicely in most situations.

I haven't tried these with highly machinable steels, but surely one there's a filler out there that's purpose built for Brendon's job??

Cheers

- Mick

Originally Posted by 19brendan81

Does anyone know if CHB is weldable or not? Im intend on welding some to some mild steel tube and noticed when tacking up that it was bubbling and spitting and carrying on an awful lot. Im not sure if I just need to clean up the tube, or whether the CHB is causing the problems. I was using a freshly ground electrode, had plenty of argon and clean filler rods (1020).

Brendan

allow me to introduce myself,,name is daniel,im a retired sheetmetal worker,
you should pre heat the pipe to a low red appearance and weld with stainless filler
if temp lowers too much during welding,,heat again,if it cools too much you will notice cracking.hpe this helps,,regards dan