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[walter]

what title says, i usually use wire whell brush...

[turbob16hatch]

to polish ss when i weld it i use 3m red surface conditioning pads. they can be found at any welding supply store thats worth a shit. And for things like cleaning welds in between passes, etc.... i use a simple wire wheel.

If my material is dirty, or has some left over lube from bending acetone works great for cleaning it.

[Corey]

i wipe everything down with acetone before welding.

even the filler rod. youd be amazed how dirty it actually is.

[t_cel_t]

just make sure you keep your solvents away from the light that comes off your torch, phosgene is a bitch

[Teg2boo]

Or use brake cleaner instead of acetone and die next week

[Passenger]

Wire brush or wire wheel is fine, as long as they are stainless steel and only get used on stainless steel. Start using them on mild steel as well and than try using them on stainless again and your stainless will rust. I use teh 3m pads a lot too.

[turbob16hatch]

Or use brake cleaner instead of acetone and die next week

yeah because everyone is buying clorinated brake cleaner..... 

[Toysrme]

stainess wire brush & acetone on a scotchbrite pad.

[mandrel-bends]

I will go against the flow here and argue that cleaning is most of the time unnecessary unless it has visible contaminates (dirt, crap, etc). I get so many entry level welders in the doors that will take a perfectly clean, mill finished piece of tubing and then spend 5 minutes wiping it down with acetone, wire brushing the ends until they are blue in the face and then getting similiar or worse results then what they could have gotten without.

I personally teach my employees that wire brushing tends to add more contaminates then it removes unless you are very careful about not cross contaminating the brush with other materials. In a shop environment specifically, where it's very dirty and people are borrowing tools all the time, I don't even give them prep materials.

This is a typical result of our no prep procedure. I would push technique and fit up any day over time spent on cleaning & brushing.



Notice the color on even a stainless to mild flange.

[ifly87]

A scotchbrite pad with some baby oil will make it shine.

[PhilStubbs]

i dont think cosmetics was the goal here smart guy

[walter]

thx for replies, what o want to get is something like this:

[Lowerit]

That looks like food Grade Sanitary Stainless.. We have a place that sells it locally... Nice stuff but not cheap..  I bought one of those transitions  2-2.5"  $18.... It does weld up nice though.

If thats the stuff you are using, you don't even need to clean it.

[mandrel-bends]

Just use a scotchbrite metal finishing wheel on a bench grinder to get that finish. Then run your tig at 1 amp per thousandth with no filler to get that look with a gas lense. 

[Passenger]

If you want it to look like that buy sanitary stainless, you can get mill grade tube to look similar with a bit of work but not quite.

[Tim]

I personally teach my employees that wire brushing tends to add more contaminates then it removes unless you are very careful about not cross contaminating the brush with other materials. In a shop environment specifically, where it's very dirty and people are borrowing tools all the time, I don't even give them prep materials.

That is a real kicker people don't even think about, contamination is a mother fucker.

We build machines out of 316 SS sheet metal and we had a couple former employees take all of the stainless wheels to mild welds first.  Now we have a few $60k machines that have been in the field maybe a year with every weld rusting.  Now I keep every SS wire wheel in my desk and soak it in water as soon as I get it back so I can bust the fuck that uses it on mild when the water turns orange.

[mandrel-bends]

 

Aint that a bitch! Hope your not personally liable!

I personally teach my employees that wire brushing tends to add more contaminates then it removes unless you are very careful about not cross contaminating the brush with other materials. In a shop environment specifically, where it's very dirty and people are borrowing tools all the time, I don't even give them prep materials.

That is a real kicker people don't even think about, contamination is a mother fucker.

We build machines out of 316 SS sheet metal and we had a couple former employees take all of the stainless wheels to mild welds first.  Now we have a few $60k machines that have been in the field maybe a year with every weld rusting.  Now I keep every SS wire wheel in my desk and soak it in water as soon as I get it back so I can bust the fuck that uses it on mild when the water turns orange.

[Tim]

no ones complained yet.  I thought they all got fixed but I just noticed 2 last month.  I made a note and we'll make a surprise visit to clean it up before it gets too bad.

[walter]

Just use a scotchbrite metal finishing wheel on a bench grinder to get that finish. Then run your tig at 1 amp per thousandth with no filler to get that look with a gas lense. 

thx, ill use mandrel-bends 16gauge ss.

where do i can get those?

[walter]

what fucking 3M red pads you get guys? i got this :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300338235170&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

and tried to clean with it and really sucks as fucking shit...

 

ill try to get this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/3m-Scotch-Brite-Metal-Finishing-Wheel-6in-x-1in-x-1in_W0QQitemZ280413674472QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4149f51be8

[weirtech]

walter, that pic is markku's work from http://agtronicmotorsport.com/  he only uses sanitary grade stainless.  i'm not sure of his cleaning method though.

personally, if the material has grease on it or something, i just use an all purpose cleaner and a clean rag.  not acetone.  usually i'll wire wheel the joints before welding, but not always.  you have to be sure to use a 100% stainless wire wheel though and not those cheap carbon wheels that are coated.  you might as well use a plain carbon wire wheel then.  for manifolds, i wirewheel the entire weld el before welding, just so it all looks uniform at the end.

[Hotrodlincoln]

3m roloc dude.

[Passenger]

Its too bad you are in spain, all the european Sanitary SS is all Mill grade finish, you can get ornamental stainless tube though with a polished or brushed finish.

[darksol2005]

roloc 3m pads, and sometimes acetone and I'm golden.  I always use a NEW pad, or one that I know has only been used on stainless though