help welding stainless

[josh_2562]

Any tips y'all can give for welding 304 stainless rigging.
My set up is miller matic 180 220v
308l wire with tri mix gas.
My welds keep coming out a dark gray color with black soot around them. Any tips yall can give would be great. If y'all have pics of your mig welded stainless that would be great. Thanks for any help

[tugchief]

your set up rite and your welds are gonna be dark untill you polish them or use pickling paste to clean them up and make them look stainless steel the polish, you can gt pickling paste at most any quality welding shops in your area

[SWAMPHUNTER45]

We found playing with the shielding gas pressure made them a little cleaner and paste helps. Like it was said the quality and strength is what really counts. Good luck with the build.

[josh_2562]

Welds are holding good. I've welded a bunch of scrap pieces together and tried to break them apart. They have all held up. Now I just got to make them look good and still be strong. I have a buddy that is a welder by trade. If im not happy with my welding I will pay him to do the welding. Thanks for the help guys. I'll post up pics of my welds later.

[riverrat1]

What size wire are you using, and what is the mix of gas.

[josh_2562]

90% HE, 7.5%AR, 2.5%CO-2
.30 wire

[PeaRiverOpossum]

What polarity are you using? Guy at Airgas told me to set it for flux core wire when welding stainless. Never tried it so I can't say. I had it set for solid wire and thought that was right but he said it would do better the other way.

[josh_2562]

Im set up for solid wire. I'll give it a try the other way and report back

[jeepinocala1111]

Post a picture.

[dusty burch]

Dont waste your time trying flux core wire its not the way to go

[josh_2562]

I haven't started on my rigging yet but have been practicing welding. After looking at some boats at the gto swap meet I think mine look good. I've tried to take pics but they don't come out very good. I'll try with the girlfriend's phone later today. Thanks or the help

[jeepinocala1111]

If you practice on some thinner tube you will weld your cage with no issues just don't rush and do not try to cool it off let it air cool.