oK, so i bought my diversion 165 about a year ago. Prob have about 15 hours of welding over that time. Im make a 3" SS exhaust for my Audi B7 A4 2.0T and im making some 90 deg bends and what not bc i dont want to buy them and also i want to practice my tig welding

please good and bad comments (the good keep my head high and the bad get me motivated)

umm jsut a quick question not sure what kinda SS this is i bought it at the local speed shop 5' pieces it does say 409 on it

 

those were the first and socond bends i made as you can tell the welds got a bit better here are some more

 

THose are pretty horrifically overheated man. I would junk them and start over. I can see some pin holes too.

What are your amps, gas flow, filler size and tungsten?

 

i dont rememebr the first 2 i did them couple weeks ago the s bend i did today i had to amp set at about 75 amps and the pedal was about 1/2 to 3/4 way down while welding

gas flow is 18-20 and tungsted 1/16 red and for filler i was going between 1/16 and 3/32

for the s bend i barelly used filler i was just precticing pushing the puddle trying not to blow holes did not back purge

 

i dont understand how it would be overheated if some spots are barely fully penetrated


the first couple pictured i had a lot of trouble blowing holes bc the amps were set to high so i lowerd it for the last 2 pictures but not alot of penetration

could it be the filler im using bc i get some color on the welds when im not using filler then when i dip filler the welds look like MS welds

i believe its 409 SS im using 308LSI filler

 

The heat affected zone pretty much is the entire piece. You can tell by how it turned kind of brownish. The welds themselves you can tell by how they look just cooked. They aren't just gray they are smoked. the 2nd pic down on the inside of the elbow would be a textbook example way over heated ss welds. There is hopw though as I scrolled further down it looks as though you are getting better. It could be that you are just not letting the piece cool down enough in between welds. This is esp a problem with pie cuts as the pieces are very small.

 

no your moving to slow if the amps are at 75 and half pedal. move faster. just looking at the haz i can see it is badly overheated. The filler is correct btw, i think your just moving very slowly.

 

308 is the right filler for that? I've always used 309L for 409SS. How's your gas flow and postflow?

 

also on the first set i was moving the torch fromt he piece and taking off the pedal as soon as i finished the bead


as i read about the dicoloring in SS dont rmember the site, but as you can see in the last piece the coloring is alot better and i was holding the torch untill the flow of argon finished coming out of the torch head, (its a Diversion so that gas flow is not adjustable)

308 is for 304 SS correct not 409, what websites are you guys getting other filler rods from i also need filler rod that can mait SS to MS


308 is the right filler for that? I've always used 309L for 409SS. How's your gas flow and postflow?

Gas flow is cfm at the guage correct 18-20cfm and post flow is the time after the pedal is off the gas flows out of the head correct? if so its not adjustable on the Miller Diversion

correct me if im wrong thanks again you guys

 

should i set the amps at about ? i think its 16 guage 50 amps? and about 1/2 pedal

 

try a smaller filler and try just fusing it and only pratice on tube if yourt going to actually use it as its waay to expensive to practice like that




the smaller filler ....err i forgot the size but you can get it from a mig wire roll and straighten it out

 

you can get .045 and .035 filler in straight lengths too. I just use mig wire cuz i'm lazy.

try running some fusion passes(no filler) at about 35 amps and see how they turn out. remember with stainless not to pull your filler out of the shielding gas area ie pulling it to far back if you dip your filler. I prefer to just ram it in there. dipping is for pansies.

 

try a smaller filler and try just fusing it and only pratice on tube if yourt going to actually use it as its waay to expensive to practice like that

yeah maybe ill just get a small roll of mig SS wire its cheaper too im only preacticing on this metal bc i am using it if it fails i can alsways replace it lol

you can get .045 and .035 filler in straight lengths too. I just use mig wire cuz i'm lazy.

where do you get your filler from?


try running some fusion passes(no filler) at about 35 amps and see how they turn out. remember with stainless not to pull your filler out of the shielding gas area ie pulling it to far back if you dip your filler. I prefer to just ram it in there. dipping is for pansies.

ok i will try the 35 amps , also i always keep my filler wire in the shielding gas even if imnot going to intetionally use it, just incase i need it due to contamination pulling in and out of the shielding gas correct?

 

309l could be the correct rod idk. but it is 409ss i doubt it will break using 308l.

But i have never had an issue using 308l

 

He should get 309 anyway if he wants to weld mild to stainless, if he can only get one box that would be the one to get.

OP, if you don't have a postflow timer, kick down your pedal real quick when you get to the end of the weld, it'll start the post flow again (no need to strike an arc). I do this a lot even though my machine has a post flow timer, it's just easier to get it exactly where you want without having to screw around with the machine settings constantly.

 

Lookin at those last welds, I'd say you're definately going to get it soon. I usually set my amps at 90 and I have a feel for how far I push the pedal. Probably 1/4 to 1/3 way down. Your gas flow is spot on. As for post flow, downest said it best by tappin your pedal again just to get the post flow reset, giving you more time. Filler rod? I would use .045, 308 filler for all SS welding and 1/16, 309 for your SS to MS. And like 91jdmhatchback said, make sure you don't move too slow. Lastly, what kind of torch set up are you using? If you don't have one, I would invest in a large gas lens with a #12 cup. The rest should be practice.

 

i just ordered some 309 filler wire 1/16 all i can find anyways, i also jsut ordered gas lense for my tig torch

about the post flow the Miller diversion has an auto post flow preset at around 5 sec or somethign like that i havnt counted how long it goes for

 

stainless tubing would probably be the last thing I would practice on if I was learning tig.

 

theres no reason for you to set the heat that high, its better to set it to at least half that and use the full pedal travel, that way you have more 'resolution' in the pedal to give it more or less heat. other than that dont stay in one puddle too long.

 

stainless tubing would probably be the last thing I would practice on if I was learning tig.

im practicing TO weld SS i can tig MS pritty well and aluminum i got the hang of

im not trying to learn how to tig on SS


theres no reason for you to set the heat that high, its better to set it to at least half that and use the full pedal travel, that way you have more 'resolution' in the pedal to give it more or less heat. other than that dont stay in one puddle too long.

yeah when i get a chance this weekend i will be trying to set it at a lower amps, i just ordered some gas lenses and 309l filler. so i will update on my progress


i also need to find somethign to cut the pipe the machine i have is to agressive to cut pie cuts and the blade wears way to fast for 3" piping

 

bandsaws FTW!
i spent 1300 on a brand new machine with a hydraulic arm thats liquid cooled also and its one of the best investments i've done so far in my business.

 

well i have 2 bandsaws for wood in the garage but i cant find a 93 1/2 in metal blade for the big one and the small one (59 " ) i think it doesnt have such a broad height adjustment

i think i might pick up the HF one for like $200

 

i got the HF bandsaw and it been working nonstop. get the bimetal blade and down load a 20% off coupon. it's all about fitment i've learned, just like painting 90% of the work is in the prep. short little bits, tube is hard because of the hand movement needed, just make a short bead, stop, get comfortable and do it again.

 

cant knock u for trying... but u should just go get those tubes bent lol

 

so i lowerd the amps and tried moving a little quicker and not stay in the puddle to long but i had to set the amps at like 50- 60 bc the puddle would not start or melt the filler metal for that matter.

also i got 309 filler and my gas lense. i need to get a new helmet bc i keep getting flashed during welding now that i have a glass cap on so i had to stop but here are some pictures of welds i put down last night with thte gas lense and 309l filler