I can weld (sort of haha) so i usually have someone else do my work. I dont really have thousands to spend on a nice welder at the moment but i need stainless, spot welded.

I'm rebuilding my turbo manifold. My plan was to spot weld it and then take it in to have pretty welds put on. what's the best way for me to go about the spot welds? There are quite a few welding stores in town but I thought I'd get some advise here first before I walk in with a wad of money. thanks

 

by spot weld you are refering to "tack" welds. if you are working with a typical mig welding, get some thin stainless wire. it costs a bit more than regular mild steel wire, but you don't want to mix and match metals. so just go ahead and tack the pieces together, making sure they butt up really nice, then tack it every 30 to 60 degrees, then get it final welded. but keep in mind that in most cases, the welder may have to cut some of the tacks because they must be welded in a certain order

 

You can use a torch to tack it, but before I bought my tig machine, I would simply number the pieces chronological order from flange to flange, and also put alignment marks so the welder knows where to set things up, and which piece goes where. I can't say they never made a mistake, but they were never detrimental ones. But, if you have this done a lot, then maybe you should invest in a machine. Mine was under 1k. does ac/dc, pulse, ac frequency, ac balance, post/preflow. Nice machine really. Look into the Everlast Powertig 200dx. I like mine.