If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Think about why companies make stuff like this:

http://www.industrialtool.com/walter-surfox.html

...notice the first sentence: "Welding of stainless steel produces a discoloration of the surface that MUST BE REMOVED TO RESTORE THE CORROSION RESISTANCE OF THE STAINLESS STEEL...."

The colors may be pretty, but I can tell you that in the food service industry, in military applications (Military Specification 248-D), and generally in all piping industry, they require that you brush off or otherwise remove the discoloration.

Now consider how many companies that weld exhaust pipes don't remove the color. Why? cause it's what the public likes...not so much what is best.

This is what they should really look like:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/engloid/gatepipe1.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/engloi...cs/wyeth-2.jpg

Yes, I know it's for a completely different industry, but stainless is stainless (at least within certain limits). In all these applications, corrosion resistance is a desired trait...otherwise you'd not use stainless.

Food for thought....

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

no comments, thoughts, theories? :-[

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

I never cared about color. I am more interested in strength. I may take some welding classes for fun.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

I wish you were around at Honda Tech to tell those exhaust ricers that the pretty colors dont say anything about strength.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Straight from Miller
http://www.millerwelds.com/education...Book_Chpt6.pdf
"Bluing indicates an immediate lack of post flow"

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

but does this mean that grey contaminated welds still suck?

:p

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

The color of the weld can be a pretty good indicator of the amount of heat it was welded with.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

its gotta be jdm guys, everyone knows that

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

yeah you see quite often people asking how to make my welds have more color

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

i've seen some of that electro polished stainless and its some nice stuff. interesting read though.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Colors around the weld defintely show the heat put into it. However, colors on top of the weld itself dont really mean much. I can get the prettiest weld you've ever seen with about 40% penetration.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

---- them....talk the guys into leaving, or telling the admin that they want Luke's ----- ass banned and me unbanned. If they unbanned me and didn't ban him, I'd probably just cuss him when I got back anyway. ::)

...ummmmm cheesy pic. What's the purpose?

Yes, but it also should be removed.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

I know that color welds are the first to oxidize but it is what sells...
It is really easy for anybody to weld something that is pure junk and hit it with a wire wheel and by the book it looks great, but most people
(non fabricators/consumers) consider a weld with the color to be a better quality weld. I know for a fact that the weld that has color will rust while if you wire wheel it all to the natural color (or polish it to a crome appearance ;)) that it will last much longer without rusting.
Many say stainless won't rust but I have personally seen some of mine, and many others (full race) rust. The thing however that stainless wont rust all the way through like mild steel will, iinstead it gets a very fine layer of rust on the surface.

-James

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Here we go, I think this will make things interesting:
http://honda-tech.com/zeropost?cmd=tshow&id=1490299

I'm discrete btw :)

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

HEY Engloid!!! Ya miss me? LOL
I did sanitary tubing for about 3 years. Infact we did the Oro wheat bakery in So San Fran.We put in 3 miles of 2" 316L.Anyway someone that knows a little about welding stainless can look at a weld and tell you how good it is.The outside color really doesn't mean much.Unless its burnt up.But you can get different colors by pulling the tungsten out far or pushing it up inside.Its hard to say what is the best. by talking about it .You have to show someone.
Engloid are you still banned from HT?
Here is a stainless header that the welds havn't been cleaned or polished.LOL
Attachment 36603

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

lol Engloid got banned?

that's odd... well not really... honda-tech does like to get rid of the people that go against their sellout bullshit fads

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Yah really the best welds will have zero color at all, but you either have to run mad argon to do that or do them in a purge cabnet
Unfortunatly my customers dont pay enough for me to justify an extra $30 of argon per manifold :(
-James

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

those guys on honda-tech love the colors, RMF on homemadeturbo, wtf? :S

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Do you weld on the inside of the flange?

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

nice josh. Whoa that header is pure sex! :6

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

thats the sexiest thing you ever posted :o

only for the bling factor, im sure one of the pipes is misalinged lol j/k ;)

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

That depend also.. on whether you use a carbon steel brush. Not only that, but many of the stainless brushes that are out there (especially the ones for grinders and drills) are a shitty grade of stainless or something, cause they're magnetic.
In fact, I'm dying to get back to HT, just so I can scrap it out with you for old times sake. haha!! Heck, we can do it here now, huh?
or by turning argon up or down...or changing travel speed.
yip. My life just hasn't been complete since. ::)
Looks like electropolishing or maybe even chrome or powdercoating.

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

Well yah I use the cheap homedepot stainless wire wheel for my bench grinder for cleaning my metal

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

At least there's a 100% chance that you won't get banned from here becuase of an arguement ;)

Re: If you like all the color on stainless welds...
 

I had bigger arguments on HT than what I was banned for...it's just that the one I got banned for was with a dickhead moderator. Why so many forums pick assholes for mods, I dunno. ;D