Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello. I'm a new member and a newbie welder ( if you can call what I do welding ) !
My question is this: I found some Stainless Steel filler rod that was given to me a long time ago. It has no identifying marks on it, but it DOES attract a magnet pretty firmly. I had a note with it that said ER312, but I can't confirm. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance of any response.
Bob

Are you quite sure it's unmarked?

Take it into direct sunlight, and look for a dot-matrix laser etch every twelve inches...

Steve S

ER312 is magnetic, pretty firmly is subjective

Bobbiggs wrote:Hello. I'm a new member and a newbie welder ( if you can call what I do welding ) !
My question is this: I found some Stainless Steel filler rod that was given to me a long time ago. It has no identifying marks on it, but it DOES attract a magnet pretty firmly. I had a note with it that said ER312, but I can't confirm. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance of any response.
Bob

As far as I am aware, none of the 300 series(austenetic) of stainless will attract a magnet. The 400 series (ferritic) will attract a magnet.

ER312 is used to weld cast alloys of similar composition and is used to weld dissimilar metals and weld overlays. This alloy has very high ferrite. When welding similar cast alloys, limit welding to two or three layers only.

exnailpounder wrote:As far as I am aware, none of the 300 series(austenetic) of stainless will attract a magnet. The 400 series (ferritic) will attract a magnet.

But 312 filler will YouTube

Thank you guys for all of the responses! I'll look at the rod again for markings, maybe my old eyes missed them. Otherwise, I'm going to ASSUME it's 312 for now. Thanks again
Bob

Bobbiggs wrote:Thank you guys for all of the responses! I'll look at the rod again for markings, maybe my old eyes missed them. Otherwise, I'm going to ASSUME it's 312 for now. Thanks again
Bob

Bob, if it is not a secret, can you tell us, where are you going to use that rod? Guys here can suggest you a proper stuff, before that thing you gonna weld, cracks.

LtBadd wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:As far as I am aware, none of the 300 series(austenetic) of stainless will attract a magnet. The 400 series (ferritic) will attract a magnet.

But 312 filler will YouTube

I learned something new today! I just welded a 312 threaded collar and it welded very nice. Is 312 the only alloy in the 300 series that will attract a magnet?

exnailpounder wrote:

LtBadd wrote:

exnailpounder wrote:As far as I am aware, none of the 300 series(austenetic) of stainless will attract a magnet. The 400 series (ferritic) will attract a magnet.

But 312 filler will YouTube

I learned something new today! I just welded a 312 threaded collar and it welded very nice. Is 312 the only alloy in the 300 series that will attract a magnet?

Not sure, never thought to do a magnet test on stainless filler

I'm new to this welding thing but yesterday I got my first lesson in how important it is to know what you have in your hand.

So, I'm TIGing along, practicing with aluminum using 3/32 filler rods and 3/16 aluminum plate. Go to make a lap joint and just grab another rod and proceed to get all kinds of frustrated........ I had inadvertently grabbed a stainless filler rod that had gotten mixed in during cleanup and since I didn't take a sec and pay attention I was super confused about why it JUST WASN'T WORKING! My bad...

WoodpeckerWelder wrote:I'm new to this welding thing but yesterday I got my first lesson in how important it is to know what you have in your hand.

So, I'm TIGing along, practicing with aluminum using 3/32 filler rods and 3/16 aluminum plate. Go to make a lap joint and just grab another rod and proceed to get all kinds of frustrated........ I had inadvertently grabbed a stainless filler rod that had gotten mixed in during cleanup and since I didn't take a sec and pay attention I was super confused about why it JUST WASN'T WORKING! My bad...

Yep... I've done that before... it's kinda hard to get a decent bead that way...

-Bear

Sorry for the late response cherwolf, but I have no use for the rod as of now, I'm just trying to identify it.