Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm looking at repairing a stainless steel dryer drum that has cracked at one of the welds inside. Dryer is an older model, and the drum is no long stocked. I have a lincoln 180..I have it set up for flux core..but also have argon gas and the spool gun for aluminium. If I get the right wire can i do this repair with argon gas? Or do I need a différent gas mix?

Any info would be great.

http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/su ... lders.aspx

This is a very simple explanation. It says not to use 100% pure gas for SS.

Backyardmech wrote:I'm looking at repairing a stainless steel dryer drum that has cracked at one of the welds inside. Dryer is an older model, and the drum is no long stocked. I have a lincoln 180..I have it set up for flux core..but also have argon gas and the spool gun for aluminium. If I get the right wire can i do this repair with argon gas? Or do I need a différent gas mix?

Any info would be great.

You can MIG weld stainless with 100% argon, but its not the best choice. Given you're attempting to extend the life of a dryer drum, I think you'd be okay for what it is. You do want SS wire though. Find some scrap thats equivalent thickness and run some tests to dial your settings in. Probably best to spot tack it repeatedly using Argon instead of attempting to run beads.

At the end of the day, who's going to see it and complain? The missing Sock left behind

The owner of a machine shop I do work for also owns a hand full of laundromats. He has brought me 3 commercial dryer drums to repair. Your mileage may vary as I do not know what is broken on your drum, my my success rate is only 50% with those. 1 fixed, 1 trashed, 1 good for a back up. The material is so thin, stress cracked to hell and back, and unusually corroded it is difficult to work on.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just want to let you know not to feel bad if it doesn't come out cherry.

2 of the repairs were where the 2 wheels support the drum at the front (at the door) had cracked and worn through, having to rebuild that area, one trashed and one for back up. The other was a loose tumbler bar flopping around - success.

As I said, your mileage may vary, and I hope it for the better.

Can you weld in or back it up with a patch of perforated stainless sheet?