Enjoy your day and travel safely

So for having zero social media following and minimal personal friends as members in this fairly new community it’s kind of exciting to have almost 50 members it doesn’t seem like a lot but to have 50 individuals be at least somewhat interested in the community to me is motivating me to keep you all interested and coming back to the page and being interactive even if it’s just clicking like or reading a post and sharing your thoughts on it it makes me want to be more active and provide more content for you all there just so much information to be shared I don’t know where to go next so suggestions are appreciated and even your own posts on the metal lab page is encouraged it’s all of our community let’s make it just as much fun and informal as it is educational thanks to all the new members and let’s keep it growing !!!!

https://jerswoodshop.com/gen-2-belt-grinder/ I found this on YouTube and Jer is super smart, and this seems super well thought out, so I purchased the plans. I have a broken mini wood belt sander and a mini disk sander, and this seems like it will replace both and allow me to super easily copy my fastest wood workflow for metal, which is: 1. laserprint, 2: glue to material, 3. bandsaw rough shape, 4. sand to the lines. So I’ll post the project here as I go along. Note: I’m a hobbyist here, and I’ll definitely take a long while to work on this project, with gaps in between.

Now that we’re growing in numbers we have a larger spectrum of abilities I will soon begin to separate posts and courses by levels to keep those that are more advanced with more experience interested and able to grow even though going back through the basics is sometimes good for making progress no matter our experience level I’m thinking the levels will be like this Novice -brand new to the industry no experience no background knowledge on terms related to the industry Beginner- fairly new to the industry understands terms commonly used understands the main processes and can explain the difference between them Intermediate- some experience can pass weld tests /qualify has had some formal training or has spent time in the field or has completed the first two levels with confidence in their understanding Advanced - confident in their ability been in the field has formal training or experience with advanced techniques or processes Pro- basically welds every day professionally or has extensive experience in the field basically just here to share knowledge and cool stuff you have learned in your time in the industry

1. Preparation: The Most Critical Step as we learned when working with aluminum prep and cleanliness is the key to producing a successful structurally sound aesthetically pleasing weld If your stainless steel isn't perfectly clean, your weld will be dark, weak, and "sugary" (oxidized) on the back. • Cleanliness is Mandatory: • Wipe the entire area around the weld joint with Acetone to remove all oils, grease, and fingerprints. • also like aluminum Using a brush or abrasives dedicated strictly to stainless steel to clean any scale or oxide. Never use a brush that has touched carbon steel. • Wear clean gloves to prevent transferring oils from your hands to the metal. • this is actually pretty advanced and specific to a certain Back Purging (For full penetration welds): • When welding pipe, tubing, or sheet metal where the back side will be exposed, you must shield the back with inert gas (usually Argon) to prevent internal oxidation (sugaring). • Procedure: Seal the back of the joint and feed Argon gas at a very low flow rate (e.g., 5-10 CFH). This displaces oxygen and keeps the inside of the weld pristine. 2. Equipment and Setup ⚙️ Machine Settings Polarity DCEN which is Standard for all steels. Amperage is Lower than mild steel Start around 70-80% of the amperage you would use for the same thickness of mild steel (e.g., \approx 1 amp per 0.001" of thickness, then reduce). Use a foot pedal to manage heat dynamically.shielding gas used for stainless is 100% Argon and you’re going to Set the flow rate higher than you would for mild steel, generally 20-25 CFH (Cubic Feet per Hour) at the torch. Use a Gas Lens for superior gas coverage this is where your #10+ cup sizes are best utilized for larger areas of gas coverage make sure to set your post flow for a higher amount of time somewhere in the 5-15 second range depending on the heat put into the weld this is because the shielding gas must flow after the arc stops to protect the hot, cooling tungsten and weld puddle from atmospheric contamination. All though there’s different tungsten’s you can use for stainless I prefer the thoriated tungsten (red) which IS slightly RADIOACTIVE after its been used so accepted alternatives are 2% Lanthinated (blue) or 2% ceriated (grey) they offer great arc stability and arc starts when using D/C current and you’re going to want the tip to be sharpened to long clean fine point lengthways on a wheel dedicated to sharpening tungsten to prevent cross contamination of your tungsten and your filler is commonly going to be ER308L the L stands for low carbon which resists corrosion and is used when welding 304/304L although other filler rod types are available and potentially required depending on the specific application and base metal type this is just the most commonly used and you always want your filler to be smaller than the thickness of the base material when welding thin stainless this is especially important for example if welding sheet stainless you would use a 1/16 th filler or even an .040 filler rod