Gas less welding exhaust

[My94GT]

I have a muffler I want to weld into my 19 ram, I also will likely do a resonator delete while I’m in there. I have stainless pipe coming, a magnaflow muffler already, and I’m debating picking up an inexpensive welder to do this.

I’ve mig welded with mild steel at work but never stainless and have not used a gas less welder. Is it feasible to do this with 308LFC flux wire? Sure I could pay a shop to do this but I enjoy small projects like this. If this isn’t feasible I guess I could look into renting a set up with a tank and do solid stainless wire, I just won’t use a welder often so a 300 dollar gas less set up was appealing.

 

[awful knawful]

Spend the Xtra for gas.

I got an esab multi process. It's nice.

 

[tistan]

Spend the Xtra for gas.

I got an esab multi process. It's nice.

end thead

 

[My94GT]

Spend the Xtra for gas.

I got an esab multi process. It's nice.

They look a bit pricey, I’d like to stay under 500 if possible as I will likely only use it once in a blue moon. Maybe I’ll just pick up the wire needed and gas and use one of my shop miller welders.

 

[Reaper14]

Why not tig it? When it comes to stainless that is usually my choice of tool. Its just looks so much nicer, even if its just a pipe under your car. A cheap Harbor Freight welder in the $300s & argon will keep you under the $500 you trying to spend.

Vic

 

[My94GT]

Why not tig it? When it comes to stainless that is usually my choice of tool. Its just looks so much nicer, even if its just a pipe under your car. A cheap Harbor Freight welder in the $300s & argon will keep you under the $500 you trying to spend.

Vic

I haven’t used tig welder ever, so I figured if a mig would work my limited experience would cut it for this low budget film.

i definitely want to learn to tig weld.

 

[stang910]

If you don't mind what the welds look like it'll do the job. I wouldn't waste my money on a gas less welder though.

 

[My94GT]

If you don't mind what the welds look like it'll do the job. I wouldn't waste my money on a gas less welder though.

I’ll likely look into a multi purpose welder, I can mig it with gas and I can practice tig work on spare stuff.

 

[Reaper14]

Well if you want to stick to mig, Id still say go for a gas one. Ive never used a gasless one, but have heard buddies complain about them. Tig is my choice for clean welds, & mig for fast welds & easier for aluminum. Id say stop by if you lived close & Id let you have at it with my welder until you felt comfortable to do your own welds on your exhaust, but Im sure you live far away.

Vic

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

Doesn't gasless have to use flux core wire?

 

[Reaper14]

Doesn't gasless have to use flux core wire?

Yes, a little pricier I believe too per roll

Vic

 

[My94GT]

Well if you want to stick to mig, Id still say go for a gas one. Ive never used a gasless one, but have heard buddies complain about them. Tig is my choice for clean welds, & mig for fast welds & easier for aluminum. Id say stop by if you lived close & Id let you have at it with my welder until you felt comfortable to do your own welds on your exhaust, but Im sure you live far away.

Vic

I’m in MD but thanks for that offer! I’ll pony up the extra cash for a multi purpose and I can tool around with both mig and tig and see how I am at each.

currently I have very little welding experience even with the mig on mild steel. I did a certification class that we host for our techs at the collision repair shop I run but I need more seat time for sure.

 

[67restoMod]

With stainless I would suggest gas

 

[08mojo]

As others have said, flux core with mig is useless. I'd go with a used, simple 120v mig welder. To rent/lease is a tank/gas is very inexpensive. I've had the same tank of gas for 5 years...

 

[cj428mach]

I'd suggest buying a high quality used welder, I'm sure you can find a nice home/hobby unit for $5-800.

 

[My94GT]

Thanks guys I’ll see what’s out there used, I’m just hesitant to buy stuff like that used normally.

 

[cj428mach]

Thanks guys I’ll see what’s out there used, I’m just hesitant to buy stuff like that used normally.

I bought a Lincoln 275 tig welder off Craigslist for $2500. It came on a cart, foot pedal, water cooled gun, and some consumables. It would have cost me double that new.

If it's name brand and you can function test it I wouldn't be afraid.

 

[My94GT]

I bought a Lincoln 275 tig welder off Craigslist for $2500. It came on a cart, foot pedal, water cooled gun, and some consumables. It would have cost me double that new.

If it's name brand and you can function test it I wouldn't be afraid.

well with my limited welding experience it would be a crap shoot if I could actually test it properly

 

[Mojo88]

TIG all the way baby........ That's best for stainless. I went through this whole process a couple of years ago. Ended up buying a decent TIG machine just to do my own exhaust, mainly because I was upset with the prices that local welder was charging to TIG stainless.

I watched lots of videos and asked questions, then practiced quite a bit, and started getting fairly good at it (for a rank amateur). TIG is interesting, it's a skill that definitely needs training and practice. That damn torch has to be just at the right amps, plus just at the right distance and moving just at the right speed, LOL. It's a real challenge to keep everything moving and get a nice result.

Here's a fully autogenous weld that I did with TIG. "Autogenous" means no filler material was used. It requires a precise fitment of the pipes to be joined, then careful TIG'ing:

 

[AustinSN]

I used to weld a pretty decent amount with flux core, it certainly has a time and a place. Just not on anything you want to look good without a grinder and paint.

Any time I had to weld stainless I had to drag out the big mig welder, with a stainless spool and a bottle of tri-gas. I wasn't even aware you could weld stainless with flux core.

It's a very different animal than regular steel. I never was able to get it to look even half decent but with that said I never got any help. I went into it blind and experimented until I found something strong enough.