How to make 304 stainless un-rusty....

[HoleshotHolset]

Funny you should mention the . 44 Mag..... a friend of mine recently bought some sort of new 5-shot revolver. It made his "Dirty Harry" gun look like a water pistol.



I think a plasma cutter is in my near future... . holes will never be a problem from that point forward.



Matt

 

[Bill Lins]

I want one!

Originally posted by HoleshotHolset

Funny you should mention the . 44 Mag..... a friend of mine recently bought some sort of new 5-shot revolver. It made his "Dirty Harry" gun look like a water pistol.

Sounds like the new Smith & Wesson . 50 revolver.

 

[Speedo]

Stainless steel

Try this site out for all you want to know about stainless steel.



http://www.ssina.com/



Gus

 

[HoleshotHolset]

Bill: I have no idea what brand that gun was... but it's huge. It felt like a 5# hammer in my hand!



Gus: AWESOME website!



Matt

 

[Agades]

304 STAINLESS will not rust unless contaminated by an outside source



the bends are rusting because they use a press brake to bend and the dies are tool steel



all you have to do is touch the stainless with regular steel and the scratch will rust



the welds could be a number of things

1 they use the same wire feed gun to weld mild steel and the liner contains a little steel shaving



2 they may have brushed the welds with stainless brush that some dork used to brush some steel (like his gas grill)



3 Carbide percipitation (dont ask)(very technical)

however I dont think this is the problem because the stainless is not being continually heated and cooling really slow (is it?)

 

[MLee]

have you ever tried using a 3M pad? they come in different coarseness. now there is one so fine that it can be used on Teflon coating and it will not remove the coating. they contain no metal. alot of time 3M pads are used to polish stainless. i was told this, to use a 3M on my stainless to keep it bright, and it does work, and low or no scatches.

just my penny's worth.



Marv.

 

[Agades]

the 3M pads do work nice

I used to use them on food processing equip



however they wont give you a mirror finish



the best is a wool pad on an automotive buffer and some harsh microfinishing compound (3M)

 

[MLee]

yes, you are rite there, but if you want a brite finish and stay away from the rust, you have to use something that is not steel related. when i done my primeloc mounting pad, i used a buffing compound and wheel and brought it back to a brite finish. any way it worked for me.



Marv.

 

[John]

Originally posted by M Barnett

I have worked in stainless and have had the best luck with cobalt drills.

I concur! Also, cobalt drills usually have a reduced tip angle (i. e. , less aggressive tip angle) resulting in longer life of the "corners" of each flute. However, being a down side to everything (and there's no free lunch here either), having less of a tip angle allows them to "walk" easier when being started.

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I know why it rusted... .



Because the moron that made it didn't know how to handle stainless!



Here's why I came to this conclusion:



The backside's of the objects on my truck have NO rust on them - which means that he didn't grind them or even touch them after welding. The portions of the objects that I have polished to a pretty good shine have NO oxidation on them after a year's worth of abuse. I have used 3M products on them. Particularly the Rol-Loc gasket destroying pads... . they took off a good amount of material and I like the ease of changing pads with that system.



Now I'm going to probably take them off and have them professoinally polished. That won't happen this year - I wanna make power this year, and maybe look good while doing it next year.



Carbide precipitation is inevitable when heating stainless. The key is to get in there, weld it up, and get out as fast as possible... . AND be sure to have plenty of sheilding gas present during the welding process and after the weldment has started the cooling phase.



If he only wouldn't have tried so hard to make a neat looking finish... .



Matt

 

[Agades]

I would agree that he didnt completely know what he was doing



the true stainless shops wont let any mild steel in the door so there is no chance of contamination



even their brake dies are made of stainless ($$$$$$$$$)

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I'll know better next time.....



What a pain in the butt, though... .



The guy that made these things does 99% mild steel... . and offered to make them in either stainless or aluminum for more bread. Aluminum would have been cool - but I hate it when that stuff gets that nasty white oxide buildup on it. Once I get my oxidation problem all set with the stainless (if I ever do... . )... . life will be good.



Matt