I just went through this with the welding shop, not the same gas and you wanna make sure you get the same type of ss wire as the ss you are welding. I also just had a guy show me his grill insert he made, he welded ss with regular wire and gas. He planned to paint it though...just illustrating that its possible although not ideal
Another option that I’ve used is stainless flux core wire that also uses gas as well. It welds really smooth although it may be a bit much on thin material. A buddy of mine just picked up a spool of gas less stainless flux core which i didn’t know existed. I’m anxious to see how it welds.
Tri mix is what what was normally used to Mig weld stainless when fabbing stainless in the fruit juice/apple sauce plant I did the maintenance purchasing in for a few years. All the sanitary stainless tubing was tig welded though.
I just welder a ton of 10 gauge SS , using my MIG , SS wire , 75/25 gas . It welded fine as wine . Welding SS auto trim , is TIG for me . I can be done with a MIG but be prepared to blow holes in it . You can not be a welder by reading or watching it done . Practice makes perfect .
FWIW the companies that build exhaust systems for OEMs do miles and miles of MIG welds every year, welding different types of stainless to a bunch of types of metal, and they don't back purge anything. Warranty claims on exhaust systems (including welds) are very rare, or at least were on the stuff I worked on. I did validation testing for a while, I tested every welded joint on the exhaust system to failure to predict if it would last the life of the vehicle. When a weld didn't meet expectations (rare) it was never because of the type of weld. They can and do MIG weld stainless literally all day long.
That is one car you really have to see in person to know how great of a job he did on it. I took a bunch of photos of it at Hot rod Arama last summer but he had it hiding in the shade because it was so blooming hot there.
I did lots of stainless steel welding at my jobber welding shop. Mig welder, stainless wire, 75/25 gas. Lots of patching up fast food industry in our town, kitchen stuff like fryer baskets, stainless tables, pot & pan handles, utensils. Changed the wire to the stainless, welded, then changed the mig back to steel wire after the job was done.
Well boy howdy, damned interesting stuff fellas. Never welded ss but need to, was thinking I needed tig, but you all have, as my kids said when they were little, changed-ed my mind.
I've actually done stainless wire, in a MIG, 75/25, on a car's stainless trim. As said, much easier, and better to use the TIG. But MIG will work. You should have a machine with very fine temp and wire speed controls, as it's difficult to get them just right with the super thin SS. You also need to have a delicate touch with the grinding/sanding operation, as it does leave a high bead, that you have to knock down. The other (possibly big) drawback, is that the weld will be a slightly different color than the car's SS. They didn't use 316 or 304 for trim, probably a proprietary alloy, maybe for draw quality? Best to TIG it, using very thin strips cut from the same moldings that were on the car.
Seen it done, but never tried it myself. I've also seen aluminum MIG welded; kind of messy, but it did the job. We're gearing up to do 3D metal printing repairs on existing parts at work rather than doing sleeve or welding repair...will be interesting to see how that works out for trim repairs as the technology filters into the private sector.
I’ve welded SS angle irons up for several battery hold downs for my dads trucks. Many brackets as well to replace aluminum stuff. 75/25, nonSS wire. Sure, the welds would surface rust over, but eliminated cracking. To me it welded like any other steel.
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