old stainless steel moldings

looking for a little advice on the old stainless steel. I have it welded but when I sand it in order to polish it, its as if the stainless wire of today doesn't adhere well at all. It developes hair line cracks. Needs to be perfect, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.:suicide:

The stainless trim pieces ? Like the windshield moldings ? What wire did you use ?

If it's polished it's usually 300 series stainless, 304 is very common: less than 0.1% carbon and 18%-20% Chromium, not easy to weld. You have to weld it with the correct wire. Stainless usually needs to be preheated to at least 400F and typically it needs to cool down to ambient temperature slowly, if it cools down too fast it becomes hard, brittle and it cracks.

I have tried 308, 316 and I also found some scrap moldings and cut slivers for fillet rod. I did slow my process down to not heat it too much and to also let it air cool. I also slowed my sanding process as to not build too much heat. I still had some small hairline cracks. It was suggested to me to use silver solder. I also checked out the "tin man's" web site and recieved the same suggestion. Not sure what to do.

How are you welding? Gas, Tig MIG? What gas mix are you using? Wetting can be an issue w/ MIG, use either ar/co2 or tri mix.

I've never attempted any of this.........so no comments there.
But just for your info.........if interested, there is a book on the
subject that might be helpful.

"How to Restore Metal Auto Trim" by Jeff Lilly

hammer on dirt said:

looking for a little advice on the old stainless steel. I have it welded but when I sand it in order to polish it, its as if the stainless wire of today doesn't adhere well at all. It developes hair line cracks. Needs to be perfect, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.:suicide:

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Do you have any pictures?