People who love DIY projects might find welding an interesting skill to learn. Others who are considering venturing into a new career might be thinking about welding-related questions like, “What type of welding is used for stainless steel?” If you belong in any of these two categories, Flawless Steel Welding is here to shed light on your questions.
Welding is not an easy skill to acquire, contrary to what is shown in television and movies. It requires attention to detail, patience, and seamless workmanship. If you have all of these qualities, you’re one step closer to becoming a master welder.
Here are different types of welding and what it’s used for:
MIG Welding (Gas Metal Arc Welding)
If you’re a newbie in the field of welding and you’re planning to learn the ropes, MIG welding is the first type of weld that you should learn. There are two kinds of MIG welding: the first one uses a second flux core and the other one uses a bare wire.
Bare wire MIG welding works best when you’re attaching thin pieces of metal to each other. While the second flux core is suitable for outdoor use. It doesn’t need fuel or electricity for it to work. People who have hobbies that involve the use of metal can make good use of learning this type of weld.
Stick Welding (Stick-Shielded Metal Arc Welding)
Experts in the field might say that stick welding is a thing of the past. However, the best thing about SMAW is that you can bring it anywhere. That’s right! It’s portable. It is commonly used in industrial fabrication, repair, maintenance, underwater pipelines, and construction.
The type of welding rod to use in stick welding is a stick electrode welding rod. It joins metal pieces together by softening the stick rod and combining it with an arc. It is placed in the middle of a piece of base metal and a metal electrode.
TIG Welding (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding)
With TIG welding, the type of welding rod used is made out of tungsten. Like MIG welding, it also uses an electric arc. However, the skill level required for TIG welding is higher compared to MIG welding.
This type of welding has many uses, but you have to have the patience to learn how to do it properly. You will have to use both of your hands for TIG welding. One hand will hold the TIG torch while the other one will feed the rod. This is often used to fuse titanium, aluminum, cobalt alloys, and steel together.
Gas Welding
Another addition to the list of different types of welding is gas welding. However, this is one of the old-fashioned ones. It isn’t widely used and has been dominated by TIG welding.
Like SMAW, gas welding is portable. For it to work, you’ll have to have acetylene and oxygen. It is commonly used to weld exhaust parts together.
Plasma Arc Welding
You’ll have to master precision if you’re looking to practice plasma arc welding. However, it is used only in aerospace applications. An example of that is an air seal or an engine blade where the thickness of metal is around 0.015 inches only.
Heat is created by the ionizing gases found inside the arc. This uses the same technique as gas tungsten arc welding; the only difference is that it uses recessed electrodes.
Now that you know the different welds and where you can use them, you can start your journey in welding. Don’t be afraid to try something new. You might be able to discover a hidden skill you have.