Buy a pound of 308L electrodes here: amzn.to/2KQbHEM Buy Solar Flux Type B here: amzn.to/2B7Oizh Tools & Gear We Use and Recommend www.amazon.com/shop/thefabricationseries
Thank you for the test. I will try using Flux from rods. By the way, in our Welding maintenance shop, we are not allowed to weld stainless stick electrodes due to the hexavalent chrome dangers without a high dollar fitted respirator helmet and functioning fume vacuum hood. You are killing your lungs and increasing cancer growth to bring us good info. Thanks.
@@kirkalley3469 you have to weld a lot of stainless stick to potentially get any adverse effects. Use ventilation and keep your head out of the smoke plume.
Glad to hear you tried it out!, and also is nice that this may actually help some guys out there and for the electrodes I buy the cheapest 308l available, like 5 bucks a pound maybe less. Thanks for the shot out Justin!
Thanks Javier, Great trick for back surface shielding. I have also heard that if you don't have Argon shielding gas its possible to use the smallest sized stick rods as the filer wire with the stick flux doing the job of the Argon Shielding Gas, But I've never tried it so I'm not sure if it really works and i have my doubts.
Woow, thank you a lot and also thank you the Guatemala guy ! Here in France the solar flux would cost me 175 euro/1 lb (around 188 $) and is a huge price. I will definitevly use this metod. All my best Justin, you have great series, I've learned a lot from you !
OMG! THANK YOU very much! I am from Brazil, a can of solar flux takes forever to arrive here and will cost more than $150 after taxes! I will try with some old 316L electrodes that I have here. I have to fix a crack of a water boiler of very thin stainless steel that it's almost impossible to argon purge it's back since they have 300 liters. Thank you again Man.
Love the way you channel is going. Yesterday I built a 5 gallon fish tank pump water cooler for my 1975 Dialarc 300 miller Tig. I have been using a hose and draining the water into my yard that makes a soggy mess outside my shop. The fish tank 5 gallon water cooler WORKS ! I used a $24 pump to get better flow other then that, its the same as yours. Great job. Thank you.
Thanks Havier ! 👏🏼. I have solar flux but love having a an alternative and other options bro. Justin thanks for putting it to the test! I’m 5 years too late but better than never finding at all
Solar flux invented by Solar aircraft co in WWII to weld navy aircraft exhaust. It was a national security secret until the 60's. They specifically say to use methanol alcohol. (Heet fuel treatment) solar flux costs$50 a can. Only mix a small portion as the first can I used I mixed the whole thing...there is a chemical reaction with the alcohol so the next time you use it does not work the same. The 308 flux is a great idea but you could go through a lot of money if fluxing alot. Also some 308 rod has additives in flux to make the stainless alloy... good use for those short stubs that you can not weld with... Justin and Javier....thanks for the idea... PB
cool to try. im glad you did it, and happy to know that it works. so if anyone has a one off and some 308 stick around could well be worthy. but even using your advertised links to amazon, a pound of solar flux shipped to my door 40$. 1 lb of rod 26$. even if you could get it locally for 5$ a lb I argue you would still need 40$ worth of it to get a pound of powder. And then the work involved crushing it.
I've been thinking about this. It could be said that Solar Flux seems expensive, but you only use a little bit! If you use up a whole can, you might have welded dozens of feet of stainless seam, and avoided back purge and you should easily be able to afford it! However: Since it seems to be mostly silica (silicon dioxide), I'm thinking to start with some kind of fine silica powder. Don't breathe it! So, fumed silica or diatomaceous earth? Dry sodium silicate? The diatomaceous earth is sold a a gardening supply and is not expensive. I somehow suspect it's something that sells by the ton, packed into little cans. So, my first try would be straight silica powder of some kind, mixed with alcohol the way we do. I think what we're doing here is making a little bit of glass or quartz on the back of the weld, and it wets whatever metal oxides are back there and sticks to it. A "glass-to-metal-seal", you might have noticed that it seems hard to clean off.
Diatomaceous earth is a gardening supply?? Then who was the genius that decided to sell it as a supplement for people to eat!?!? I know several people that eat that stuff. It’s supposed to be some kind of wonder “food”. Seriously. Google it.
It is made from fossilized organic matter from the bottom of freshwater lakes. It is ground and processed into food grade and non. The stuff is just an abrasive that when mixed with earth will kill many insects as they try to live in it. Very helpful around the "organic" garden. The finer food grade is mixed with all kinds of other products and is used internally ( I don't know what exactly it does for the body, but it is commonly used) or as a very gentle abrasive in skin care products. It is purely organic, so I don't know how good it would be around welding heat, so as a base for flux it probably is not a good choice.
@@ShowMeThePony Try to focus! Buy food grade if you want! It might be easier to find in small quantities. I was unaware of this, since I dread food cranks, who are all around where I live. I'll look for it. Still getting around to this two years later, but I think a big excursion into stainless steel welding is coming soon.
The main constituent of most flux is borax, so it would be worth trying that. I have in the past used masking tape on the back of welds, that was what was used when I went learnt to weld as standard.
I'm a hobby welder, when I start a new rod and don't want a stick I give it a quick drag across my bench to 'burn off' the end. It will almost eliminate a stick.
Your are the best teacher on welding utube, I want to ask? If you can do a episode of all what you can do on a tig including what kind of medal and same thing with mig and stick. One question, it might be sound stupid but is it possible to stick weld aluminum?
Is IS possible, but avoid it if you can! It's awful! Sticks are expensive, have serious humidity problems, difficult and messy process. You will be sorry. I have seen pictures of this being done on heavy aluminum fabrications. Those persons ( "men", it just so happened) were really earning their money I think.
I've done it with a 7018 just playing around. Seems to work ok but i think some rods actually have alloying elements in the flux so you may lose something.
Can I use the flux of regular carbon steel electrodes for back-shielding stainless steel? Both stainless steel flux and carbon steel flux are made out of rutile...
What if I just use some borax mixed with methanol/ethanol/isopropyl alcohol? Will that work, or are the temperatures too high and borax would just evaporate? It works extremely well for brazing mild steels (usually mixed with boric acid), but would it work in it's pure form as a backup flux for stainless tig?
Hey Justin! Really enjoyed the video. Was needing this kind of info for a while. (In the Netherlands, Solar flux costs €99,- for 450gr. or $113,- for 992 lbs) Do you have to use this kind of rod specifically? or is any stainless rod okay to use. Love to hear it from ya! Cheers. Rick
If you don't shield the back side of thin stainless, it will get what they call "sugar"... an ugly bumpy black oxide that corrodes easily. Exposure to high heat and oxygen causes stainless to lose it's anti corrosion properties.
Carbon steel and aluminum are far less reactive than chromium at welding temperature. Aluminum skins over with an oxide layer that is solid and can hold the weld puddle. On the weld side, alternating current breaks down the oxide layer when the electrode is positive. On the back side, this doesn't happen.
Search a week for alternatives and a day after I order the solar flux I find this.. FK, I totally would have went this route regardless. It's just an exhaust job not that critical.
Buy a pound of 308L electrodes here:
amzn.to/2KQbHEM
Buy Solar Flux Type B here:
amzn.to/2B7Oizh
Tools & Gear We Use and Recommend
www.amazon.com/shop/thefabricationseries
The Fabrication Series can you mix the homemade flux with a little clay please and do it again?
Thank you for the test. I will try using Flux from rods. By the way, in our Welding maintenance shop, we are not allowed to weld stainless stick electrodes due to the hexavalent chrome dangers without a high dollar fitted respirator helmet and functioning fume vacuum hood. You are killing your lungs and increasing cancer growth to bring us good info. Thanks.
Man, the stupidity you see demonstrated on youtube by "experts" is amazing.
@@kirkalley3469 you have to weld a lot of stainless stick to potentially get any adverse effects. Use ventilation and keep your head out of the smoke plume.
Glad to hear you tried it out!, and also is nice that this may actually help some guys out there and for the electrodes I buy the cheapest 308l available, like 5 bucks a pound maybe less. Thanks for the shot out Justin!
Javier Broger If not for you, we wouldn't have done it.
This is awesome I've have been trying to get my gas supply store to get solar flux and they have not been able to get it
The Fabrication Series you could even use the flux off 316 if thats what you have. Thats all i have apart from all the tig filler.
This is definately a cool trick. Thanks for bringing it to light dude.
Thanks Javier, Great trick for back surface shielding.
I have also heard that if you don't have Argon shielding gas its possible to use the smallest sized stick rods as the filer wire with the stick flux doing the job of the Argon Shielding Gas, But I've never tried it so I'm not sure if it really works and i have my doubts.
Woow, thank you a lot and also thank you the Guatemala guy !
Here in France the solar flux would cost me 175 euro/1 lb (around 188 $) and is a huge price.
I will definitevly use this metod.
All my best Justin, you have great series, I've learned a lot from you !
Its obvious, and like most things ONLY so after learning about it. Another 'save the day' trick for the tool box, Thank you Javier!
OMG! THANK YOU very much! I am from Brazil, a can of solar flux takes forever to arrive here and will cost more than $150 after taxes! I will try with some old 316L electrodes that I have here. I have to fix a crack of a water boiler of very thin stainless steel that it's almost impossible to argon purge it's back since they have 300 liters. Thank you again Man.
Love the way you channel is going. Yesterday I built a 5 gallon fish tank pump water cooler for my 1975 Dialarc 300 miller Tig. I have been using a hose and draining the water into my yard that makes a soggy mess outside my shop. The fish tank 5 gallon water cooler WORKS ! I used a $24 pump to get better flow other then that, its the same as yours. Great job. Thank you.
Thanks Havier ! 👏🏼. I have solar flux but love having a an alternative and other options bro. Justin thanks for putting it to the test! I’m 5 years too late but better than never finding at all
That stuff is crazy! I’m def impressed. I’ll be in touch this week to do a collab. Good job brother.
Thanks I’ve Been looking for something like this for ages as I can’t find anything like it in the U.K.
Gary Voyle you can buy it here: www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk/brands/weldability/solar-flux-type-b-1lb-jar.html
Make this as your signature, this episode, that would be ski awesome. It will help me a lot to learn and teach my kids. Much aloha my Bradda
Solar flux invented by Solar aircraft co in WWII to weld navy aircraft exhaust. It was a national security secret until the 60's. They specifically say to use methanol alcohol. (Heet fuel treatment) solar flux costs$50 a can. Only mix a small portion as the first can I used I mixed the whole thing...there is a chemical reaction with the alcohol so the next time you use it does not work the same. The 308 flux is a great idea but you could go through a lot of money if fluxing alot. Also some 308 rod has additives in flux to make the stainless alloy... good use for those short stubs that you can not weld with... Justin and Javier....thanks for the idea... PB
Definitely gonna try this. Thanks Javier (and Justin, natch)!
Thank you for the video and thank you javier
Thanks Javier!
When you come back to a video you have all ready seen!!
cool to try. im glad you did it, and happy to know that it works. so if anyone has a one off and some 308 stick around could well be worthy.
but even using your advertised links to amazon, a pound of solar flux shipped to my door 40$. 1 lb of rod 26$. even if you could get it locally for 5$ a lb I argue you would still need 40$ worth of it to get a pound of powder. And then the work involved crushing it.
Also you can use that 308 stick as TIG rod
I've been thinking about this. It could be said that Solar Flux seems expensive, but you only use a little bit! If you use up a whole can, you might have welded dozens of feet of stainless seam, and avoided back purge and you should easily be able to afford it! However: Since it seems to be mostly silica (silicon dioxide), I'm thinking to start with some kind of fine silica powder. Don't breathe it! So, fumed silica or diatomaceous earth? Dry sodium silicate? The diatomaceous earth is sold a a gardening supply and is not expensive. I somehow suspect it's something that sells by the ton, packed into little cans. So, my first try would be straight silica powder of some kind, mixed with alcohol the way we do. I think what we're doing here is making a little bit of glass or quartz on the back of the weld, and it wets whatever metal oxides are back there and sticks to it. A "glass-to-metal-seal", you might have noticed that it seems hard to clean off.
Leonard Pearlman nice idea let me know when you get it done
Diatomaceous earth is a gardening supply?? Then who was the genius that decided to sell it as a supplement for people to eat!?!? I know several people that eat that stuff. It’s supposed to be some kind of wonder “food”. Seriously. Google it.
It is made from fossilized organic matter from the bottom of freshwater lakes. It is ground and processed into food grade and non. The stuff is just an abrasive that when mixed with earth will kill many insects as they try to live in it. Very helpful around the "organic" garden. The finer food grade is mixed with all kinds of other products and is used internally ( I don't know what exactly it does for the body, but it is commonly used) or as a very gentle abrasive in skin care products. It is purely organic, so I don't know how good it would be around welding heat, so as a base for flux it probably is not a good choice.
@@ShowMeThePony Try to focus! Buy food grade if you want! It might be easier to find in small quantities. I was unaware of this, since I dread food cranks, who are all around where I live. I'll look for it. Still getting around to this two years later, but I think a big excursion into stainless steel welding is coming soon.
The main constituent of most flux is borax, so it would be worth trying that. I have in the past used masking tape on the back of welds, that was what was used when I went learnt to weld as standard.
Really, JUST masking tape??
asbestos masking tape? :) I've seen guys use masking tape around open root pipe welds to "hold in" the back purge gas on the root pass.
I used a mixer for grinding, and it turned out well
I'm a hobby welder, when I start a new rod and don't want a stick I give it a quick drag across my bench to 'burn off' the end. It will almost eliminate a stick.
Shout out Javier!
This saved me on some exhaust work. Thank you. What if you tried tig welding it with a 308L stick rod with the flux on?
Welding is my drug haha this is awesome info thanks to Javier
Your are the best teacher on welding utube, I want to ask? If you can do a episode of all what you can do on a tig including what kind of medal and same thing with mig and stick. One question, it might be sound stupid but is it possible to stick weld aluminum?
Is IS possible, but avoid it if you can! It's awful! Sticks are expensive, have serious humidity problems, difficult and messy process. You will be sorry. I have seen pictures of this being done on heavy aluminum fabrications. Those persons ( "men", it just so happened) were really earning their money I think.
I wonder if you can use the rods withouth the flux on for adding material when tig welding ?
I've done it with a 7018 just playing around. Seems to work ok but i think some rods actually have alloying elements in the flux so you may lose something.
You can use every stick rod as tig, you can also use dull drill as tool steel tig rod, and It works
Can I use the flux of regular carbon steel electrodes for back-shielding stainless steel? Both stainless steel flux and carbon steel flux are made out of rutile...
Try borax. If it works on gold, nickel, silver, copper, and aluminum, it may work on stainless. And you can buy a lb of borax for $3!
Does anyone try this?
@@milanmilicevic4618 I just did it on Brass last month. Zero firescale on. Just washed the melted borax off with mineral spirits.
@@dementedpaintballer Thanks, I just found pack of 2.2 pounds for 4 usd, in Europe, can't wait to try 😊
Heavier is a legend
I have Solar Flux on order. Maybe I should cancel it. Got lots of dad's old 308 rods here.
Genius! Thanks!
Slag on SS self ejects sometimes, keep your hood down
What if I just use some borax mixed with methanol/ethanol/isopropyl alcohol?
Will that work, or are the temperatures too high and borax would just evaporate?
It works extremely well for brazing mild steels (usually mixed with boric acid), but would it work in it's pure form as a backup flux for stainless tig?
ALCOHOL REMEMBERS, that actually is the most depressing thing ever lol
Use Solar flux as it is made to hold the weld from dropping a quarter size hole with a hot weld. Nothing beats SOLAR FLUX Period. Peace.
hey im sorry to comment this but have you or even ever herd of vulcan welders ?? if not could you review them ?? thank you
Hey Justin! Really enjoyed the video. Was needing this kind of info for a while. (In the Netherlands, Solar flux costs €99,- for 450gr. or $113,- for 992 lbs) Do you have to use this kind of rod specifically? or is any stainless rod okay to use. Love to hear it from ya! Cheers. Rick
Hee Rick, ik heb het via ebay gekocht voor €25,- inclustief verzending. En gebruik het met alcohol 70%
What fluid you using to mix
I'm confused. What's the reason for shielding the back side of the weld. Why is this not used on steel or aluminum?
If you don't shield the back side of thin stainless, it will get what they call "sugar"... an ugly bumpy black oxide that corrodes easily. Exposure to high heat and oxygen causes stainless to lose it's anti corrosion properties.
Carbon steel and aluminum are far less reactive than chromium at welding temperature. Aluminum skins over with an oxide layer that is solid and can hold the weld puddle. On the weld side, alternating current breaks down the oxide layer when the electrode is positive. On the back side, this doesn't happen.
Darn, just bought some solar flux for a 1 time weld on my own personal exhaust system. Looks like I didn't need it lol
Search a week for alternatives and a day after I order the solar flux I find this.. FK, I totally would have went this route regardless. It's just an exhaust job not that critical.
Do you want to sell any welders ? I am trying to buy something new but maybe that's not the right pathway ?
Dude you need to rack with a credit card!! And a coffee grounder will work a treat!!!
HaHa. I was thinking the same thing!
Or a pepper mill would work.
Damn coke heads
Never done coke, seen quite a bit done though. I prefer barley or marley myself.
I’d recommend using a razor blade but I bet he didn’t because he’s TIG welded all the blades in his shop together! 🤣
I snorted a line of 7018 Flux junior year of hs are my sinuses protected
ok ;] if not dead silly man
R U Ryan Reynolds little bro? 🤣
👍
do it with 7018
A better close up would have been appreciated.
Distiled water was used?
it looks like he used the same bottle with the rubbing alcohol (solar flux is normally mixed using rubbing alcohol)
Methanol/methyl hydrate (goes under a bunch of different names)
Basically just use something that evaporates quickly(like alcohol)
Some better closeups would have been good.
Then you can just use the electrode as filler!
Cheap coffee grinder would probably work
Lol that's awesome
Looks like the head of that body hammer is ready to fly off and kill a camera man, just an observation.
rick Maybe that'll happen next time I lose a bet.
lmfao :)
great way to use tiny rods that are useless!!
Nice, thanx for the info, shaut out to JaviAW11
Breath deep 🤦♂️ stainless stick is nasty stuff