Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Moore
.... Steel is much more forgiving, 1018/1020 (which is all you really need) is relatively inexpensive, easy to find and easy to weld and a steel structure very likely can end up just as light or lighter if you do it right.....
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Hi Michael,
Your experience may be different than mine, but I've found 1018 mild steel hard to weld.
Why??
Simple: metal impurities!!
I have a low end Miller TIG at home and a ThermalArc at work. Both machines will give me fits when welding cheap mild steel. There is crap that comes out of the metal, and it starts coating the tungsten almost immediately, which then dulls the sharp tip, then causes me to stop welding to sharpen the tip and try again.
Stainless Steel:
This stuff works great. No impurities, welds like butter with good technique, and the welds look beautiful. I definitely can not say that for the cheap 1018 I tried welding several years ago.
Higher Grade Steel:
I would definitely pay the extra to get high quality steel for welding a project. Chrome-moly or other high grade steel would be the only metal I would consider welding myself.
Jim.