hi folks-

anyone have experience with stainless steel?

specifically wondering-

how to clean/keep fingerprints from occurring(i know, "...don't touch it!"). is this a viable use for wd-40????

also, is there a way to buff/rub out mars or light scratches?

thanks for the advice and assistance!

merry christmas.......lakeside

 

Stainless comes in a variety of finishes; polished, abrasive (straight lines), brushed, machined, blasted (matte) finish. The restoration and upkeep methods will vary. WD40 will give SS a yellow cast. Abrasive and brushed are the easiest to take care of.

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It can be a pain in the b#tt to machine. (Used to be a machinist.)

 

Ditto that flyboy! Tough stringy stuff, won't break chips, work hardens like the devil -grrrr

For even more fun try machining cast stainless from a sand mold. At least it breaks chips if you can keep your insert alive.

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It's best to use a brass wire brush for the final polish on SS. If you use a steel brush you will get a rusting appearance on the stainless. I suppose the steel wire embeds steel traces in the small scratches made on the stainless and eventually oxidizes leaving the rusting appearance.

Randy

 

Pigfarmer, have you ever seen Stainless hold onto a 9" magnetic torpedo level? I built a truck box rack with headache on it 'bout 3 years ago out of all 304l 2x2x1/4 wall ss box tube (Yeah, I know, heavier the F, good thing it was a dually, it needed to be just for the pure weight of the rack!) on a '98 extended cab Dodge Dually for an employer and as we were leveling it in fabrication for welding, my little Craftsman stuck right to it! Was the first time I ever saw ss do that, and we figuered as soon as it was on the truck in the weather it was gonna rust. The engineer/drafter that designed it said we were full of it, but low and behold 3 days later tiny little orange spots were covering the whole thing! I tig welded it and used all 304 tig wire with all brass wire brushes to clean anything, built on plywood tabels, with final welding/assembly done on the truck and it was just pure junk quality SS. Took a week just to do all of the welding/cutting/fabricating and it looked really good finished until it was out in the weather and rained on. SS is incredibly easy to weld, but like others have said, it can be a pita for fabrication, cutting, milling, drilling, etc. Hey engineers, never doubt the really good welders/fabricators, we knowI can't speak civillyis going on, O.K!!! We deal with the crap you dish out to us!!

 

SS
>is incredibly easy to weld, but like others have said, it
>can be a pita for fabrication, cutting, milling, drilling,
>etc. Hey engineers, never doubt the really good
>welders/fabricators, we knowI can't speak civillyis going on, O.K!!! We deal
>with the crap you dish out to us!!

AMEN to that..... it's amazing some o the things you see on blue prints, from supposed "professional" engineers.... i think any engineer should have to actually build something they design once a year.... lol

 

I have s.s. tanks to maintain @ work,i use 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper and wet sand it w/soapy water,polishes up real good.we use wd -40 too and havent had any yellowing problems.

 

3M scotchbrite works pretty good as well.

 

I assume you guys are talking about those "ivory tower" type "school born and bred" Engineers, -not the real pro's that can and do build the stuff they draw. Those of us that have knowledge based on experience still shake our heads at the numbers of individuals that because they have some skill with math and have been thru the required number of classes think they are Engineers.

10 or 11 Gauge tubing would have worked just fine with the proper triangulated bracing that is required in a roll cage. The idea is not to totally support the truck in a rollover but to protect the occupants. If it gets bent out of shape a little so what. That 1/4" monster will probably tear loose from the frame because it does not have any give...

Sounds like you didn't get 303 or you have some surface impurities from handling.


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Eric, i gotta give ya that one.... not all engineers are... (what's a good word) lacking in ability, i have come across a few good ones. but they are few and far between.... as long as they are willing to listen to the ppl who have to build what they draw up, then usually things will work out in the end... i had one a couple years ago (power commision) who was great to work with. he would take your knowlage and use it to his best ability, and we did a number of jobs for him.

i dont' think his rack was for roll over protection, but meant to support long loads over the cab.. like the one on my company truck in my gallery(but it's alum, insted of ss)

 

Thanks.

You still don't need 1/4" wall tubing... 12 or even 14 gauge would work fine unless he was carrying another truck up there. Properly engineered even 16 gauge would do.

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I used to work in a manufacturing plant making close tolerance hydraulics components and we would frequently get stuff from the engineers where you had to hold two tolerances which were mutually exclusive, like this exaggerated example:

...........<1">............<2">........
_____________|_______________________

..............<4"> +/- .25"...........

So much for 'college level' math.
:-X23

 

<I assume you guys are talking about those "ivory tower" type "school born and bred" Engineers, -not the real pro's that can and do build the stuff they draw. Those of us that have knowledge based on experience still shake our heads at the numbers of individuals that because they have some skill with math and have been thru the required number of classes think they are Engineers. >

That is exactly what the guy was, fresh out of W.W. University with an electical engineering degree! He had never dealt with any metal fabrication type of drafting before and had his time to get it with my skills! Was not very fun to deal with to say the least! But he was short lived at this place because of his limited and general lack of metal knowledge. We have one now that can lay a weld on par with me and it makes my life a whole lot easier!

I just think the material that was used is more for "look" than any thing! I have never seen anything as far as racks that are so heavy duty. 1 X 1" X .095 would have been good enough for what he does haul on it, PLYWOOD!! I don't know, takes all kinds I guess!