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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
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for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Mirror polishing a weld joint between stainless steel sheets
Q. We need a long sheet of about 20 meters long x 50 cm width of stainless steel with mirror finish...
Since there are no manufacturer close to our area that can supply this kind of sheet, we try to join multiple sheet and polish the welded join... How to polish the welded join so all sheet will looks like one sheet of mirror polished plate with no join at all?
buyer - Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia
June 25, 2008
A. You have at least 2 problems. #1 the weld seam. Even if you can match the profile of the 2 adjoining sheets, you may not match the color or grain aesthetics. #2 If you succeed, you will not be able to or you will have to blend in the entire sheet unless you mechanically work the whole surface.
AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
June 30, 2008
A. The majority of the issue with getting the same coloration is that the material used for welding the steel together is that it is a different composition than the sheet. If you can manage to get either MIG wire or TIG sticks of the same composition as the sheet you should be able to drastically reduce the visibility of the join.
Marc BanksBlacksmith - Melbourne, Florida
July 29, 2008
Q. Excuse, we have a project at hand "Egg Shape" made in 316 L stainless steel, 3mm thick. Now some lines from TIG welding are visible. Would you please offer any suggestion/opinion how to use TIG welding without welding lines after polishing the egg shape or any procedure.
- Kuwait
July 15, 2012
A. You might be able to reduce it with great polishing/buffing, but I doubt if you can eliminate it.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
First of two simultaneous responses -- August 15, 2012
A. I think this problem involves all of the preceding Q & A. You need the correct welding material and you probably need to blend in or polish the entire part.
AF Kenton
retired business owner - Hatboro, Pennsylvania
Second of two simultaneous responses -- August 17, 2012
A. This is a very common problem when dealing with plastic injection molds for class A or transparent parts that have to be mirror polished. When they are repaired with welding a different hardness is produced around the weld. It is known as heat affected zone or HAZ. The only way to overcome this is to plate the part and polish again. Plating provides a metal with uniform hardness for uniform polishing.
G. Marrufo
Monterrey, NL, Mexico
August 17, 2012
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