[TheForge] last project

[RIES NIEMI]

on 6/4/03 6:12 PM, Paul Hewitt at bugnco@lighthousekeeper.com wrote:

> Just curious but you actually spend the time to EP the welds, I just take a
> small stainless wire brush and brush them hot as soon as I am done welding,
> takes the color right off.

I have found that even though the ss wire brush makes the weld look clean,
in time, particularly outside, the welds still discolor. The heat affected
zone has the chromium burned off, or recombined, or something, and so unless
you etch it back down to pure ss, it will turn kinda purpley brown for a
little ways around the weld. Of course, this depends on the size of the
stock and the amount of heat you put in it.
I have a bridge I built last year, 40 feet long and 12 feet tall, imagine a
covered bridge, but the cover is a skeletal salmon made from 3/8" round.
Because it was so big, we couldnt electropolish it, and I didnt have the
little mini polisher then, so we just wire brushed it. It looked great for a
month, but now, a year later, every weld looks kinda dirty. Not blue and
purple anymore, just discolored.

I have an electropolish tank, my friend owns a
> buisness and he mixes up his favorite concoction of acid and sends it down
> to me and says add X amount of water, his process is supposedly so secret we
> only get MSDS sheets I have no idea what is in it, but its BAD LOL.  He does
> hold a patent, and I do know his stuff works better than any other I have
> tried, plus I don't have to deal with the garbage I simply take it to him
> end of story he runs it through the reclaimer and that's it.

Wish I had someone like that- although mostly I design things to fit in the
tank, or components that fit in the tank and are site welded together with
the minimum amount of connections.