Thoughts on Stainless Steel

[Scupper]

I recently salvaged 2 pieces of Stainless Steel. The dimensions are 40"x 38" each and there is a marking on one of the pieces ".033". I would estimate these as being about one eighth of an inch thick.

They were mounted as kick plates on swing hinged doors such as hospital doors.

What I have in mind is to fabricate them into a small maple sap boiler.

I have tried to polish them with buffer and various products that claim to be for stainless but I can not achieve a real polished mirror finish such as the food grade maple sap boilers one can purchase.

I may have access to a (brake) bender and a young guy who is willing to give stainless welding a try. Any advise as to what I should look for here in the polishing, bending, cutting and welding before I learn the hard way...

Thanks for any and all advise.

[Shack]

If it was from a hospital I would assume it is 316L stainless steel and should polish up pretty nice. I have heard Mothers polish & a little buffing wheel on a drill will work. I know this worked on some 304 speaker grills we made awhile back.

Good luck!

[jeffreyd]

us brass o on them, or a true stainless polish. i have some for my stainless appliances that make them shine well. i would not use a wheel on them simply some elbow grease. follow the grain if you can see it, if not back and forth polishing. i have a flat stainless splash guard on my wall behind the stove which you can see the grain in. if i polish it against the grain, it does not look as good as with.

[Shack]

Good point Jeff. The stainless speaker grills we poliched to a mirror finsh were made to fit over a factory 6x9 speak. After the cutting out was done via water jet there was not much large surface areas left.

We used a variable speed drill and a new polishing wheel with Mothers stainless steel polish. They came out very nice.

[Farley]

if .033" is the thickness then it's about 1/32 of an inch thick also refered to as 21 guage, .133" or 11-10 guage would be closer to 1/8.

[CAMAN]

Stainless, depending on grade can be a bugger to cut and drill. Some is gummy some is just plain tough.

If its 316 it isn't too bad, if its 316L even better, and if you have access to a shear and it's only .033" thick you shouldn't have any issues cutting it. Bending will be pretty straight forward also, and you shouldn't have any issues.

I would TIG weld it for sure. When applying heat to stainless, (welding, heavy polishing) high heat will cause the stainless to release carbon and oxides that protect it, which will result in it rusting like any other steel. After welding and polishing you will need to apply a burn paste (phosphoric acid) which will reseal the damaged metal and stop it from releasing the carbon. After applying the phosphoric acid you will need to neutralize it with sodium bicarbonate to prevent etching.

Any other ?'s just ask.

[Scupper]

Wow! Now a guy like me can understand reply's like this.

My "Old Man" always said I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and if you were to look for me in there one would find me closer to the spoons and forks;)

All great information and surly will take away much frustration as my project comes together.

A neighbor stopped by and claimed the thickness was 22 gauge. He wasn't sure so he called his wife, yes his wife and asked her if she could break down the code of .033. It was similar to Mr. Farley's but only with a few extra numbers and dots mixed in. We pleaded with her to put it into plain "Rithmatic"

and she replied, about 1 32nd of an inch...

Thanks fellah's.

[tyeeme]

I recently made a new small maple sap evaporater The one I made was 316L stainless and holds about 10 gallons of sap Make sure when you weld it that you tack it together properly I tacked mine ever 3" with wire(GMAW) then I welded stainless angle iron around the top. I then TIG welded the rest. Take your time stainless likes to distort. Mine turned out good. I boiled plain water in it after I was done. Should be ready for sapping next year! Good Luck!!

[jigginjerk]

This might be stating the obvious but make sure you use stainless wire in your welder. As for polishing it, heavy compound and a lot of buffing with a power buffer. If you don't use a shear you will have to use a plasma cutter.