Brushed Finish on Stainless Wire Rack, Best Method?

Hi All,

I have started making wine glass racks from 1/4" / 3/16" 304SS. I would like a nice brushed finish. I have tried putting the finish on before TIG welding and re-brushing the weld areas but to get it to look right I have just had to re-brush the entire thing. There are a lot of hard to reach areas and it is a total PITA. I used a 4" wire cup on an angle grinder and a wire hand brush for the first few I did. They are starting to sell now so I need to find a better method. Any suggestions? Maybe a 1/4" electric die grinder with a regular wire brush wheel? Any types of wire wheel (brush material and coarseness) I should try first?



Thanks,

Adam

Glass bead them.

Google centerless belt grinding, its normally used to give tube a brushed finish, but i have done 8mm 316 stainless rod with a badly hashed up setup here and the finish is awesome. Treat the cut pieces or just full rods that way prior to weld up, goes really fast as in several feet a minute and is effortless.

Tig em, but use a large gas lens and good technique to really keep the oxide layers as light as possible - more a heat stain than any oxide build up.

Then google up the electrical methods of tig weld heat stain removal, works awesome on awkward crap like this, really gets the weld and surrounding metal clean and bright. Bit of practice and you get the power levels right and whilst the welds won't be brushed, the finish will be beautiful and clean. With practice will take about as long as welding the joint if you use a the big gas lens on the tig and get the minimum of oxide build up to start with. I just use a non conductive swab wrapped over a bit of stainless and dip it in citric or phosphoric acid. Acid strength is nothing near dangerous levels, say about that of vinegar. Power levels key though, to low and it takes ages, too high and the finish really matts out, just right and the weld takes on a clean bright is look and the heat staine will be gone off the rod, with out a noticeable etch line. its totaly silent, and easy unlike using a grinder with a brush.

I'm going to assume you want grain lines running longways along the rods. For that you probably want to use a wheel with

1. abrasive strands (e.g. Klingspor MacMop or "abrasive nylon brush wheel"), or
2. abrasive flaps slit into narrow sections ("slashed flap wheel" or "slit flap wheel"), or
3. a non-woven convolute or unified wheel with low density (soft) construction.

You want to use a wheel wide enough to easily surround your rod, but no wider if you're finishing post-welding as it becomes really hard to get a nice finish at joints between non-parallel rods with a wider wheel.

While I suppose you could put one of these wheels on a die grinder or angle grinder, the classic tool is a buffer (long-shaft bench or pedestal grinder, small ones are sometimes called a dentist's or jeweler's lathe) so you have lots of clearance room to manipulate the part as you present it to the wheel.

adama's suggestion of pre-brushing the rod is a good one. I always try to pregrind HR material before welding, or even before cutting, as it's much easier to deal with when it's still in linear bar form, and that would apply to brush finishing SS also. I don't have any experience with his electrical decoloring of SS welds.

adama said:

Google centerless belt grinding, its normally used to give tube a brushed finish, but i have done 8mm 316 stainless rod with a badly hashed up setup here and the finish is awesome. Treat the cut pieces or just full rods that way prior to weld up, goes really fast as in several feet a minute and is effortless.

Tig em, but use a large gas lens and good technique to really keep the oxide layers as light as possible - more a heat stain than any oxide build up.

Then google up the electrical methods of tig weld heat stain removal, works awesome on awkward crap like this, really gets the weld and surrounding metal clean and bright. Bit of practice and you get the power levels right and whilst the welds won't be brushed, the finish will be beautiful and clean. With practice will take about as long as welding the joint if you use a the big gas lens on the tig and get the minimum of oxide build up to start with. I just use a non conductive swab wrapped over a bit of stainless and dip it in citric or phosphoric acid. Acid strength is nothing near dangerous levels, say about that of vinegar. Power levels key though, to low and it takes ages, too high and the finish really matts out, just right and the weld takes on a clean bright is look and the heat staine will be gone off the rod, with out a noticeable etch line. its totaly silent, and easy unlike using a grinder with a brush.

Click to expand...

I'll check out the centerless belt grinding, I was not familiar with it. I had heard of electropolishing but had no idea it was suited for welds. I have a power supply, just need to get the right acid and I'm going to give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation!

sfriedberg said:

I'm going to assume you want grain lines running longways along the rods. For that you probably want to use a wheel with

1. abrasive strands (e.g. Klingspor MacMop or "abrasive nylon brush wheel"), or
2. abrasive flaps slit into narrow sections ("slashed flap wheel" or "slit flap wheel"), or
3. a non-woven convolute or unified wheel with low density (soft) construction.

You want to use a wheel wide enough to easily surround your rod, but no wider if you're finishing post-welding as it becomes really hard to get a nice finish at joints between non-parallel rods with a wider wheel.

While I suppose you could put one of these wheels on a die grinder or angle grinder, the classic tool is a buffer (long-shaft bench or pedestal grinder, small ones are sometimes called a dentist's or jeweler's lathe) so you have lots of clearance room to manipulate the part as you present it to the wheel.

adama's suggestion of pre-brushing the rod is a good one. I always try to pregrind HR material before welding, or even before cutting, as it's much easier to deal with when it's still in linear bar form, and that would apply to brush finishing SS also. I don't have any experience with his electrical decoloring of SS welds.

Click to expand...

I envisioned grain lines going around the circumference but I could go either way if it looks nice.

true temper said:

Glass bead them.

Click to expand...

Not sure if it would give the look I'm going for but may be a lot less labor intensive than what I was doing. Unfortunately no room for a cabinet right now. Need to get that new shop up.

My interest level went from 2 to 11 prime reason being the other half we ants a stainless dish drainer as she's fed up with rusting Chinese ware, I think I should pick up some stainless rod Monday, plus gas lens, I had a furic but some numpty (aka me) dropped a big carver clamp into the box without looking, I feel my wallet twitching.
It will probably be the most expensive dish rack in Wales!
I've seen electropolishing of welds but dismissed it as expensive, it seems it can be done on a budget, I have a power supply not being used.
Any recommendations on the steel, 316, 308 or what?, how about rods ?
Looks like a welding table might be handy!
Regards
Mark

I make fixtures for a company that applies a brushed finish on appliance trim. They use scotchbrite drums to apply the brushed finish.

Any chance of upsizing the frame, and/or downsizing the arms just a bit? Then you could through-drill the horizontal rods, insert the arms (going for a real tight fit), and weld as needed on the back. Use pre-brushed stock.

Chip

goldenfab said:

Not sure if it would give the look I'm going for but may be a lot less labor intensive than what I was doing. Unfortunately no room for a cabinet right now. Need to get that new shop up.

Click to expand...

The rack might not fit into a cabinet. You might have to rig something up.

If you were in Iraq you could hang it outside and wait for the next sand storm to put a texture on it.

I cant imagine how you can make minimum wage building those if you are manually brush finishing them after welding.

I make a lot of stuff out of stainless- usually 2 tons or more a year.
And I have a couple of rules- no mirror polish, no grinding. Of course you cant follow the rules every day, but you gotta at least try.

We prefinish all the stainless round we use- I hot forge textures on a lot of it, but we also use needle scalers, and other air tools to put on textures, and we also use disc, random orbit, and belt sanders, with scotchbrite abrasives. Klingspor will sell you scotchbrite belts for any size belt sander- I use my old makita 1 1/4" x 21", which can get into small spaces. You can also buy dynabrade belt sanders with itty bitty belts, and get scotchbrite for them, too.
not cheap, but they work really well and are built to last.
Dynabrade 14 Dynafile Abrasive Belt Tool, For 1/8-Inch - 1/2-Inch Width x 24-Inch Length Belts - Power Belt Sanders - Amazon.com

my go to, though, for stainless, is electropolishing.
for something like these racks, I would mount a big 10" or 12" scotchbrite wheel on my 2hp bench grinder, and prefinish all the round bar first.
Then, a very light touch in the tig welding.
For smaller, cheaper projects like this, I would spot electropolish the weld zone to remove color, with my portable weld cleaner. I have an ancient one I bought from ScreenPro, which I think was overpriced, but there are several manufacturers out there who make em. I use citirc acid from Stellar Solutions. Its easy and fast to clean the weld zone color, assuming you didnt put too much heat in when welding.

For bigger stuff, I send it out to be fully electropolished in a dip tank, by pros- my guys have a 4' x 4' x 8' tank of heated acid, and a 1000 amp power supply. But their minimum is at least $50, and they would probably charge at least 35 for something like this- and I dont think you have the price point to pay for it. You can try electropolishing in your shop- but open acid tanks will cause pretty much every tool in your shop to rust- hope you dont own any precision measuring tools or machine tools... Do it outside.

The picture shows mill finish round bar, with tig welds, that has been electropolished. No grinding, no sanding, no brushing. Just weld it up, send it to be electropolished. This piece is mostly 1/2" round, with some forged textures as well. But the itty bitty stuff you are using would work the same- no hand work, you just send it out.