Welding 40-Mesh SS304 .010 Wire Woven Cloth

Why must you weld? Solder? Braze? Mechanical Fastners? I'd guess that a good silver brazing alloy could work, but i know nothing of the rules/regulations/codes for food equipment. -----> This just goes to show my incompetance... I thought you needed 316SS to be food grade.

Laser welding? I know lasers like SS. but this may be too small.

Micro Laser Welding

This is in BioMech & BioMed

Welding may be difficult, Can your cut v-notched to make flaps in on the ends, insert 304"ss 1/4" rod (or flatbar) fold over the flaps, wire the flaps back into itself. Use the exposed rod on the v-notch, use that to weld

resistance weld

can be done as spot welding, with a roller, or a bar

Resistance weld. Unitek Miyachi makes them in sizes suitable for what you are doing. Orthodontists use their welders to build special stainless steel braces for teeth. Search "Unitek" on ebay for used equipment or contact Unitek Miyachi for new equipment.

Ed Weldon

Silver solder and soft flame heat will join the wire and mesh for you really nicely.

As RVZ717 suggests, is 304SS what you should be using for food grade material?

I assume your size is in inches? We use 0.02" woven mesh & much finer electro-formed meshes, typically we produce retaining rings which are placed on the back of the mesh then spot weld through the lot. Our products are mostly circular & not large so this may not work so well for you.

try using a copper backing and copper top plate with a bevel then fuse them (turn up the gas ) and up your heat then move . ps 2% Thor .040 its the start on the copper that will help, good luck

Good answer welderman it sounds like you know this stuff well and work with it all the time. I have limited success with TIG welding these thiner wire meshes because the machines I weld with will not get to low enough amps and make a stable arc. I checked into buying a machine to weld the thin stainless steel counter tops once but was surprised to see that it costed more than 3 of my inverter type machines I use for heavy pipe fabrication and general welding.

If you are determined to TIG weld the wires, it can be done at low current by clamping the wires between copper chill blocks. The wires will melt back and fuse to each other forming a nice ball. The melt-back will stop when the molten ball reaches the chill blocks. This is the way we weld thermocouples. Works very well, but no match for resistance welding.

This is a timely thread for me because I currently need to repair small holes in 325-mesh sieves used in our laboratory. The wire is 316SS with a diameter of 22 microns. I was considering the use of silver solder and a micro torch but I am afraid of burning out a larger hole. Any suggestions?

Bill Morrow

Bill, We do not generally recommend using resistance welding on materials, unless we have some sample material for test welds to determine the proper machine settings. Years of experience allows us to get close the first time, but if close isn't close enough, you will be disappointed. In addition, old screens can be oxidized or coated with contamination that isn't easily recognized by eye. If the holes are small, why not use some epoxy or RTV to seal them? Another option is to purchase some 325 mesh screen to replace the damaged screen.

try resistance welding. Tungsten alloy as an eclectrode. Another common method is Laser welding. The mesh has to be seated properly.

Resistance welding is the right choice for this application. It's clean, and you will have less distortion of the material. a rolling electrode will weld the mesh to a plate and vertical electrodes will weld mesh to mesh. I've been welding .010 dia. SS and Nickel wire for many years -- works great! .010" Nickel to Stainless works even better.