whats a suitable steel for turning and welding

hi.

I was just about to order some EN1A bright mild steel bar, to add to my stock in the workshop, I am told EN!A is a free cutting steel suitable for turning, but while looking at the stockist website it says EN!A is not suitable for welding.

can anyone recomend a good freecutting bright steel that turns well and is

suitable for welding.

thanks steve.

its just plain old mild steel, unless you have a very specific use for it - more technically low-carbon steel, which contain no more than 0.30% carbon.

I'm sure that is very informative fizzy, but which one/s are weldable?

Also what is H-Steel?

Ian

Steve,

be sure to stay away from steels with either sulphur or lead. Both of these elements will lead to cracking.

Bruce

Hi,

Being as you found EN1A unsuitable on the suppliers specification list why not try there, or Google it and you'll get the answer in seconds. One search ("weldable bright steel" - 5 secs) found this - scroll down.  I really don't understand why folk don't try Google first, I feel that one should only post here when not able to find an answer elsewhere.

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 10/11/2012 07:43:36

Terry, I guess that many ask here in the hope of getting help based upon both knowledge gained and experience of using particular metals, machines and techniques. Simples. Remember one mans EN1A is another mans wouldn't touch with a barge pole because it is free cutting, and not necessarily suitable for components designed to take high tensile or shear loads. After all not everybody makes models.

if everybody took your view about "trying Google" and only"posting here when not able....." etc is somewhat unhelpful. I may have to ensure I never ask you for help perhaps. LOL.

EN3B will give you a machineable / weldable steel

Paul

Hi Mike,

As most people know, I am omong the first to offer help, and the link in my previous post actually took the OP to the correct information which I took the trouble to find for him. As only 10 posts are on show here on the home page the great majority of folk ask for help which is not available elsewhere or is very difficult to find. Steel specification table etc are widely available. I must admit I wouldn't be minded to offer help to you if you ask what tap drill you should use for a given thread just because you couldn't be bothered to find a table , but if you were lost on a machining technique etc that would be a very different matter.

The OP had already consulted steel specification tables to find out that EN1A is unsuitable for welding and I am sure that a little extra research would have found his answer very quickly and not have to wait a day before finding the information.

Best regards

Terry

Yay Terry, couldn't agree more.

I think Steve that other contributors have overlooked the fact that you are purchasing for stock and not for a specific project. You do therefore have to ask what proportion of the tasks you will undertake will involve welding. If, say, only 20%, then it would be foolish not to benefit from the free cutting results that En1A (230M07) will give just to be able to weld the 20%. In this case, either purchase a small stock of weldable steel or purchase as required. Of course, if a large proportion of you activity involves welding then forgoing the free cutting aspect of En1A may be OK.

Another factor is that welding most frequently, though you may be doing something out of the ordinary, involves rectangular materials. In this case, En1A (as per Macreadys) is only available in a small range of imperial sizes and you will have to purchase En3B. I only know of one supplier to the home workshop who lists EnIA in rectangles and having purchased from them what I received was certainly not En1A.

As a guide to relative machinability, Macreadys use 100 for En1A as a baseline for all others, giving 55 for En3B (070M20) and 080A15 (no En number, known as good commercial quality) both of which they quote as being suitable for welding.

Incidentally, they give a value of 130 for leaded En1A

In a nutshell then, do consider how much of your work involves welding before limiting a large proportion of your turning to materials that machine less well.

Harold

Terry the point is that you knew it was the correct information.

I have supplied bits in en1a which have been then welded to other bits of en8 and have not heard of any problems. I should point out that these were completely non critical items and that I am aware that en1a is not suitable for welding so wouldn't use it where there were safety or loading issues.

I work in theatre and spend most of my time making things do what they aren't supposed to do and frequently encounter the a**e covering no you can't do that with it! I'm much more interested in what you or others have successfully achieved than what some company who doesn't want to be sued says is not possible.

Sorry for the rant but this is the bane of my life.

Edited By David Colwill on 10/11/2012 11:15:20

Don't make my mistake and get EN24T instead of EN8! That stuff is a pain to turn, particularly when I got hold of a much bigger bar than I needed...

Live and learn.

The OP asked what steel is weldable and machineable and did not state the application.  In the absence of an application I would not suggest using the wrong spec. Using his keywords  a simple search found the information below in just a few seconds, It does not take an expert to understand it.   - click on the image

Learning to research in the quest of knowledge is the best education, too many students now only know how to 'ask teacher' which is one reason we fare so badly in international education tables.

Best regards

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 10/11/2012 12:00:55

Hi, free cutting steels are weldable, but, in most cases they need heat treatment either before or after welding and in a lot of cases both. The heat treatment depends on the nature of what is being welded and the masses of the sections i.e. a comparatively thin section welded to a big block will in all likelihood need pre and post heating and the temperatures are likely to be a bit critical too.

Heat treatment of this nature is likely to be beyond the scoop of most home workshops, and as Harold suggests, get the best grades for the different jobs whenever possible.

Regards Nick.

Oh dear, I do seem to have opened a can of worms.

I must say terry, I am not the type to ask teacher as you put it, but I am very much the type of bloke

who will ask friends and collegues for thier opinions, based on thier experiences.

I once saw a sign in a bar that read,

there are no strangers here just friends you havnt met yet.

I hope this forum is just that, full if friends I havnt met but who I can ask of thier opinions.

so thanks to all who have help me with my question.

back to the can of worms, I wonder what the can is made from

dare I ask the question here....

Steve
This question has been asked many times not only on this forum but on many others not being a civil enginear with a qualification in metals I use for my models any b*****y thing I can get my hands on. please excucuse the french as we used say in WW2, Do I say just get on with it and enjoy your hobby while you can

Bob

What is going on with these threads again most are unreadable as they go under the adverts.

Oh and enter gives you a double space so you have to to do shift/enter. for single space.

Have you just awakened after a long sleep!

Ian P

Steve

I'm not an expert in this field by any means and have put off making a contribution to this thread, until now . Nor do I have any experience in welding known steel types, just the odd bit of metal as I required.

That said I have often found this site very useful for a variety of data regarding materials etc. The only drawback is that it quotes in old EN (circa 1938 Emergency Numbering) and BS numbering systems so sometimes one has to refer to another table.

Regards

Martin

This link has some steel conversions on it that may be useful.

Edited By Martin W on 10/11/2012 18:48:21

Edited By Martin W on 10/11/2012 18:53:05

Isn't there a distinction to be drawn between EN1A and EN1APb? My favourite stockholder supllies the former in round and square and the latter in round only.

Neil