The Armour Archive

Is it ok to use a plasma cutter on stainless steel and weld it? At my school shop they say that is creates toxic fumes, and won't let me use any tools on the stainless beside files and a belt sander. What is a better material to work with, plain steel, aluminum, or others?

For on your body, plain mild steel is where it's at. Save stainless for later, since the stuff is trickier to work, weld, et cetera. Stainless does perform well -- you're just not at the right place on the learning curve for it -- you're not quite ready yet. You will be once you've done some few pieces or a couple of complete harnesses in mild steel. Some people (me, for instance) use leather- or fabric-covered T-6 temper alloy aluminum for their shields, building something that's about the weight of the same thing in wood by the time everything's all together with hose edging, leather arm straps, and all.

I can't say why they don't want the plasma cutter used on the SS. While metal vapor is not kindly stuff to breathe, SS isn't exactly beryllium. Beryllium's vicious if you breathe or swallow it -- kill ya quicker than plutonium.

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"The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone..."

thank you for the info

I had a friend cut some SS with a plasma torch, I'll ask him.