Welding stainless steel

I would practice on stock first. Dont know if stick would be fine bead or small detail. I imagine tig or mig are used more making these .

 

The manual metal arc (MMA/stick) welding rods normally have a coating on them that forms the protective slag as the weld cools. It is possible to remove this coating and clean up the metal underneath but the results would not be as good as just buying 316 bar in the size that you want.

It is unlikely that this type of welding would produce the small welds necessary to produce a cage. Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding is the normal method of welding thinner sections of stainless steel and is capable of producing very small welds.

 

You need a little tig. Stick is for big stuff like a frame or heavy equipment. You could do it with a mig but it’s hard to work with stuff that little and a giant gun

 

As a welder whith 25+ years experience welding every thing from under a microscope to very large structural steel and multiple different processes. You're definitely going to want to TIG this job . TIG is much cleaner , better penatration , and you can control the heat much easier. Instead of using stick rods for the cage parts , I would recommend buying the largest tig filler rods your local welding supply distributor has , they will already be polished and in the 18" or 36" lengths it will be easy to bend into shape.

 

harbor freight used to offer a small 240 volt tig/stick welder that would do this too. theirs similar ones on ebay for about 130 bucks or so. hint: your going to spend more on the argon gas bottle/regulator then the welder figure 299 dollars for the argon bottle and 30 bucks to fill it. depending on your risk factor(recall that argon bottle has 2000 psi or so in it) and hose etc cost 50-300 dollars for nicer untis.
as for stick welding unless your only welding this style locking plate, burn through is a huge possibility. even the tubes on many chinese belts if you try a arc weld , often leave a rough/discolored surface and well, its not a easy place to grind/sand.

Stick welding the problem is finding small enough rods to do thin work typucally i did a repair on a car using the and had to get tehse studid thin 1/16 rods and very low amperage, this is likely what your going to be facing.
problem: stick welding and tig welding are kinda companion processes, its very useful to know the 1st before
doing the second the big advantage of tig is that in *theory* you can do this in your kitchen in a white suit and it will stay white. why do i mention this, this is often the most likely place your going to find a 240 outlet to power any machine worth using, avoid 110 only machines like a plague infested rat on a ship unless its big blue/red etc. another option you might try is a company called


this style locking plate has a male version too and interestingly, is pretty secure for using a common luggage lock. the problem with the male version is well most they use a giant app controlled lock that well, ive not found too many alternate locks that actually secure it correctly. The problem i encountered may be unque to me where i generally have a daper over the belt and well, i don't trust that app lock controlled lock in this sort of application, it seems to be made to use a small discus lock or something nornmally but not found one small enough to actually keep the plate down, as thats how this locking deisgn works, the waist straps go into a slot under the belt and sat on a pin making it nearly impossible to undo with the cover down. . i

 

i can't edit the post but a company called redi arc does rentals but unlikely your going to find a welder there small enough for this task. thinking the miller maxstar tig units and etc. most of theri stuff is well , way above what your thinking and likely a chinese welder will be a better investment.
plenty out there and likely 10% the cost of big red or bue, plus your likely not going to be making tons of custom cages anyways. if you get to that point, then get a welder that flies your favorite color (red or blue) its all some voltage and arcing in the end!