Welding Tips and Tricks

Would speed cooling mild steel with an air hose be an effective way to reduce distortion?

It might be not be fast enough. People use wet rags behind the welder to stop distortion. Or clamp it to a big block of steel /aluminium. Or copper. Presetting (bending the opposite way to the possible distortion) also is very beneficial.

If you were to attempt to pre compensate for the distortion wouldn't that almost be like taking a shot in the dark and chancing to over or even under compensate?

southofheaven wrote:Would speed cooling mild steel with an air hose be an effective way to reduce distortion?

Mild steel really doesn't move that much, especially compared to 300 series stainless. Perhaps a photo or description of the part your concerned about would help someone provide a specific answer

Make some test joints, of the same one you are planning. Clamp a few, in different ways, varying amounts, and see how they turn out. And then you will have a good starting point

Pre-stressing weld fits for distortion is an arcane art, developed only from experience.

The suggestion to try a few samples before the money weld is solid. (Developing experience.)

I also agree that carbon steel distorts far less than stainless, and can sometimes be corrected after in the vise. It can also be corrected with ox/acy and a quench on the opposite side.

Learning how each particular weld will draw will help you fit for it the next time, and reduce the rework to resolve the problem.

Steve S