Welding Tips and Tricks

Have a machine at work that had a pretty damaged section, the stainless had actually been eaten away. This machine heats a by product of an extract process and recovers the alcohol and moisture.

I plasma cut all the pieces of 1/4" 316L Stainless, all I had was 3/32" filler so I tacked some together for the outside corner welds. 1/8" 2% Thor tung, #8 cup gas lens, 200amps Miller Syncro 350LX.

Nice!

Had to do a 1/2" thick flange today, sometimes its nice to crank the welder up to 275amps and let'r eat. Thank god for my TigFinger! Cuz my Tillman's were not happy..lol

How distortion was in that piece when you finished welding?

weldin mike 27 wrote:How distortion was in that piece when you finished welding?

None I put some decent tacks and skipped around, the flange is dead nuts flat.... I left it clamped to the table till it cooled as well ...

did you preheat it?

Wow, I thought the SS would shimmy no matter how well it was secured.

weldin mike 27 wrote:Wow, I thought the SS would shimmy no matter how well it was secured.

I always had trouble keeping SS sitting still, it wanted to move no matter how I restrained it. This looks like a job, nicely done.

Since I work with stainless nearly 95% of the time anymore I've learned how to lay stuff out, tack and let it pull in place. All the lower side piece s I double beveled to make sure I got proper support. I did not preheat this time....

rick
if its not to much to ask what how do you double
bevel, two angles or off set?
could you show an example?
craig

motox wrote:rick
if its not to much to ask what how do you double
bevel, two angles or off set?
could you show an example?
craig

I didn't take any pics of this setup but should be easy enough to explain. I beveled the sides and bottom of the shorter pieces I welded to the flange, the longer pieces just beveled on the bottom. The sides were beveled leaving a small flat, angles were around 40°-45°. This way when I welded I basically got full penetration and got a really nice fillet. The inside of the opening had my pieces offset 3/16" so on the inside it was like a big lap weld. The outside got a 1/4" fillet all the way around, same for the inside corners.

The next time I do something I'll snap some pics.

rickh
thanks for the chart.
that and your explanation
has made the process very clear.
is this typical of most of your work?
craig

motox wrote:rickh
thanks for the chart.
that and your explanation
has made the process very clear.
is this typical of most of your work?
craig

Craig, joint prep totally depends on what I'm doing and how much strength I need or of I'm working from a print that specifies joint config.

Well I was able to plasma cut off the old flange and weld that in tonight, also welded the new throat section to the bottom of the existing bag house. Should have the whole project wrapped up tomorrow. Then I have to knock out about a 30' section of sanitary pipe.

rick
sounds like an interesting job.
you do nice work
craig

Yes it is, I work for one of the largest spice and flavor companies in North America and the world. It is always something different and I do a lot of sanitary pipe which I enjoy.

Got this project all wrapped up tonight...turned out verynwell, I'm happy.

Fine work, Rick_H.

For a time I was building distiller's grain dryers for ethanol plants in Iowa, and I always enjoyed building transitions. It was always an "as-built", as conveyor lines, even in new construction, rarely meet with enough precision for an accurate drawing. I enjoyed the challenge. Sometimes a tape-measure and angle-finder were all that was needed. Sometimes cardboard templates. Sometimes trigonometry. Never the same thing twice. If I weren't able to do what I do now, I'd love to do that again.

It's a blessing for a craftsman, to rarely do anything the same way twice. I have no doubt you never dread getting up in the morning for work.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:Fine work, Rick_H.

For a time I was building distiller's grain dryers for ethanol plants in Iowa, and I always enjoyed building transitions. It was always an "as-built", as conveyor lines, even in new construction, rarely meet with enough precision for an accurate drawing. I enjoyed the challenge. Sometimes a tape-measure and angle-finder were all that was needed. Sometimes cardboard templates. Sometimes trigonometry. Never the same thing twice. If I weren't able to do what I do now, I'd love to do that again.

It's a blessing for a craftsman, to rarely do anything the same way twice. I have no doubt you never dread getting up in the morning for work.

Steve S

Cool deal Steve, yeah rarely is anything perfect, square, or normal...lol I use the same methods, cardboard templates at times, my FatMAX tape, angle finder, and my trusty old TI-83 calculator. I love it, I'm not sure I'd be happy on a line doing the same old welds everyday, even as much as I love to weld. I'm headed in for a few hours now to knock out 1 last pipe on a manifold system I started, we start back up production tomorrow after being down for a holiday shutdown.

I was shocked at how bad the old stainless had been eaten away...never seen it that bad. Truth be told no one was exactly sure how old this dryer was, guesses are early 80s, late 70's so it has had a ton of years or heat, steam and alcohol through it. We run a Nitrogen purge as well with it which I found some issues so I'm hoping it will be much better now.