Welding Tips and Tricks

Poland308 wrote: Started working last night on a 16 inch 300# steam main under ground. There still digging up pipe trying to find the leak. It has an insulation case and a welded 24inch jacket. If they can't find the leak visually then there going to bring in a smart pig. It's a robot that can ultrasound the pipe from the inside. Either way we will be cutting off the jacket and repairing the pipe, or cutting out some holes big enough to get the robot in. We only have a one week window so it may not all happen this week. I'll post more pics as I can.

Dang. Interested to hear how this turns out, Josh, please keep us posted!

We ended up patching the outer jacket. They couldn’t pinpoint the leak in the shutdown window we had. So there putting togeather a new plan to bring in a Smart Pig. It’s a robot that is put in the pipe and then ultrasounds the whole thing as it travels down the pipe. The only other option would be to run a whole new pipeline a bout 2miles not including expansion loops. Have to wait for the engineers and check cutters to decide.

motox wrote:5th
looks like most of that stuff is about .125 ?
do you favor 1/8 rod or 3/32?
craig

It's a mix of anything mostly from 1/8" to 3/8" and sometimes up to 1"

All the things in the last post were 1/4" and 3/8"

I prefer 3/32 rod until it's something like a 1/4" outside corner then I'll switch to 1/8. But for almost everything it's 3/32 rod

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Nice looking work 5th! You definitely have nice consistant looking beads goin On..

Pete

I've done about 60 of these 4" flanges in the last couple weeks. Weld a flange on, cut a 12" saddle 7" back from the weld...put another flange on. I'm not going to lie I'm really looking forward to getting the ss headers done with so we can move on to carbon, I've probably only got a few hundred hours welding stainless, and this is a 100% x-ray job for the power company, I'm just not completely comfortable with it yet (because of the x-ray requirement)

Sch 40?

Poland308 wrote:Sch 40?

Yup

Well, that is certainly impressive to a guy like me...When you weldup those long pipes with all the things coming off it do you have to figure for any distortion? Like weld the 2nd from the left then the third from the right kind of thing? I sure envy you all that get to weld all week. I am lucky to fire mine uo three times a week for paying work..(I just bought it to properly serve my boat customers as no one in the area can seem to do anything in a reasonable amount of time).

We didn't figure for any distortion in the pipe, it's there but not a concern. I bet if we Lasered the flanges the middle one would be 1/4" or so lower than the end ones... distortion isnt something that's typically thought about on the bigger stuff, especially here since install is going to be flange/ butterfly/ flange...bolts will pull it back no problem.

Donniev wrote:We didn't figure for any distortion in the pipe, it's there but not a concern. I bet if we Lasered the flanges the middle one would be 1/4" or so lower than the end ones... distortion isnt something that's typically thought about on the bigger stuff, especially here since install is going to be flange/ butterfly/ flange...bolts will pull it back no problem.

How do you start a project like that ?

Do you start from the center and use that as a reference to maintain the horizontal tolerance across the flange faces ?

Or do your comments above apply ?

kiwi2wheels wrote:

Donniev wrote:We didn't figure for any distortion in the pipe, it's there but not a concern. I bet if we Lasered the flanges the middle one would be 1/4" or so lower than the end ones... distortion isnt something that's typically thought about on the bigger stuff, especially here since install is going to be flange/ butterfly/ flange...bolts will pull it back no problem.

How do you start a project like that ?

Do you start from the center and use that as a reference to maintain the horizontal tolerance across the flange faces ?



Or do your comments above apply ?

I've been welding the 68 4" flanges. Weld it up, measure 7" from center of weld make a mark. 2 hole the flange, mark top dead center at my 7" mark and then we have a plastic template to mark the saddle cut, instead of a pipe wrap.

To weld them onto the 12" piece we turn the 12" on its side to 2 hole the first 4" flange...then turn it so the holes are facing up, and keep the 2 hole pins in the first flange that's now tacked. To get all the others we put 2 hole pins in the next flange to be tacked and use a 2' level laying flat on the faces of the flanges, the first one tacked and good to go, and we use the level sitting on the face of the flanges get the rest. Just push the 2 hole pins on the flanges tight to the level, now your 2 holed. Sorry for the book, not sure how to better describe it. And really with 2 holing, even if we get a tiny bit off it's ok, you got some play with the bolts, just can't be too far off.

We roll it over after they're all tacked and check 1 or 2 flanges quick to make sure we're good...haven't cut any tacks yet...o and we start at one end or the other

[quote="Donniev"

I've been welding the 68 4" flanges........................................

We roll it over after they're all tacked and check 1 or 2 flanges quick to make sure we're good...haven't cut any tacks yet...o and we start at one end or the other[/quote]

Thanks for your reply.

Donniev wrote: I've been welding the 68 4" flanges. Weld it up, measure 7" from center of weld make a mark. 2 hole the flange, mark top dead center at my 7" mark and then we have a plastic template to mark the saddle cut, instead of a pipe wrap.

To weld them onto the 12" piece we turn the 12" on its side to 2 hole the first 4" flange...then turn it so the holes are facing up, and keep the 2 hole pins in the first flange that's now tacked. To get all the others we put 2 hole pins in the next flange to be tacked and use a 2' level laying flat on the faces of the flanges, the first one tacked and good to go, and we use the level sitting on the face of the flanges get the rest. Just push the 2 hole pins on the flanges tight to the level, now your 2 holed. Sorry for the book, not sure how to better describe it. And really with 2 holing, even if we get a tiny bit off it's ok, you got some play with the bolts, just can't be too far off.

We roll it over after they're all tacked and check 1 or 2 flanges quick to make sure we're good...haven't cut any tacks yet...o and we start at one end or the other

Makes sense, nice looking pipe spool
Last shop I worked we had a T-Drill machine that would pull the tee in schedule 10 stainless.

Lt I don't have a ton of experience with ss, that stuff pull on you bad? I've welded sch 10 before, boss watched me like a hawk to make sure I wasn't going too slow when I was welding it

Donniev wrote:Lt I don't have a ton of experience with ss, that stuff pull on you bad? I've welded sch 10 before, boss watched me like a hawk to make sure I wasn't going too slow when I was welding it

Yes, it'll move easily. We use a level to make sure all the ports are true to each other.

My new job is gravy. And it pays good too.

Great news baby! Remember where you were a couple of years ago? Look how far you've come today by toughing it out, working hard, gaining experience and chasing your dream.
Congrats and well done.

Finished up a turbo manifold this weekend for a land speed Harley. It's my first time doing a turbo manifold, pretty happy with how it came out.

Also welded the bottom on a fuel sump that my buddy machined for his turbo bike.

@Oni
Nice looking welds and fab work

@LtBadd
Thank you sir

Hi all,
I lasercut a few more of the stainless practice cubes and tried an el cheapo pyrex gas lens.
I'm not sure if the increased coverage gave me less discoloration or if I was welding colder (or faster...). I tried to not remove too much of the material when welding.
I also added a max current control on my foot pedal which made the range more controllable.
It was really nice to see some pretty colours in the welds instead of the dull grey I have been getting.
I have my original cube and the one I did most recently. I don't think my filler feeding consistency is any better yet.

reflexsa wrote:Hi all,
I lasercut a few more of the stainless practice cubes and tried an el cheapo pyrex gas lens.
I'm not sure if the increased coverage gave me less discoloration or if I was welding colder (or faster...). I tried to not remove too much of the material when welding.
I also added a max current control on my foot pedal which made the range more controllable.
It was really nice to see some pretty colours in the welds instead of the dull grey I have been getting.
I have my original cube and the one I did most recently. I don't think my filler feeding consistency is any better yet.

Certainly looks better, does your machine have the ability to pulse? You could use a slow pulse setting to help time the addition of filler and give a more consistent looking bead

Last weekend. Pressure vessel repairs. Didn’t include all the photos but ground out an old coupling and welded in a new one. Plus made a repair on another pin hole on the coupling on the left. With the pt test you can see the stress crack that developed on the edge of the HAZ. Had to grind that out full depth as well. Beveled the base metal and the coupling. Then had to add a fillet per code so that I didn’t have to back weld from the inside.

LtBadd wrote:

reflexsa wrote:Hi all,
I lasercut a few more of the stainless practice cubes and tried an el cheapo pyrex gas lens.
I'm not sure if the increased coverage gave me less discoloration or if I was welding colder (or faster...). I tried to not remove too much of the material when welding.
I also added a max current control on my foot pedal which made the range more controllable.
It was really nice to see some pretty colours in the welds instead of the dull grey I have been getting.
I have my original cube and the one I did most recently. I don't think my filler feeding consistency is any better yet.

Certainly looks better, does your machine have the ability to pulse? You could use a slow pulse setting to help time the addition of filler and give a more consistent looking bead

Yes it does have pulse just haven't really had a chance to fiddle in detail with all the settings. My Argon and scrap supplies are running low at the moment haha.
I think it is almost time to construct something a bit more useful