BigKahunna-
I've read a number of your posts and am invariably impressed and on occasion floored by the depth of your experience and knowledge. That's not intended as obseqious kowtowing, just recognition of a superior understanding of both theoretical principles and practical application. That said, I want to condition the original question I asked: This is a hardmoney project, already bid and under production, without foreknowledge of the tank's minor distortion, and absolutely no possibility of an adjustment of price to cover the extra cost of fitting the anchors flush to the tankshell. The fact that there is no adjustment of cost relates to the hardassed attitude of the owners rep for the municipality who will just say it's my problem and I should have known- which I can not argue against effectively- and that their attitude from the beggining has been hostile and adversarial the whole time they are lipservicing me and the GC in charge of the project about how interested they are in being cooperative. Fact is, I don't like or respect these people and have decided my best relationship with them will be to adopt the stance as a contrator to screw them for everything I can and I ain't giving them nothing extra. I don't like to operate like that but my conclusion is they don't deserve any better. So, of course you're right about the Bozo NoNo on the slugging. I knew it but wanted confirmation. There's no one going to go inside the tank to swing a hammer either, the pain and paperwork and extra costs are insurmountable and I don't want to draw the attention of the owners to any problems they can make mountains out of molehills from. Also, the gap at the bottom of the anchor is only the first 6" up from the tank ring and as such I don't think I'd get much give from the shell there. That leaves me the option of dogging the tank shell out which may in the end become neccesary but I want to proceed if possible by just welding up the gap, which when I split the difference, top to bottom of the anchors 48", might be 3/8" 6" at the top and bottom. Your suggestion to skip weld and fill in the spaces with a good final cover fillet is what I had in mind, starting with solid tacks on the anchors, filling in the gaps as flush to the flanges of the channels to minimize the fillet reinforcement, and then putting in a single pass 3/8" fillet final pass. If absolutely neccesary, I might try reducing the gap at the top of the anchors with dogs and wedges or screws but if the gap is manageable with out I'd prefer to just weld it up. Do you think that much weld on the 1/4" tank shell to fill the gaps will result in a bad weld or damage the tank? BTW- the contract drawings specify a 3/16" weld for anchorage attachment which using an .045 dual shield 71M wire was never going to be less thn 1/4" anyway and now with the gap issue is going to be a 3/8" fillet for attachment. Your response would be appreciated.