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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / I enjoyed my spring break in a warmer climate..........
- - By aevald (*****) Date 04-03-2012 00:11
Hello everyone, have hardly had a chance to be on the forum this past week. For one thing my school was on spring break, I was "enjoying" a spring break of another kind. I occasionally do work for some of the local shops, this time one of them called me to see if I was available for a shut-down that they were going to man during my break time. Figured it was a good time to get my hand back into things so I accepted the offer.
     Long story short, an aluminum extruder not too far from me had made arrangement for a maintenance shutdown of one of their extrusion presses. This particular machine is rated in the range of 24,000 tons and had managed to crack the platen plate that the dies are housed in when it is in operation. The piece needing repair was 24" thick and had some cracks that were nearly completely through it radiating from a hole in it's center. We utilized 2 Miller Proheat induction heating systems to provide preheat (450 degrees) and when it's all said and done they will also be used to complete the heat-treating regimen of bringing it up to 1100 degrees. I was part of one of the shifts that worked on this for 7 days, 24hours a day. Ended up carbon arc gouging and welding for about 72 hours total for the time that I had available to help them out. I believe the overall rod use was near 350 pounds, give or take. Removed and replaced quite a bit of material, my warmer climate comment was directed to welding with the "heat on". 450 to around 500+ degrees was a bit of a water remover for this old boy and all of the gouging and welding was done in these conditions. Went through plenty of gatorade/squenchers and have a renewed appreciation for my teaching job. I know that many of you can relate to these sorts of jobs and work conditions, just felt the urge to share. Wanted to include pictures, however, I believe that the company that the work was done for wouldn't appreciate those being shared. Best regards to everyone and to those of you who are out there right now doing this same sort of thing, I feel your pain right along with the pride that comes from accomplishing something that not everyone is capable of. Afterall, isn't that what drives us to do what we do. Allan
Parent - - By texwelder (***) Date 04-03-2012 04:22
Sounded like fun to me for real
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 04-03-2012 05:07
Hello texwelder, the real irony to my story is that my teaching partner went somewhere where it WAS warm for fun, Cancun. Fortunately he didn't rub that in too hard. I guess that is also the part of welding that many of us share, we sound as if we are complaining when we speak of these sorts of challenges and at the same time we wouldn't have it any other way. It was really good for me, got to work with some past students and see how well they have progressed in their careers, got to work with some new technology, at least for me. Hadn't been around induction heating systems, they are slick. Lost ten pounds during that week and made a bit of coin to save towards one of my vacations sometime in the future. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By aevald (*****) Date 04-03-2012 06:26
Hello again, I did find a couple of pictures that I don't believe compromise the photography stand of this particular company. Some of you will appreciate this sort of challenge, others will only do so if they are ever put into a situation such as this and personally experience it. The major bore diameter is 10" the two side relief partial radius bores are around 4". Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 04-03-2012 08:10
SLICK.  Dangit Allan...I don't reckon I would spend my time off that heavy.  The whole job is very interesting, including the preheat method.    Post more at your discretion please.  I would guess process looking at the welds but .....well tell us more about the job.
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 04-03-2012 14:43
Hello Tommy and Tyrone, the majority of the welding was done with 5/32" E7018 and some of the more finessed fill-in was done with 1/8" electrode, but not on the welds that I have pictured. Much of the welding was also done with bent rods in order to have an electrode angle that wouldn't produce a ton of spatter. So in other words a fair amount of electrode waste.
     Amperages were roughly 155 to 170 amps for the 5/32" and 115 to 130 amps for the 1/8" electrodes. There were parameters for the work, yet not the typical type of WPS that might be seen, especially due to the odd nature of the joint configurations. Stringers for everything and no weaves, the weaves would have been difficult anyway even if they were allowed. Material analysis was done before hand and welding specifications were laid out from the return of that analysis and then presented to us informationally. I still don't know anything about the actual material other than it is a form of cast steel. All of the fill was brought out past original profile so that it could be shaped afterwards and finish ground. The shaping was performed with the carbon arc method for the most part and then a lot of time with various types of grinders to complete the necessary profiling. After all of the shaping a PWHT was going to be performed, but I was unable to be a part of that as I had to get back to teaching. I do know that they were going to bring the entire casting up to 1100 degrees and hold/elevate/drop it etc. as required. The physical size of this part was fairly substantial, roughly 7 1/2 feet wide, 8 feet tall, and 2 feet thick, a lot of material to heat. Hence the 2 Miller Proheat 35's to do the heating. Best regards, Allan
Parent - - By Tyrone (***) Date 04-03-2012 11:02
Very nice uniform looking welds Allan!
You should be proud of that job well done.
Tyrone
Parent - - By 803056 (*****) Date 04-03-2012 20:11
Interesting work when you can get it.

I know what you are talking about, that is, working with high preheat temperatures. I've worked on several presses over the last few years, all involving heavy cast steel sections. It is times like those that I enjoy being the one planning and supervising the repair rather than actually doing the repair.

Best regard - Al
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 04-04-2012 04:34
Hi Al, thanks for the comments. Your mention of presses probably encompasses some much larger presses if my memory serves me correctly. It was a unique experience for me and on a different level than I have ever been involved in something like this. I am inquisitive enough that the interest factor on this project outweighed the difficulty factor and made it somewhat enjoyable in a weird sort of way. Anyhow, have a great day and best regards, Allan
Parent - By Tommyjoking (****) Date 04-08-2012 03:19
Yea AL I suppose it was rather warm reaching up in there.:evil:  Looks to me like a very professional job Allan.
Parent - By Sourdough (****) Date 04-06-2012 04:08
:lol:
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / I enjoyed my spring break in a warmer climate..........

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