weld removal

By Sourdough (****)

Date 10-05-2007 22:09

No - air arc is the fastest AND cleanest way to get rid of a bunch of weld!...........

By cwf07

Date 10-05-2007 22:36

I agee with Sourdough thats the cleanest and fast way and if you are smooth will have hardly any grinding.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 10-06-2007 09:05

that thick there is no other way....200ft? man sorry hogan

By rangerod (**)

Date 10-12-2007 02:50

Would anyone be willing to give a brief description of the air arc process. Used one before but I kept having alot of trouble when I would go in for 2nd, 3rd passes. The gouged area would be very difficult to cut through on susequent passes. Any help would be appreciated.

Rod

By raftergwelding (*****)

Date 10-13-2007 18:48

i've had the best luck with angling the gouge rod and pushing it away from you just like pushing the weld out leaves it real clean and very little if any grinding

By raftergwelding (*****)

Date 10-09-2007 05:43

wow that sucks

By TozziWelding (**)

Date 10-09-2007 23:34

Arcair, Period.

By 357max

Date 10-10-2007 02:00

How about plasma arc gouging? No need to reposition/reload a carbon. At least a 80 amp power source should do it. Cleaner than the AAC.

By hogan

Date 10-10-2007 13:28

thanks for the idea 357max, but it seems a fair amount slower than air arc

By CHGuilford (****)

Date 10-10-2007 16:33

Actually, the plasma is pretty fast...up to a point. I'm not sure about the thicknesses you mentioned, but we had a demo unit to try out that used a special tip on the plasma torch for gouging. It was very easy to use, the gouge was clean, and travel speeds were pretty fast. (Even I was able to make clean gouges with it.) You could wash it side to side for wide gouges or dig in for deeper grooves. We didn't try it on anything over 5/8 T though.
It is more expensive, and more prone to breakage that air arc.

By swnorris (****)

Date 10-12-2007 10:29

And no carbon deposits like the air arc produces.

By darren

Date 10-12-2007 10:45

I do not think that there are carbon deposits when it is done right. perhaps some of the engineer types or people with related experience could answer more precisely. when we are done a gouge it is mt'd and we weld it and we are subject to a lot stringent codes and controls. the only grinding is done on some higher alloys or by newbies.
darren

By swnorris (****)

Date 10-12-2007 11:03

Agreed, but this is not something that is used every day, at least not in our shop, so not everyone is going to use the process properly on a consistent basis. Since the filler metal will not absorb small pools or beads of carburized metal, it has to be removed. Work with steel base metals shows that trace metal with only 1% carbon may stay along the edges. Such flaws may lessen weld strength and toughness. The copper from copper coated electrodes doesn't transfer to the cut surface in the base metal unless the process is improperly used.

By magodley (**)

Date 10-12-2007 12:01

Plasma arc will do the job faster and cleaner with much less smoke and noise, if you have a big enough machine. we have an ESAB PCM 150 that will flat walk and talk. Maybe you can rent one.
Andy

By 803056

Date 10-13-2007 15:15

Considering the amount of weld that need to be removed, you may want to consider purchasing or renting a mechanized carbon arc gouging unit. The time and money saved and the consistancy produced by the mechanized unit will pay for itself.

I have clients that use the tractor style mechanized units for bridge fabrication. They tack weld the components together and then carbon arc gouge the groove preparations. The U-grooves look like they were machined into the joints. They use run-on, run-off tabs at the ends of the joints. They also use the tractors for back gouging with fast, smooth, and consistent results. Very minimal clean up is needed.

You will find uses for these machines that you never considered before you owned it.

Best regards - Al

By 803056

Date 10-13-2007 15:27 Edited 10-13-2007 15:31

Here's a couple of websites I located that shows a tractor unit.

www.thermadyne.com/newsNewProductDetail.asp?div=ta&id=185

www.thermadyne.com/twecoarcair/literature/pdfs/section/64_2103_ARCGOUGING.pdf

Best regards - Al

By hogan

Date 10-13-2007 19:48

thanks for the info al