bolha bvd pipe welding rods

Date 02-23-2008 03:55

I used Bohler Fox BVD rods last summer (in Northern Alberta, Canada) on 16" and 24" Steam and Oil Pipeline project, is that the rod you are referring to? 550 grade pipe with 8010P1 Root and Hotpass, Bohler Fill and Cap. They are a Lo-Hi (100 or 11018?) downhand rod. A little strange getting used to them as I had never run a downhand 18 rod before. Nobody else on the crew had much experience with them either. The wire is sharpened like a pencil tip with a bit of gunpowder on them so they flashup very quick- no waiting around for the rod to get hot. You would think those rods would be good right out of a fresh can but we found that they were best right out of a very hot oven. Sometimes they would get the odd bit of fine surface porosity on starts. Tough to stack much of a fill with them on straight verticals and you really need someone on your heat to crank it up down the sides and colder top and bottom.

We were stuck using those rods because of an existing weld procedure and time constraints. This next phase that we are on the procedure has been updated to use Lincoln G80M wire for fill and cap. Much faster but we now have a huge hassle dealing with weather (using HexHut tents) and lugging those damn suitcases around ;)

While they are certainly interesting rods they are very expensive and hard to get here.

By growlerpipeline Date 02-24-2008 11:55

yea man, don't they fire up on the start? In the U.K. we use the whole range of b.v.d. good rod once you get the hang of it! you can't move them too much eh? They do seem to fill out, like you say, you need a good man on the heat. Have a good season! Growler.

By JTMcC

Date 02-24-2008 20:40

No you won't find those rods in use on a pipeline in the U.S.
The overwhealmingly predominant rods used in mainline construction in America are these: Lincoln 5P+ (or the newly designated 6P+, same rod-new name) for beads, 70+ (or the new and improved version 8P+)for everything else. Those will cover 99% of all manual pipeline welds made in the U.S.A.

JTMcC.

By pipeliner01 (**)

Date 02-24-2008 21:50

hurricunning, you workin' for waschuks or somerville. How's the union thing work with your rig (hand cheque and rig cheque), if u mind me asking?

By hurricunning (*)

Date 02-25-2008 04:34

Heh nope, we are with Kiewit if you can believe it. One of their first "Pipeline" forays. They have somewhat of a union. Rate works out to be pretty much the same as non union plus a few benefits in their plan. Cheers.

By hurricunning (*)

Date 02-25-2008 04:44

Yea they are neat. It does take a little time getting the finesse right with them. Not much wiggle room for any kind of weave with them either. You have a good one too!