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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / 2" Plate with mill end
- - By eekpod (****) Date 10-25-2012 18:35
I found these photos I took of some 2" plate that we had ordered and delivered 2 years ago.  They were full size 10' X 20' sheets but what surprised me was they didn't trim off the end or the side; they left it with it's as rolled profile.
It really surprised me at first and threw me for a loop.  After calling the suplier and mill and talking with every one back and forth it was deemed ok to use.  It was odd to see it like that.
Because I had two pieces of 20' plate, I had the same condition on one end of each plate becasue they took a 40' piece and cut it in half.  There was an extra 12"-14" on each end that could have been cut off.
Parent - By jwright650 (*****) Date 10-25-2012 19:06
Funny looking plate you have there....:eek:

Never had any plate delivered to us that looked like those.
Parent - - By MMyers (**) Date 10-25-2012 19:14
When I interned at a defense contractor that did heavy plate work I saw a stack, maybe 10 plates thick, of 4" thick titanium like that.  I had never seen as-rolled plate like that before and was kinda suprised it was titanium by its finish.  But they just threw it up on the water jet and let it work it's magic.  I guess square edges and the like don't matter much when your "datum" is a spot in space determined by the program.
Parent - - By mechan (**) Date 10-25-2012 22:59
Were they from a Chinese or US steel mill? (The titanium and mild steel)
Parent - By MMyers (**) Date 10-26-2012 18:55
Given the Ti I saw was at a defense contractor's site, I'd assume US supplier.
Parent - By DaveBoyer (*****) Date 10-26-2012 07:02
At the auto & truck frame plant, We got all Our plate in untrimmed. As everything was cut to size & shape in house on the line tracer, there was no advantage to a trimmed edge or end.

We also got 10x20 nominal plate, but at times the extra size worked to Our advantage, as we ocasionally needed a bit over the 10' or 20' dimensions.
Parent - - By Superflux (****) Date 10-26-2012 07:33
eekpod,

I have received plates with mill ends as pictured. However, the "as sold dimension" was well with in (outside) the "ugly zone". Proper (read creative) nesting on the plaz and burning tables for small parts resulted in a freebie for the company.
We were dealing with a lot of small, odd shaped parts though (believe it or not With 1 to 6 inch plate). Now if we would have purchased this for a single part measuring 10x20 (which was common) with the ends as depicted, then purchasing department would have backed me up on the reject and return of this material. Oh yeah, we would have VT, PT, MT, and UT'ed it to death and sent it packing COD, with a 2" thick report and a nasty gram threatening to find the next vendor on the Rolodex.

I think what happens in these cases is that the shipping is within a range of tonage (no extra cost to them) and the mill/vendor finds it is cheaper for them to let YOU absorb the cost of handling and whacking off the excess.
See, now these will make some nice 12 to 14 inch target gongs for those nut cases on the floor or office who spent their COLA, profit sharing, or Christmas bonus on something like a Barrett .50 BMG rifle.
Oh, I'm one of those....... Would you mail me the drops????
Parent - - By eekpod (****) Date 10-26-2012 10:52
It was an american mill, and yes your right, the extra material could end up to our advantage.  In this particular case it didn't matter the material was to be cut to something like 19' 10" so whether the drop was 2" or 2' at that point was mute.

It was odd to see and the only time Iv'e seen the raw mill end.
Parent - By qcrobert (***) Date 10-26-2012 12:53
eekpod,
Just as Superflux described, we receive raw edge material often but it is not an issue in that we shear the thinner sheets (3.16" & below) to correct width & shape & square.  Thicker material is nested such that raw edge is not an issue for the plasma water table or lazer.

In certain cases we order a specific size (usually oversized) from the mill which in turn is cut to exact dimensions off the coil.

QCRobert
Parent - By 99205 (***) Date 10-26-2012 17:04
Be sure to watch for delamination along and in from those edges.
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 10-28-2012 00:05
Hello eekpod, I believe everyone else has given you the complete rundown on the reasoning and such for this sort of thing. A lot of moons ago our school hosted one of our welding instructor's meetings and one of our tours was of Oregon Steel Mills. Back then they were still smelting their own steels, 45 ton blocks were being cast and then they were cut up into 4 pieces for rolling out into various widths and thicknesses. Just like cookie dough, the ends of these "roll outs" were as you see in your own pictures and most of the time these end cut-offs were simply slated for the next melt. The welding school that I attended often would purchase a truckload of these end cuts/trim offs for us to weld on. As others have said though, there were often lamination's in a lot of these end pieces. Another somewhat interesting factoid on those plates: initial preheat to allow for initial roll-out, continuing roll-out provided additional heating due to friction from compression and no longer required additional external heating. Best regards, Allan
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / 2" Plate with mill end

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