Vertical up weld test

[jack hollingsworth]

Hey there, these are two weld tests i did today. It was bare wire ( 0.9mm ) and in the vertical up position. One is 10mm buttweld and the other is 20mm buttweld (Im aussy so its metric). I had to do it to become certified for DNV standards so we can build things for the international ships that come into the dock. These will get sent away and have all sorts of tests done on them. Hopefully they pass. I just thought i'd show how i did it.

[Thomas Dean]

Nice looking welds. How does the stringer bead look?

[irnsrgn]

Yeah, stringer bead penetration is the key, should be a nice small uniform bead on the backside too.

I was amazed at the Nuclear pipe test on 6inch, 1 inch wall test I tried at a shop meeting where the owner was the tester for the local nuke plant welders. first pass with tig and filler rod in a J groove with a small chamfer on the inside, second pass tig only no filler and a perfect bead forms on the inside almost flush, then 3/32 10018 for the next 2 uphill passes and then fill the rest with 1/8 7018. I was the only one who would actually try it among the 20 or so in attendance. Instructer did one side to show me and then I did the other side. Being a personal friend aside, he encouraged me to take the actual test and apply, but I turned him down when I found out I would have to suit up in an airtight suit and then set for possibly 6 to 8 hours to wait my turn for the 30 minutes allowed in the restricted hot zone. I sweat to much, for that business.

Edited September 2, 2009 by irnsrgn

[cami]

Yeah, they do look nice. In photo 17265 it looks like you had a little undercut on the left edge of the cap; near the top. It also looked like there was a low spot in the middle of the cap near the bottom of your weld; these two things might give you a little trouble. Don't get me wrong, you have two welds to be proud of, but I don't know how strict your inspectors are. Once I failed a test because of a similar little flaw.

In British Columbia, for the type of welding you're talking about, they would perform bend tests on coupons cut from them. Over here we usually prepare the coupons ourselves for the inspector to bend. Standing by the press as your weld coupons are being bent can make a fellow anxious but at least you don't have to wait too long to get the results!

The shipyards up here pay good money, but it's often a case of feast or famine. Is it the same where you are?

Irnsrgn, I've got a story for you:

***disclaimer: I've never worked in a power plant so all of my words on the subject are second-hand. ***

A friend of a friend (honest!) trained to do a specific weld in a reactor in Canada. Each welder was paired with a spotter, who made sure the welder didn't keep any part of themselves in a dangerous spot for too long, and spent weeks practicing in their suits with a mock-up of the joint.

When his turn came at the reactor, he got himself into position. His spotter told him to pull one of his knees back, so he did. His spotter then told him that one of his shoulders needed to move, so he pulled it back. Just as he was ready to strike his arc, he was told that his time was up and to get out. All that work and no weld!

As for welding standards that apply to nuclear facilities in Canada, I'm told that they're very simple: zero defects. It's such a serious business that I'm guessing the same applies in any part of the world. Depending what the pipe is carying, you'd be surprised how lax the standards can be.

There's a reactor at Delft University, and I've been around the campus...does that qualify me for anything?

[jack hollingsworth]

yeah the more i look at the pictures the more i pick at it. i know what to do different next time. When a ship comes in, its rush rush rush, and long hours but then its gone and everyone gets laid off until the next one.. thats what i was told, im in the fabrication shop where its more continuous. The company i work for is fazing out the ship repair as they cannot upgrade theyre dry dock as it is heritage listed now and so they cant be competetive.. but they have the facilities to take on any big manufacturing contract.

[Bryce Masuk]

Looks like you know what you are doing
shipbuilding is quite the industry some of the boats I have seen have inch and a half gaps filled in between plates it must take a long time to fill those puppys

[cami]

Depending on the joint prep and included angle (the total angle produced by the two chamfers on the plate ends) it can make for a fairly wide opening at the top of the plate....and of course, the thicker the plate, the wider the opening will be at the top.

I've never worked in a shipyard so I can't speak first-hand but wherever I've done work with heavy plate, my value to the boss was determined by how many pounds of weld deposit were made each day. You run wire whenever you can; the thickest you can manage. If you can't get a wirefeeder where you are, then you use the thickest rods you can manage.

I've had a a former co-worker and a former employer who were both former shipyard welders and one thing that came up in lunchroom conversations was what a hack-job it could be sometimes. As for filling the big grooves, I recall one of those fellows saying he used 1/16" wire.

There was an equipment manufacturer in Nanaimo who used 3/32" flux core wire. I know a few guys that worked there and two have commented on how the fat wire made quick work of big welds. Where I worked we only ran 1/16" wire...not exactly gigantic but you could still build welds fairly quickly.