Stainless deck supports

[clinton]

We have this job to fabricate some deck supports for a custom house, the material is 316 stainless, 1/2 inch thick. The supports are 14 feet long and they start out at 17 inches wide then taper to 9 inches. The main web is beveled at 45 degrees on both sides with a 1/4 inch land to allow for a partial penetration weld, this gets a 4 inch by 1/2 inch flat bar welded to form what looks like one side of an I beam with a square corner. We are in the process of building the jig and hold downs for this, the hold downs will weld to the table and then wedges will be installed to lock everything down. The plan is to weld a little bit at a time keeping it cool to control distortion, but I am concerned that all the welding down one side will turn this thing into a banana, the hold downs are 1 inch plate and will be installed every 12 inches and the work bench is 5/8 thick plate with heavy construction and several thousand pounds of material stacked under to hold it down. Here are some pictures of the jig so far also the Lincoln 400 amp welder that we just picked up to do the job ($400 on craigslist) with Ln-7 wire feed, I opened it up and it was clean as a whistle inside we are running a three phase circuit today I can't wait to lay down some beads with this unit I know these are some sweet welders

[Francis Trez Cole]

thats a big project can't wait to see your progress as it comes together

[clinton]

here are some more pictures of the jig set up I will have the rest of the parts on monday I will begin welding, I got the wire feeder on a track above the bench so no draging the welder around, I wanted to build a boom that swings out , but the boss wanted this track system so thats what we got

[pkrankow]

I hope you have a convenient way of getting up there to change spools. That looks WAY up there, and that spool looks like about 50#, I would not want to change that on a step ladder. Slick system, I see that coming in as handy for a number of possible future jobs.

Phil

[Mainely,Bob]

here are some more pictures of the jig set up I will have the rest of the parts on monday I will begin welding, I got the wire feeder on a track above the bench so no draging the welder around, I wanted to build a boom that swings out , but the boss wanted this track system so thats what we got

Slick system.
What we had was a gin crane with 2 trolleys on the beam and both a light and heavy hoists.When we needed the Mig(a Lincoln suitcase,one of the LN series)aloft we just hoisted it up on the hook by way of a frame with an eye bolt on it.Come time to change the spool you just lowered it to the table and did it there then hoisted it again.An aux control box plugged in and hung down for adjustments
The heavy hoist positioned work and the light hoist handled light/medium work and tweaked or leveled things held by the heavy hoist,as well as holding the MIG.

[arftist]

Highly suggest you use an aluminum bench top under the stainless during the welding process, an inch thick would be good. Better to prevent distortion than become an expert at straightening.

[nuge]

Highly suggest you use an aluminum bench top under the stainless during the welding process, an inch thick would be good. Better to prevent distortion than become an expert at straightening.

How does the aluminium bench top help with warpage?

[clinton]

I hope you have a convenient way of getting up there to change spools. That looks WAY up there, and that spool looks like about 50#, I would not want to change that on a step ladder. Slick system, I see that coming in as handy for a number of possible future jobs.

Phil

I built the trolley so that it sits about 5 feet above the bench and the wire is in 30 lb spools, should be pretty easy to just jump on the the bench and change it out

[arftist]

How does the aluminium bench top help with warpage?

Due to aluminum's high rate of thermal conductivity, the aluminum acts as a heat sink, absorbing and dispersing excess heat caused by welding.

[clinton]

Highly suggest you use an aluminum bench top under the stainless during the welding process, an inch thick would be good. Better to prevent distortion than become an expert at straightening.

I know that distotion is going to be an issue, I will be welding 3- 4 inches at a time and moving around to keep the pieces cool, I have a right and left jig so I can have two pieces to spread out my welding. I like your heat sink idea, but it is a little late to do that now I would have to totally rebuid the jig.

[Mainely,Bob]

You may find that peening the welds helps eliminate the distortion problems too.

[clinton]

You may find that peening the welds helps eliminate the distortion problems too.

Ok thanks I have a needle scaler I will try that, I do not want to ruin one of these things I know there is some serious money in each piece

[clinton]

I finally started welding today I got the first pass done on both right and left side, I welded about 3 - 4 inches at a time moving down the piece and you could put your hand on it right after welding, I also peened the welds as per Mainley Bob's suggestion. The welding seems to be going well I went through a full bottle of tri mix in one day, that will add up quick and we only have three bottles in our rack. Here are some pictures of the progress I will finish the welding on the first two channels today and we will see how much distortion occurred

[Fe-Wood]

must be nice to have CNC waterjet to cut your dogs.... you dog!!!
Nice Work!!!

[clinton]

Yes Fe-wood it is nice to have a water jet machine at your disposal, this jig would have taken weeks to build with out the machine. I finished welding the fist set of channels yesterday, they stayed pretty darn straight, a little bit of an upward pull at the end, but well within acceptable tolerance, went through almost 30 lbs of wire and two bottles of tri mix gas, ordering 10 more rolls of wire next week