augers

[winton]

Have been reading this forum for some time now, I am impressed. Don,t know if anyone can help . Here it is, What is the best method of welding flighting on an auger to minimize distortion ? I normally do random stich welds. Also am welding a 1/4" rod around outer edge.

[easilyconfused]

I'm by no means a professional welder but on the farm that's what I've done too to repair flighting. Of course, with the neighbor who brought the thing over working a tool I welded up that's a slotted piece of sheet metal on a pole to keep it straight in line. I'd like to know what the professionals do too.

[Ted T]

Winton,
I don’t know what size of auger you are working on or what it’s use may be. But here is a URL of a large auger being manufactured. It may give you a hint about how they brace the flighting. http://www.washburncompany.com/MVC-300S.JPG
Here is some good information that may help you.
Replacement Flighting Supply {Specifications]
When all else fails, I suggest you continue to use small stitch welds to keep distortion at a minimum due to heat.
You may want to view this site also! Washburn Auger Repair, Flighting $ Conveyor supplies
Just a thought! Not knowing more about exactly what you are dealing with, is it possible for you to be able to insert a thick rod through the inside of the shaft (tubing) to act as a heat sink and restrict warp distortion?
Be safe!
Old Rusty Ted

[LarryM]

Hi winton,

Welcome to Iforgeiron. I would like to add that the flighting does not need to be welded, in one solid bead. In other words make skip welds about 2 to 3 inches long on one side of the flighting material. Then weld the same way on the opposite side of the flighting this time place you welds between the welds on the back side of the flighting. Do the same with 1/4" material you intend to use on the outside edge. A friend and I recently replace the flighting on huge corn head that fits on a combine. We just worked it alittle bit at a time from the ends of the auger. Because the inner tube of the auger was such thin material we use a wire feed welder. BTW the new flighting didn't follow where the old flighting was but it works just fine.

Hope this helps,
BE safe
Larry

[irnsrgn]

I replaced literally thousands of feet of auger over my years in the blacksmith shop. important thing is to straighten the tubing after cutting off the old flighting and to stretch the new flighting tight on the tube before welding it to the tube. One 1.5 weld or so every 4th flight is enough if its stretched and welded good on both sides at the ends. then roll it over and do another 1.5 weld every 4th flight between the ones on the other side. This helps balance the auger. Several of the implement dealers had trouble with new combines vibrating so bad it was shaking things apart and customers were very unhappy, the factory could not understand why they shook so bad, but the local dealers understood why and brought them to me. as I had been balancing unloading augers for years. they never left the shop without balancing first. At a seminar by the mfg they were stymied and the local dealer told them the augers needed to be jrized. which resulted in a call from the plant foreman, who was gonna send me 6 augers to balance. turned out it was 2 pallets of augers. then I got a call from the plant head engineer as the foreman wanted me to list on paper the problems causing the vibration. LOL, first thing out of engineers mouth was, "Poor design", what school did you graduate from and what kind of engineering degree do you have. High school drop out, degree in Common Sense. started asking all kinds of technical mumbo jumbo. When I finally got him to shut up and listen, I asked him if they had tried the augers I balanced. " Yes", Does it Vibrate anymore? "No". Change your design to my recomends. They didn't.
I made a good living balancing the augers as each new combine the dealer got it, first thing they stripped the Augers out and I would find them beside my shop to work over.
Other dealers started stripping the augers out too and shipping them to my local dealer, We kept enough ahead so a replacement could be shipped out to the otherr dealers when they needed them. Engineers never did get it.

[irnsrgn]

As to welding on a rod on the outside, only needs to be welded on the inside (center) of the flighting, as the outside is gonna wear off quickly, if the customer will allow you, replace with hard edge or rolled edge flighting. built in wear surface on outside edge.


Replacement Flighting Supply

Page Title I know these people personally.

[irnsrgn]

What is really fun is 3 to 5 ft diameter sectional coreten auger flighting replacement 5/8 to 3/4 thick.

[irnsrgn]

Oh yeah, one of the dealers employees reflighted several augers, put a weld ever 4 to 6 inches all the way around without stretching. even tho I balanced them, they would never run without vibration to be satisfactory.

[philip in china]

So Jnr it must have been good news to you that the manufacturer never did take up your design. Would have cost you a lot of business.

[irnsrgn]

idea is to put customer in the field and keep him there. Engineers don't like to be proven wrong and don't like advise from the uneducated.

[winton]

Thanks for the replies. The way it sounds that is pretty much the way i have been doing it over the years . Agree about the engineneers and their inprovements . I try and keep the wheels of agriculture turning on yellow combines. They like to save a penny so then we have fix before we even install the new stuff.

[Dr Dean]

Amen Winton! I work on the red ones so we may be under one big parent company, unless you work for cat. Where in the world are you located at? Irnsrgn is right on the money about reflighting augers.

[winton]

I live in MN. 100 miles from any where, in other words the part the weatherman stands in front of. And yes it is not cat. You are not part of the titan crew?

[habu68]

idea is to put customer in the field and keep him there. Engineers don't like to be proven wrong and don't like advise from the uneducated.

My younger brother, is a high school drop out, he just went to work for a company that he has been supplying parts to for 5 years. The company makes a large line of protective waterproof covers for phones, I-pods, blackberries and laptops and the like. In his first month on the job he has done a proof of product for a material change that will save the company over 5 million dollars and increase their production capacity to 5 times the current out-put using the same molds. Politically he is an out-cast with the boys with lamb skins, but the owner of the company is a hunting buddy from high school and his landlord for the last 12 years. Right now he is golden. :p

[Ice Czar]

its strange how timely this thread is, I wanted to fabricate some augers to do some drilling.

irnsrgn, what would be some typical flighting and pipe, pipewall dimensions for a four inch diameter auger and an eight inch?

(My plan is to do some rammed aggregate piers by hooking up a speed reducer that migrates from the auger to twisting bar stock when I'm done, then build a ram that doubles as a dead weight drop hammer. Piers are for deep foundation supports for the studio addition, which is slated to be 3 foot thick rammed earth walls)

[irnsrgn]

Augering (moving) product and drilling holes in soil are two different technologies. Usually boring augers have double flighting to help hold the soil for removal by putting two pieces of flighting on the center shaft thus it will have two cutting edges in contact with the material being bored just like an ordinary drill bit. There is much more torque on the center when drilling compared to moving material. for refrence take a good look at a post hole auger. and don't forget the shear bolt for when you encounter a rock or tree root. flying thru the air is for birds. kinda rough on people.

You familiar with the old style cable tool well drilling rigs often called spudders. for percussion drilling of holes.

Or the really old fashioned way of drilling holes with horsepower. basically a pipe with a cutting edge that you twist to drill the hole and fill it up then remove and dump it. Some newer drilling rigs use this old style method to drill wells now.

[Ice Czar]

You familiar with the old style cable tool well drilling rigs often called spudders. for percussion drilling of holes.

not by that name, but I was planning on just enlarging the hole with the augers, the initial drilling was going to be old school
(well maybe not that old )

was going to use the ram and a bitplug. It mostly clay here (alluvial deposit) The ramdrop hammer is based on a Venetian pile driver I saw in a video, but with a hand winch. The long term use of the drop hammer is to make forged stampings, in very limited quanities

when there is moisture in the soil its easy to dig, when there isnt, its like trying to dig baked terracotta, I plan On using drilling mud if necessary (only its not pumped back up) the plug approach seems the most likely for success unless I hit one of those buried gravel & clay stratus. I'll be going down between 5 to 7 feet, so I can probably just drive pipe as a plug most of the time, as long as I figure out how not to destroy the end Im smacking.