Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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50 isn't far off mate!
- Thread starter Onoff
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50 isn't far off mate!
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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- 12,442
- Location
- Sevenoaks, UK
Just an update. After a weekend of somewhat fractious emails between myself and the fabricator, with them starting off very defensive, it ended with me saying if they can't see a problem with what's been done then I'm at a complete loss & we have an issue.
They've come back this morning accepting my comments and putting it down to the individual welder who should have taken more care etc and not just "tacked" them. They are offering to get them to their ex employee who as far as I'm concerned was a TIG GOD and why up until now I'd raved about the TIG stuff I'd had done.
Feeling better now.
Thanks for all the comments. I'll post pics of the re-visited welding.
They've come back this morning accepting my comments and putting it down to the individual welder who should have taken more care etc and not just "tacked" them. They are offering to get them to their ex employee who as far as I'm concerned was a TIG GOD and why up until now I'd raved about the TIG stuff I'd had done.
Feeling better now.
Thanks for all the comments. I'll post pics of the re-visited welding.
Richard.
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Glad you got it sorted. They are very simple components to weld. Don't be concerned about the size difference Of the weld between the gmaw sample and the Tig weld as that is just the nature of the process and chances are done properly the Tig weld will be a stronger joint. Short runs/tacks with the mig although look ok are more susceptible to lack of fusion. I opened your pictures up on a lap top last night and put me specs on and yes I can clearly see the job wasn't the best and as hr Pointed out. Sample 4 on the bottom pic defo looks like a crack has developed from the crator on the end. By redone I would not accept them to be "gone over" because that's just polishing a turd or sweeping under the carpet as so to speak. They need doing from scratch particularly if they are a load bearing Part of the scaffold. I don't know much about scaffolding parts by the way. Welds taken out and new ones put back in by a competent Tig welder.
Glad it's sorted for now
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Thanks all. Got them back and they're better but not as "perfect" as I'd have liked. Bigger welds and better penetration. The bloke doing them wouldn't win any prizes for consistency that's for sure. I'm still convinced a better welder could have made them look tidier. Pretty sure the original guy re-did them. I did buff a couple up with a mini-wire brush in the Dremel and that actually made a difference - but got bored after 4 plus it was eating the brushes
All at the chandlers now have their rope strops crimped on.
Forgot to take pics but will when I collect.
Cheers.
All at the chandlers now have their rope strops crimped on.
Forgot to take pics but will when I collect.
Cheers.
Richard.
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The reasons for my questions are because I don't know the answers and I don't think you do either. The trial sample almost certainly looks GMAW. The nature of that process allows for a more convex higher built run. I dont though see why that is needed and as said such a short blast with a mig is likely to be effected with LOF. Tig welding on an inside corner won't produce a convex type bead it will always be slightly concave but tbh the joint is more likely to be sound if done properly. Mig/mag welding tends to hide its flaws where as Tig will give you a good idea on its general appearance. I believe your confidence is lost in the process because it hasn't been executed well. Penetration can be reasonably well estimated but unless you've either gone right through or have cut and etched it you won't know the depth for sure. Fusion on the other hand or lack of can be seen if it's on the surface but below that again it's an etch job I would have a lot of faith in the Tig process for those and done properly you would be supprised at just how strong a little Tig run can be. Send one to Hotrodder, get the standard you want on one and use that as an example of what you expect of the of the others to match.
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Afternoon, coming back on your two posts:
- I gave them the sample in my post #1 and said match that - wasn't fussed process what they used particularly. The welds on the sample looked uniform. Assumed they would use TIG as to me it was a TIG job. As said previous his old TIG guy was mustard.
- My post #6 says it all really. The young, new guy forgot to weld a few at all & then put the merest tack on one. Don't care how strong that tack is it just looks s**t and like he didn't care. A couple of the re-done ones are in fact quite distorted (just usable) but if he can get the rest "right" then it's down to the individual welder IMO.
- Ref penetration - in many cases he'd just used the TIG weld as a bridge.
- The fabricator himself has said now in writing the welder got a bit confused and thought the job was just to tack up. Sounds BS to me but there you go.
- No, not done any etching.
In my opinion some of the original welds were OK but overall there was a massive inconsistency as you put it "not well executed". Approx 11 out of the 22 done I had them split and re-done as the 2 U's were poorly aligned. Not unreasonable on my part to expect more uniformity from one to the other and neatness.
Have been in contact with hotrodder & thanked him for the offer. Time constraints and his pc going down meant I never got to him.
Would rather forget this job with them and anyway its Chrimbo!
Cheers
Richard.
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Onoff I know all that and I agreed they were not very good but you've not answered any question I asked In the post you quoted me on.
Onoff
In the land of the unfinished project I am King!
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Sorry, thought I had!
Why would you like or need bigger welds(reinforcement)? Some welds as stated were OK, the full width of the 5mm bar and just neat. Others were short across the 5mm and not level. Probably should have said fuller welds rather than bigger.
Why did you select Tig if you needed more weld metal? I didn't, I thought they would TIG it as it's "fiddly" st/st job. When I saw their first welded sample I picked up on the weld size and queried whether gas would be better.
How do you know you want more penetration depth? ??? There's big gaps with nothing more than a bridge of TIG weld between the two pieces
Have you etched any to see what depth your at at the moment? As I said in post#30 no, no etching done
