Stuff you have fixed today

[Hitch]

Fixed, sort of...more straightened.

The two guys making it managed to put best part of a 15mm bow in it, mainly from welding the angles on, then not knowing what to do to sort it, i got pulled on to it to sort it for them.
Bit of clamping, and strategic flame straightening here and there...

Sat on the floor after, all lasered in about +/- 1mm.

If you've ever done much with stainless you'll know it can be a pain to keep straight.
100*5 stainless box.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Fixed, sort of...more straightened.

The two guys making it managed to put best part of a 15mm bow in it, mainly from welding the angles on, then not knowing what to do to sort it, i got pulled on to it to sort it for them.
Bit of clamping, and strategic flame straightening here and there...

Sat on the floor after, all lasered in about +/- 1mm.

If you've ever done much with stainless you'll know it can be a pain to keep straight.
100*5 stainless box.

View attachment 385336

I mean with all the welds on one side it was destined to warp. Pre bend to pull straight with the welds best way to prevent it?

 

[Hitch]

I mean with all the welds on one side it was destined to warp. Pre bend to pull straight with the welds best way to prevent it?

Yeah, exactly.
Smaller box is much easier to do that with, like 50*.
Starts getting tricky on heavier stuff.

 

[Brad93]

Some 15mm stainless plate i had to heat straighten. Bloody stainless. It doesn't even bend back how you would expect.
Clamping action seen to induce a deformation.

 

[Barking Mat]

Care to elaborate on this technique of flame straightening ?

Links / techniques.

@Brad93 or @Hitch please.

 

[Hitch]

The simplist method is to heat opposite side to where you've welded, not always that simple mind.

So if you weld a T shape, out of 50mm box section for example, heat up the top corners of the T, opposite the welded areas to straighten it up. Keeping the heat to the corners of the box helps do it gradually or the side face will distort and look a mess.

 

[Barking Mat]

The simplist method is to heat opposite side to where you've welded, not always that simple mind.

So if you weld a T shape, out of 50mm box section for example, heat up the top corners of the T, opposite the welded areas to straighten it up. Keeping the heat to the corners of the box helps do it gradually or the side face will distort and look a mess.

Bet that takes some practice.

 

[Hitch]

Some 15mm stainless plate i had to heat straighten. Bloody stainless. It doesn't even bend back how you would expect.
Clamping action seen to induce a deformation.

View attachment 385350

I'd probably run a weld or two along the back edge opposite the fillet before it's cooled, and hit them off with a fibre disc once the lot has cooled.
Obviously this may not be acceptable in certain circumstances.

 

[Hitch]

Bet that takes some practice.

Easy to make a good mess!

 

[Brad93]

For any heat straightening to work there has to be one of the following:

1.) enough stress/tension in the welded assembly to resist expansion
2.) the weight of the component provides enough tension to resist expansion (unlikely unless you're welding 50mm plate)
3.) external forces (i.e. clamping) resists the expansion and forces the material to deform

Box section / frames / plate weldments have enough stiffness to resist expansion, therefore heat straightening normally works on them without any external clamping.

Flat plate however can wander all over the shop, it will expand and then just contract back to its original dimensions.

What you need to do is form a deformation on the surface, by restricting expansion.

When the whole lot cools and contracts, the deformation contracts more, and pulls the part straight.

 

[Brad93]

 

[minimutly]

Some 15mm stainless plate i had to heat straighten. Bloody stainless. It doesn't even bend back how you would expect.
Clamping action seen to induce a deformation.

View attachment 385350

I made the back bumper and rack for my first trike out of stainless tube of various diameters. It pulled horribly. I had to reheat with a big propane torch and pull it back. Then repolish it. It turned out ok in the end.

 

[addjunkie]

I once went to weirs pumps, and watched two old boys straighten a big pump shaft with a big flame torch. Impressive, shaft was about 5 to 6 inch diameter.

 

[Erie Fred]

Moving the CNC plasma cutter sides into the final place.

 

[awemawson]

The big 110 KW 3 phase generator that I use for my Induction Furnace:

I do regular start up tests as it's not used that often and we've had heavy frosts recently which aren't good for batteries. Started up like a champ on the button but after about 10 seconds the Deep Sea 3110 controller shut it down on over voltage - tried several times and it was repeatable. Now this happened several week ago and the 'fault' just went away - well it was back!

Suspecting condensation, and suspecting the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator card) as it's about the only thing that can create an over voltage I un-clipped it's ventilation covers (The AVR lives inside the alternator fed from it's own little alternator with rotating diodes - quite sweet really). Sure enough the wiring and underside of the PCB were wet.

A quick warm up with the workshop heat shrink blower and we're back on track. I left the generator running for a while with the cover off to hopefully disperse the moisture, but it needs a fair run on a heavy load to really warm it up.

 

[Barking Mat]

Moving the CNC plasma cutter sides into the final place.

View attachment 385398View attachment 385400View attachment 385401

Another believer in wonders of yellow paint, the best colour.

Or color, for you.

I was on the phone to America last week, spelling out an email address, I used 'full stop', he was lost, sorry I mean 'period'.

British English / American English.

 

[Erie Fred]

Another believer in wonders of yellow paint, the best colour.

Or color, for you.

I was on the phone to America last week, spelling out an email address, I used 'full stop', he was lost, sorry I mean 'period'.

British English / American English.

It's Rust oleum "Safety Yellow", and gallons of the stuff can be purchased anywhere, so it's easy to get matching paint later on.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Professional-1-gal-High-Performance-Protective-Enamel-Gloss-Safety-Yellow-Oil-Based-Interior-Exterior-Paint-K7744402/100390239

This was my first time using hardener, and I did like the results.

 

[Blobber]

The big 110 KW 3 phase generator that I use for my Induction Furnace:

I do regular start up tests as it's not used that often and we've had heavy frosts recently which aren't good for batteries. Started up like a champ on the button but after about 10 seconds the Deep Sea 3110 controller shut it down on over voltage - tried several times and it was repeatable. Now this happened several week ago and the 'fault' just went away - well it was back!

Suspecting condensation, and suspecting the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator card) as it's about the only thing that can create an over voltage I un-clipped it's ventilation covers (The AVR lives inside the alternator fed from it's own little alternator with rotating diodes - quite sweet really). Sure enough the wiring and underside of the PCB were wet.

A quick warm up with the workshop heat shrink blower and we're back on track. I left the generator running for a while with the cover off to hopefully disperse the moisture, but it needs a fair run on a heavy load to really warm it up.

View attachment 385559

View attachment 385560

View attachment 385561

View attachment 385562

Nice generator!

 

[awemawson]

Nice generator!

It was a bit of a wreck when I got it !

The story:

Puma / Dorman 6LE / MacFarlane B46B / 110 kVA Generator Resurrection

Puma / Dorman 6LE / MacFarlane B46B / 110 kVA Generator Resurrection

www.madmodder.net

 

[qwakers]

please dont judge... i'm still getting the hang of tig, and this certainly ain't pretty...

fuel surge tank had a crack in a weld. so i thought, i know, i just bought a really nice tig, lets give it a try!

i know it's awful!

but

no more leaks!