Welding distortion can be pain and this is about it. Wife wasn't happy with the kitchen table wooden legs and wanted some more modern. Well I welded new legs from 60x40x2mm rectangular tube and despite of having it clamped firmly to welding table, tacking and welding opposite sides, one of the legs went banana to the direction shown on picture (legs will be painted later, was just checking they fit). So two tubes notched midway, clamped to welding table and tack welded from all visible sides. Then removed, tack welded the only seam that wasn't accessible when clamped. Next I weld one seam, then the opposite side until all seams were done. This was without clamps and no wait for cooling. After I let it cool down I noticed one of the legs was quite much bent. Maybe ~3mm from each end. The other leg was relatively straight. This was the case for both of these assemblies as I made two of these. I can't recall, but I quess I did weld the long seams first and then the two short. I used tig, if that makes any differences.
Question is, how would you weld this to prevent distortion? With this as the tube is notched to the center, it wouldn't be easy to pre-bend it to opposite way and how could you know which one to bend?
In this case the distortion can't be seen, so it doesn't matter, but out of curiosity asking.
Question is, how would you weld this to prevent distortion? With this as the tube is notched to the center, it wouldn't be easy to pre-bend it to opposite way and how could you know which one to bend?
In this case the distortion can't be seen, so it doesn't matter, but out of curiosity asking.
