Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
(OP)
Need help with lessons learned and potential gotcha's with in plant weld repair methods. Point is to repair and ship as good parts with proper repairs.
Is there a repair standard out there?
1. MIG process
2. 1010 steel
3. 2.5" sheet steel, fillet welded.
In addition, what is key to minimizing weld variation specifically tip changes and tip to work distances. tips are changed frequently.
Is there a repair standard out there?
1. MIG process
2. 1010 steel
3. 2.5" sheet steel, fillet welded.
In addition, what is key to minimizing weld variation specifically tip changes and tip to work distances. tips are changed frequently.





RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
My point is, the welder is necessarily paying attention, and _knows_ when there's a flaw in the weld. If he has a stronger incentive to keep going than he has to stop and fix the weld, he keeps going.
You're laying down, what 1/8" wire at 500A? And paying your welders by the spool consumed?
Think about the incentives you provide, and what behaviors they encourage.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
There is a std. It covers some repairs - but not all. I've seen weld defect standards for ISO. None of these directly address what we find.
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
Two and a half inch thick steel?
And you're getting a significant number of defects?
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
What kind of defects are you finding?
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
Don't see a lot of porocity, crater crack, undercut, etc.
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
http://www.weldreality.com/default2.htm
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
In certain applications there certainly is a proper way to make repairs, and fabricators are often required to submit repair procedures for customer approval, prior to making any repairs.
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
Customer agrees on our internal criteria, that is good. the other side of this gets to what unclesyd, stanweld, and MikeHalloran talk about.
I need to take action now based the inital posts, i'll let you know if anything turns up.
the toughest part gets to what Mike mentioned, the culture, behaivior and incentives - but this is a fully automated multistation setup, therefore its the setup and tip changeover people were talking about. thoughts? these are experienced guys who know welding, yet we keep having issues, production halts, returned parts, etc.
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
Fire the lot of them.
Yeah, I know, you can't.
So hire a not too bright high school graduate with a good work ethic, teach him the job, and let him show them up, just by doing exactly what he's been told. You must specifically instruct him to not accept input from the other guys, and you must instruct them to not give it. Physically isolate him if necessary.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Pitfals in welding repair - fixing parts in house
You must also develop a planned maintenance program and daily system checks of GMAW welding equipment; e.g., clean out or replace wire guide tubes, check drive roll tension, replace when worn, replace worn contact tips, purchase "flat wound" wire spools, etc.
Finally, assure that welders are properly trained for the work. There used to be great apprentice training programs through unions but now the employers must take that responsibility and all too often they do not.