Welded together baseplate

[reverbz]

Hey Guys,

Is there any issue with allowing a baseplate to be made of 2 plates of equal material/thickness welded together? It seems OK to me but was hoping to get a sanity check.

Thank you!

 

[Greenalleycat]

The answer is "it could be OK, but it depends"....Give us more to go off
What is the baseplate for? How high are the loads? Why do you need to do this? Geometry? Are the plates stacked on top of each other or beside each other?

 

[reverbz]

@Greenalleycat

The shear loads are nothing crazy. a couple kips or less. Geometry is the reason it's an L shaped baseplate that's pretty big on each side. I know you can custom order it but would be easier for them to combine 2 plates. Beside each other for your last question

 

[Greenalleycat]

OK like 10kN. Not a huge load. Probably OK. Will presumably be getting torsional effects etc in the baseplate though so make sure you consider this
By the time they FPBW two plates together wouldn't it just be cheaper to get it fabbed?
They'll just start with a larger plate and cut a square out of it to get the L?

 

[Flotsam7018]

Even most small fab shops these days have a plasma table, so I wouldn’t worry about an L-shaped plate. In fact, I would prefer it. CJP welding two thick plates is more work and controlling distortion of the plate can be quite a challenge.

 

[Ron247]

I don't know what your material is, but I agree with the others, it seems like even a mediocre burn table (or a cracker-jack with a hand torch) could do the job. Prepping a plate and keeping a welded plate from distorting seems like a lot of work. I have not had many instances where baseplates needed much scrutiny but your case may be more complex.

 

[HTURKAK]

I would prefer to cut a larger plate and get the L shape. IMO, butt welding of two plates , examination of joint ( typical RT in oil industry ) would be more expensive .