Testing out some new stainless welding trinkets

[clay9_24]

I got two new trinkets today. One i had to buy the other I found lying around.

Guess which one that I found lying around?

its a purge tower for welding on fittings. It is tapered for all the standard sizes of stainless tubing for sanitary welding.

It was really easy to set up on a bench to test.

You just sit your fitting on top of it.

Connect your gas purge line to the backside.

Set your tubing, or whatever you are going to weld, up on the fitting, get a couple tack welds then just spin it around as you tig away. Oh, and the second device is absolutely perfect for containing purge gas on 1in tubing.

Here I was going to try it out by welding a ferrule onto a short piece of tubing that I had been practicing with. It is three 1inch pieces welded together. I had an extra ferrule so I don't count it as waist, just as practice.

When all done you get a good purged weld that has zero crystallization and is very smooth on the inside. These pictures are without any cleaning whatsoever. It is hard to show the inside but there is full penetration and with just a little bit of brushing and it will be silky smooth. All in all it took about 30 seconds to weld this fitting on. I am super happy with my new toys.

 

[rollinred]

It is nice to see a properly completed weld job on here. Too often I see junk weld jobs that make me cringe. Great job.

 

[bucfanmike]

very nice, is that stillwater MN? we get down there a couple times a year. have to load my keggles for a trip lol

 

[clay9_24]

very nice, is that stillwater MN? we get down there a couple times a year. have to load my keggles for a trip lol

Well sadly not, I am glad you pointed that out it needs to be changed. I was going to college in Stillwater OK, living in Comanche TX now.

 

[chady74]

where did you find the cone at

 

[a_potter]

I'm sure you already thought of adapting the purge tower to weld fittings into kegs. Those are some nice welds.

 

[clay9_24]

i have other trinkets for welding fittings onto stuff that is in place.

http://purgeplugs.com/order.html?mode=list

if you are going to do very much welding buy everything they sell it will save you alot of time and money. Also, it will make you a better welder and if you are anything like me you need that.

 

[RonRock]

Nice practice. I've been wanting to give that a try with some scrap stainless tube I have also.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Mellman]

in the other welding post you mentioned that your buddy looked at it under a microscope - any pictures of that? Did he give any tips on what to do better?

 

[clay9_24]

sorry no pictures. i need to change my travel speed, pulse rate, lower primary amps, higher secondary amps, and get some steady hands. it is a good thing that i do not get my feelings hurt easily.

only reason it really wouldn't pass is due to that it was uneven on the inside. that weld inside that fitting would be easy to grind/polish to make it even, but what if I was joining two 4ft tubes together, how would i clean those up?

 

[RonRock]

Or a 90*

 

[Mellman]

sorry no pictures. i need to change my travel speed, pulse rate, lower primary amps, higher secondary amps, and get some steady hands. it is a good thing that i do not get my feelings hurt easily.

only reason it really wouldn't pass is due to that it was uneven on the inside. that weld inside that fitting would be easy to grind/polish to make it even, but what if I was joining two 4ft tubes together, how would i clean those up?

Yeah I've been thinking about this too, on welding long pipes or sharp angles how do you ensure your weld is "sanitary"

how sanitary do things really need to be? Obviously backfilling and using proper welding techniques is important but your weld above, isn't it good enough? if you're practicing good cleaning techniques and circulating cleaning products through the tube before / after a brew session won't this alleviate any concerns of nasties growing.

Don't get me wrong I'm anal about my cleaning process on brewday, and everything gets star-san'd, PBW'd, etc...but sometimes I wonder how much is really necessary.