Welding Tips and Tricks

I want to weld some cooling fins (1/8 x 3/4") on a hydraulic tank (20 x 18 x 15"). Would it be possible and help to fill the tank with water to help stop distortion? I plan on TIG tacking all pieces (1 1/2" apart) in the center 1st then ends and stitching short welds with cooling between.

Sound OK or no?
Aaron

You don’t say what the thickness of the tank is


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I have filled stuff with water before to keep it from taking heat damage. But it depends on a lot of factors. If your planing on getting full penetration then, when the puddle gets molten all the way through, the weight of the water will push out and cause a hole. If it’s a steel tank then your likely going to cause some corrosion by putting water in it. Weather or not that corrosion causes issues with future use depends on how soon you get it dried out and how well. Also with steel you can create hydrogen contamination that will make things brittle and lead to stress cracking. Most hydraulic tanks see a fair bit of vibration making stress cracking even more common.

Thanks. I'll start with no water and see how it goes. Wall thickness is 13 Ga HRPO steel.