Welding Tips and Tricks

Looking for technique on welding round to round. Looks to be 1-1/4 schedule 40 pipe on this handrail in need of repair. One weld will be round to flat and the other will be round to round. I feel good about the round to flat, but need to work on my technique on the round to round. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Send a picture of it if you can. By round to round And round to flat it hard to get exactly what you mean. If the flat end is the cut end of the pipe then you have lots of options depending on how you want the finished product to look. Scroll down through the what I welded today threads and you will find pictures of lots of tube joints and different ways to make it look.

Poland308 wrote:Send a picture of it if you can. By round to round And round to flat it hard to get exactly what you mean. If the flat end is the cut end of the pipe then you have lots of options depending on how you want the finished product to look. Scroll down through the what I welded today threads and you will find pictures of lots of tube joints and different ways to make it look.

Thanks for the reply. Ill get some pics up around lunch. What I mean by round to flat is if you cut a piece of pipe and butt it up to a piece of flat stock joining the two around the flat face of the cut pipe. And what I mean by round to round is if you have to pieces of pipe and butt them up to one another to make one longer piece of pipe. The two pieces of pipe is what I need to work on. Being that theres just about every position, and constant angle change when welding two pieces of stationary pipe, its pretty difficult for me.

Just as a heads up: are you aware that hand rails are subject to local building codes? I don't mean to preach: I only know this by reading other sites. There may some Eyes to dot and Tees to cross.

Artie F. Emm wrote:Just as a heads up: are you aware that hand rails are subject to local building codes? I don't mean to preach: I only know this by reading other sites. There may some Eyes to dot and Tees to cross.

10-4 Thanks.

heres an example. Just joining two pieces of stationary pipe. my problem seems to be moving up the "sides". The over head isn't bad and welding the top is fine. When i go up the sides it tends to crown up in the middle. Any technique or setting suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks!

Sorry the pic is sideways.

What process are you going to use ? Mig tig or stick?

Poland308 wrote:What process are you going to use ? Mig tig or stick?

Mig

I'm not to current on mig info. There are some here who could tell you feed and amps. Do you want to see the welds after your finished or are they going to be polished off smooth?

Whit90,
I usually don't give advise on Mig welding and probably should refrain now but I would weld the top and bottom as you have been and I would run the sides down hill. First thing I would do though is bevel the pipes and set a smallish gap, maybe 1/16 to 3/32.

I'll probably get beat over the head for that suggestion but that's what I would do. I have very limited experience with Mig and you should treat my advise accordingly. If I was stick (7018) or Tig welding it, it would be uphill every time.

Len

Poland308 wrote:I'm not to current on mig info. There are some here who could tell you feed and amps. Do you want to see the welds after your finished or are they going to be polished off smooth?

Ill be smoothing them out and painting, but id still like to lay a pretty, quality bead.

If the joints are going to be over a post, no problem. If they're going to be mid-span, I might think about inserting an tube inside the splice. Like is done in aircraft fuselage work. From your picture, the tube doesn't look that thick.

ldbtx wrote:think about inserting an tube inside the splice. Like is done in aircraft fuselage work. From your picture, the tube doesn't look that thick.

Since you're grinding to flush, you might take that a step further and drill some holes in the outer tube, then socket weld the outer to the inner for additional strength.

Artie F. Emm wrote:

ldbtx wrote:think about inserting an tube inside the splice. Like is done in aircraft fuselage work. From your picture, the tube doesn't look that thick.

Since you're grinding to flush, you might take that a step further and drill some holes in the outer tube, then socket weld the outer to the inner for additional strength.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. the rail actually broke where it transfers from a level pipe to an up hill angle. If that makes sense. so it would be hard for me to get a piece inside. Im definitely going to bevel the pipes to be joined. I just want to be able to run an uphill weld on the sides without it crowning up in the middle of the bead. I could run a downhill bead no problem. so i guess what im really looking for is UPHILL welding advice on PIPE.

Thanks!!

Whit90 wrote:

Artie F. Emm wrote:

ldbtx wrote:think about inserting an tube inside the splice. Like is done in aircraft fuselage work. From your picture, the tube doesn't look that thick.

Since you're grinding to flush, you might take that a step further and drill some holes in the outer tube, then socket weld the outer to the inner for additional strength.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. the rail actually broke where it transfers from a level pipe to an up hill angle. If that makes sense. so it would be hard for me to get a piece inside. Im definitely going to bevel the pipes to be joined. I just want to be able to run an uphill weld on the sides without it crowning up in the middle of the bead. I could run a downhill bead no problem. so i guess what im really looking for is UPHILL welding advice on PIPE.

Thanks!!

If you set the welder up properly, it doesn't really matter if you are running up or downhill. If it is thin tubing, you will be getting penetration regardless. I think it might be overthinking this one a little bit mate, jobs can't get much simpler than this one!!!! Especially with a MIG. I have welded kilometers of hand rail, and have never had to think so hard about joining pipe! I just v prep and weld, never had a problem so far.

If you are relatively confident in your welding skills, this should be a no brainer.

ok forget about the handrail! does anyone have any tips, technique suggestions, setup suggestions for welding a butt joint on some 1-1/4" S40. The sides of the pipe are my problem area.

Patience Whitt real help is coming. How soon do you need a reply?

Not trying to sound rude or sarcastic: however, my recommendation is that you learn how to weld and PRACTICE before you are welding hand railings or any other thing which done poorly can lead to more than hurt feelings. As Vincenzio said, that's some serious worrying and over thinking how to butt weld a pipe...

How do you get the Carnegie Hall?



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During your PRACTICE I'd suggest welding pipe as I would most likely do for handrails (NOT PIPE CARRYING ANY GAS OR LIQUID)

GMAW, 100% CO2, NO WIND or a windbrake in place as simple as a piece of cardboard clamped upwind from the joint, E70 wire, .030 or 035 whichever was probably already in my suitcase feeder. 1-1/4" Sch 40 either a heavy bevel to knife edge or gap set to .125" ish. I'd start on top, run downhill to the bottom. STOP. Repeat on other side. With PRACTICE and correct voltage/wire speed/travel speed you should have a slight crown above the wall thickness. Dress it with a grinder/pipe sander and go for paint.


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NOW GO BURN SOME ROD! (wire) and HAVE FUN.

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