Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello everyone, I*m fairly new here, so a short introduction is in place I think!
First off, English is not my main language, but i'll do my best!

I'm 22 years old, live in Norway and just got my certificate of completed apprenticeship? as a pipefitter (2 years in school and 2 years in work)

Anyhow, this project started with replacing an old wooden pier with a longer, more solid steel pier (Galvanized).

So i had to weld 42 meters of T-bars on the sides, so that we could adjust the spacers for the boats

About 10cm of weld on top and underneath, NST 7016s 2,5 elektrodes, used about 400 all togheter. I should have gone for 3,2 electrodes Many hours spent on welding and grinding




Meanwhile, we were looking for a aluminium gangway, but it costs around 2000$ - 3000$ , so i decided to make one for alot less, but with galvanized steel.
I used a gangway made by professionals as a starting point considering steel thickness and style. Mine was 2 meters longer so i added some millimeters on the frame and pipes. I used google sketchup to draw and figure out some measurments. I ordered all the material through my workplace, the cost was about 1000$.

Galvanized pipe 33,7 x 3,2 - 24 meter and 42,4 x 4,5 - 24 meter
Angle iron 75 x 50 x 8 - 18 meter
T-bars 50 x 50 x 6 - 6 meter

It's 8 meters long, and I decided to make two parts of 4 meters, so that the transportation when it was finished would go smoother.


T-bars, One on each meter, making the frame less spaghetti, and works as "slots" for the gratings


MIG welded the top and side railing


MIG welded railing to the frame, one pass downhill and the last one uphill


Some uphill stick welding, with a downhill mig first


All the welds were cold galvanized shortly after welding, and later on we used some heave duty shipyard painting on all the welds. Everything were painted 1 stroke afterwards,


Plate to be fitted on land, and ofcourse we painted it.....


Transportation went smooth, both fitted in one car.


Feel free to comment, anything! And i will post more when it's all done!

Talent,planning
Good on you
Your written English is better than my spoken American

Thanks Rick!
I like to think that we Norwegians aren't so bad at English!

Kentweld wrote:Thanks Rick!
I like to think that we Norwegians aren't so bad at English!

I think the biggest issue is that Americans as a whole have terrible command of the English language, so we are not always the best example to follow. These guys are all pretty good with a few exceptions, but Americans would never be my first choice to learn the finer points of English from.

The project looks awesome, anyways! (Like Rick said, you're better off than a lot of the general populace over this way as far as English goes)

Thank you Sam!

I know that we Norwegians often translate our sentences directly to English, like the saying "it's not only only, but but".. This means like " it's not so easy, but whatever".. You can watch Petter Solberg on youtube, a norwegian rally driver with some hilarious sentences! Altough, it might be funnier if you know our language:)

I have seen videos of him, and he is indeed hilarious lol

Here is the rest of the project! Explanations attached to the pictures
As you can see, the whole pier is to be moved further away from shore

I cant say i'm so impressed by the welds on the pier, made by a professional company.. Note that this is not the situation on all the welds. And i'm not saying mine are the best around either, but it's just things i notice since i'm interested in welding. Dont you agree?!
Feel free to comment anything!

Here's a final picture, since it was such a beautiful weather today. That's rare here in West Norway..