Big railing project

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Started a large railing this week 1400 lineal feet. It is only noteworthy because of the material size. It is for a foot bridge in Alberta. We are currently fitting and welding the posts, 283 in total they are 3" sched 80 pipe (0.30" thick) with cp welds on the 3/4 baseplates. The top rails are 3" sched 40 pipe, the midrails are 2 1/2" sched 40 pipe and the pickets are 3/4 round bar. Each base plate is welded to the post with 4 passes 1/16 metalcore wire, 85/15 gas.hastily made positioner.The railings also get galvanized hence the drain holes under the cope. I have a Fein Grit pipe coper which we normally use to cope railings but the belt is only 3" wide so these pipes get coped with the miter saw. Here is the setup. To ensure that the cope is even and both ends match there is vertical plate that is is used for alignment.I will post more pics as I progress.brad
Reply:You weren't kidding about a BIG railing project. I really like your rotary positioner setup, is the little clamp thing in picture #2 for grounding or just to keep it steady? Just curious if they required 4 passes and if so why would it be needed just for railings?TOO MANY TOOLS & NO MORE SPACE
Reply:When he said big hand rails I thought of story my dad would tell of job he was on. It was soooo big it had 4" hand rails and took 3 days to unload the soapstoneSent from my SGH-M919 using TapatalkLong after the price is forgotten, the quality will remain.Both of my Poppy's 1954 Short Hoods -Third generation to weld with it and teaching a fourthSA 2## - Bought and sold more than I can remember or care to list, 8 in the shop right now
Reply:Chris T - That is a the ground attachment. It is an old piece from a stinger I drilled and threaded a hole for a pin that fits in a tube with a spring in it. We have a procedure from the engineering company that designed the railing; they require us to follow it. The procedure has 4 passes for the thickness of the pipe. The cp requirement is just odd. I have made a lot of railing in my time and never had to make a cp weld on any but this ... engineers ... go figure.brad
Reply:Looks nice!
Reply:Awesome work!  But one has to wonder about the why?  The railing has to be a structural component, right?life is good
Reply:That's awesome!Regards,RobGreat Basin WeldingInstagramBlue weldersRed weldersMy luscious Table DIY TIG Torch cooler
Reply:I Like it!
Reply:Brad,Looks like you have that 1/16 metal core dialed in nice for a 1G weld.  If you don't mind me asking which  particular wire are you using and what are the settings?The only metal core wire I've had an opportunity to run yet is .045 FabCor 86R.  Thanks
Reply:wroughtn_harv - There is no structural component that I am aware of. Even a 1/4 fillet weld would have been overkill. I did not mention it before but every fifty posts I have to submit one to be destructively tested. They also want one out of ten pickets mag particle tested the same for the rail to post fillet welds. It seems a little silly I know but, the money is good and if the customer is happy with the work we may get an endless supply of it.4956- We use Lincoln MC-6. 25.4v at 216 ipm for the root and fill and a little less volts for the cap. I am not sure about the turn rate. I started by guesstimating the speed and then tweaked it until I was happy with the results. I could put a tachometer on it tomorrow if you would like.brad
Reply:Awesome Work!!!Proverbs 4:23My company welds.
Reply:Originally Posted by Brad Nwroughtn_harv - There is no structural component that I am aware of. Even a 1/4 fillet weld would have been overkill. I did not mention it before but every fifty posts I have to submit one to be destructively tested. They also want one out of ten pickets mag particle tested the same for the rail to post fillet welds. It seems a little silly I know but, the money is good and if the customer is happy with the work we may get an endless supply of it.4956- We use Lincoln MC-6. 25.4v at 216 ipm for the root and fill and a little less volts for the cap. I am not sure about the turn rate. I started by guesstimating the speed and then tweaked it until I was happy with the results. I could put a tachometer on it tomorrow if you would like.brad
Reply:hmmm ... I find it interesting that you were able to conclude that the engineer is a woman you know much that is hidden ...  or was that a lucky guess. I find that woman often make good engineers although this one seems to buck the trend..There was some talk of AWS D1.5 as the code that was being adhered too. I have not read D1.5 but I think that she may have designed this railing to conform to that standard.brad
Reply:Just out of curiosity, why have drain holes at the top of the pipe stanchions?, wouldnt they then fill up with water?
Reply:You weren't kidding about a BIG railing project.
Reply:Originally Posted by Brad Nhmmm ... I find it interesting that you were able to conclude that the engineer is a woman you know much that is hidden ...  or was that a lucky guess. I find that woman often make good engineers although this one seems to buck the trend..There was some talk of AWS D1.5 as the code that was being adhered too. I have not read D1.5 but I think that she may have designed this railing to conform to that standard.brad
Reply:Walker - The drain holes are for galvanizing the position was indicated on the drawings. There is also a hole in the bottom of the base plate.brad
Reply:Originally Posted by Brad N....) with cp welds...
Reply:complete penetration
Reply:Brad,Thanks for the wire brand and settings.  No need for the rotational speed
Reply:Originally Posted by 4956complete penetration
Reply:First batch of finished railings.Macro etched result of a required sample. I can not seem to get good details of this. But here it is:Small slag inclusion (in green circle) was within spec.brad
Reply:Nice.  Any special steps take. To keep warpage out of the top pipe.  It looks super smooth.Sent from my SPH-M830 using Tapatalk
Reply:Man, really nice. That's has some weight to it for sure. Looks like a crane lift for setting them or a flock of young bulls.
Reply:tapwelder - we are using solidwire and have a procedure for welding downhand for this job. I have been instructing the welders to distribute the welds diagonally (from toprail to bottom bottom) to help distribute the heat a little. We have a +- 3mm tolerance for warpage specified by the customer which is unrealistic as some the pipes are have more like 5mm deflection. When fitting the pipes have the side (if a pipe can have a side) with the greatest warpage facing up.BD1 - they are not light crane scale says 765lbs each.brad