Coupler Question!

admin

Hey guys, I have a shop neighbor who is looking to beef up some couplers for his sand trucks. I am fine with adding another layer of plate and filling the holes inside and out as that is what he has been doing just to get another 3-6 months out of them. He said they cost $250/ea. My question is whether or not this is cast stuff or not. The surface looks slightly pitted like cast, but I'm not sure.Here's a few pics, Whatcha think?Last edited by amusick; 07-28-2014 at 09:25 PM.
Reply:They might be cast but they have been welded before so I'd say they can be welded again. Might be worth it to see if you can make them out of some kind of abrasion resistant steel so they last longer
Reply:A pump place down here in Vidor/Rose City call Standard Alloys does an abrasive resistant coating on the inside of pump housings that are subject to pumping less than clean water/fluids.  Maybe they can offer a possible solution.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:I'll look into them. I am thinking about wrapping a piece of 1/8" plate around it and welding solid. Definitely going to have to do something to the inside or the existing cavity will be a catch point. Any other ideas? Originally Posted by duaneb55A pump place down here in Vidor/Rose City call Standard Alloys does an abrasive resistant coating on the inside of pump housings that are subject to pumping less than clean water/fluids.  Maybe they can offer a possible solution.
Reply:I've done the patch work on lime silo piping and it just doesn't last. I remember the company finally going with something similar to, if not the one below.http://www.pelletroncorp.com/en/news...ipe-bends.html
Reply:I used to work for a pump company that used to apply a epoxy based ceramic coating to pumps that were used for very abrasive slurry mixtures. The coating that was used by them was made by Devcon, if I remember correctly. The coating was applied in 2 different color layers so you could visually see when the 1st coat was wearing away. We always bead blasted the parts prior to applying the coating with a brush. The coating is self leveling and set up relatively fast, so you only want to mix it in small batches.If you search McMaster-Carr for a ceramic coating they sell a product coating that appears to be very similar.
Reply:We have a company locally that does Urethane and Rubber pipe coating for the oil/mining industry, they also line pump housings and impellers. It adds majorly to the life expectancy of the parts, enough to more than justify the cost which is not cheap. Granted these are large parts but it's not too difficult for them to do small jobs once a core mold is made. If he has a lot of these it might be worth looking into.
Reply:Can't you just cutoff the elbow and weld on a new sched 40 or 80 elbow?GlenMiller Dynasty 200DX - Millermatic 350P - Hypertherm Powermax 45Want to sell!! - Hobart Handler 150
Reply:That is just a weld 90. Cheap, just cut it off and weld on a new one.
Reply:I saw an engineering disaster show that had one of those type couplings on a concrete pump truck fail and covered the whole side of a 10 story or so glass sided building. All the glass and metal trim on that side of the building had to be replaced.  It was in the millions of dollars. I don't think a sand truck would have the same danger as a concrete pump but it could get exciting when one fails.
Reply:Any time sand goes around a corner it will wear a lot of metal away quickly.   1/8" may give you 3-6 months depending on what kind of pressure/velocity the sand is hitting it at. If you have hard facing wire you could lay a pad of hardface on the inside. But by that time you are better off cutting off the couplings and welding them on a new elbowYou want to go with at least schedule 80.     The radius seemed a bit tight, if he has room to put a more gradual sweep in there he won't wear them through quite as fast.       If this guy has been hauling sand any length of time he knows these parts have to be replaced regularly.   Patch them might keep him alive a day or two but the fact is the part is wore out.      If this part wear on one of our trucks and we didn't have the replacement on the shelf, we would patch it up so we could run the truck till the new one showed up.     Trying to run a truck long term on a patch job on a part like that is short term minded.Thermal Arc  Power-Tech 10/270  stick welderLincoln buzz-boxPurox O/A setupNothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool
Reply:Would a extra long radius 90 help ? Weldbend  3 R ?   http://www.scribd.com/doc/88722803/WeldBend-Catalog-pdf
Reply:Originally Posted by walkerThat is just a weld 90. Cheap, just cut it off and weld on a new one.
Reply:What size is the pipe ? Might be a money maker for you to make him up a set of spares to have for when the orig set wears out then keep swapping them out for the new sets that you build
Reply:Use to have to repair 4" cal-mag material line used as a de-sulphorizing reagent for pig iron. The material is very abrasive and  no matter what we did to prevent the wear problem nothing seem to work. Used Devcon for emergency repairs and tried specially made elbows with different types of ceramic liners and nothing worked. Had to replace 18 90 degree sweeps 4-5 times a year. If you get the job of welding new elbows to the old couplings check to make the couplings aren't worn out since the elbows aren't very long. The inside of the pipe is going to be in worse shape than the outside so if you are going to put an overlay on it make sure it's big enough to have solid material to weld to and covers the entire impact zone. Good luck.
Reply:Thanks for all of the replies guys!If I were to go the route of welding in New 45 angles where could I find the pipe? Plumbing supply or would it be a more industrial pipe supply house?With welding in new pipe would there be a need to weld the inside of the joint? I would thing putting a bevel on both pieces would leave me with a filled out interior but I am far from a pipe welder for sure.
Reply:That is just a weld 90. Cheap, just cut it off and weld on a new one.