S.S. Crucible

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A few months ago, I started on a S.S. crucible project. The flange(1 3/4" thick) is regular carbon, but the rest is 316. I started by prepping the steel to a 60 degree opening but messed up by not giving myself enough gap. So I had quite a bit of scarfing and grinding to get back to my weld. Deflection was at a minimum due to the strong-backs that I tacked on. We bumped everything back flat so the machinist could weld prep the inside of the circle. Because of the crucible configuration, the flange will not be xrayed, but it was still treated as a full-pen weld. I think it took me almost a day for the prep and welds.I used 1/16" dual shield with C02, running approximately 31.5v and 350ipm(it's a miller feeder, so the ipm is prob to scale).Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:What kind of foundry is this going into?
Reply:I'm not entirely sure where this one is going.. I'll get back to you on it.And here's a 8000 pound plate of 316 that's 1 1/8" thick. I used the bug-o and hand plasma to do most of the weld prep.. But even at that, it took me way more grinding than I wanted to do. After it was done, we shipped it off to be rolled.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:And here's a little clip of me flipping it around:Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:That's a big chunk of stainless  Nice work so far.Airco Ac/Dc 300 HeliwelderMillerMatic 200 (stolen)Miller Maxstar 150STLMiller AEAD200LE (welding and generating power) Hobart MIG
Reply:nice work. thumbs up on the bug-o setup.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:Nice.  I wonder how much that piece of stainless plate would cost.  Four tons of stainless, ChaChing.  Where's that going, any idea?Any finished photos of the crucible?  Thanks.Lincoln Precision TIG 185.Flex-Loc 150 torch.Super-Flex hose.Lincoln MIG 180.Victor Oxy/Act torch set.DeWalt Bandsaw with SWAG stand
Reply:After watching the video one of the suggested youtube vids was an ad for a bevel cutter. Thanks for posting. Very impressive.Regards,RobGreat Basin WeldingInstagramBlue weldersRed weldersMy luscious Table DIY TIG Torch cooler
Reply:Updates:The shell came back, so I used the bug-o to weld the seam. I had to get a little creative on the outside welder setup. I welded the root by hand since it was not a perfect fit up. After I round the inside down, I knocked off the strong-back and scarfed back to my root weld. I with the gap was wider. It took a while to get back to my original weld.After I was all done, we sent it back out again to be re-rolled because the weld still pulled the shell in, even with strong-backs.And I had to mis-use some ceramic backers because the prep was too wide on one end.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:After we got the shell back, I slapped the ring on, setup camp, preheated and welded till my eyes went cross-eyed. The 316 to A36 wire I used was 309 (83 lbs). When I was all done, we sent it out again to be machined. Now I'm waiting for the head to show up. I'll post photos of the welds later.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:That looks like a ton of work!
Reply:Wow! Awesomeness
Reply:What on earth does something like that cost? That's gotta be over $50,000.
Reply:Great progress. Thanks for the update.
Reply:Originally Posted by BrooklynBravestWhat on earth does something like that cost? That's gotta be over $50,000.
Reply:Nice work, I bet you check your measurements many times before doing something with that expensive material.TOO MANY TOOLS & NO MORE SPACE
Reply:The shell and machined flange came back, along with the head. We had to send the head out again for weld prep. I quarter marked the shell and head, matched up the lines and tacked it all together.. Even with those steps, it still had high and low spots. I used a porta-power to push the shell around, from the inside.   The first pic is my inside setup. I have the spring board clamped to the bottom of the table with some vertical boards pushing up.. I guess I gotta lay off the beer because I had to put a caster at the end to keep from dragging along. I was inside the shell for about 3 days.   I was curious about the weld wire I was using, so I looked it up online and realized that I could be running a lot hotter. So later in the project, I was running at 34.6v and a little under 4 on the miller 22a wire feeder. The wire is Kobelco DW-316LP.. The head weld consumed around 80lbs of the stuff.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:I spaced the head from the shell at 1/8".. But by the time I got a root pass in, from the inside, it shrank to almost nothing.. So back to the scarfing and grinding.Last edited by Brainfarth; 05-04-2014 at 04:38 PM.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:And finally, the pain in the @ss.. I had to put a plug in the end.. Not so easy with 1/16 wire. My hands hurt for days because of all the interpass grinding I had to do with a burr bit. The plug was about 2" wide and 1.25" deep.. Here's some pics of the plug, prepping, making sure I got everything out of the back side before continuing.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:Friday morning, the x-ray people came in and shot the welds.... My hard work paid off and I passed with no mentionable indications. Oh yeah.... That's some of the weld wire I went through on this job(sitting on the table).Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:That is more than a ton of work! You got a nice quaint little shop too.  I felt aches and pains just reading the thread, good job!! City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Wow very nice work. That looks like a fun job. How much does that thing cost?Ya gotta spend money to make money!
Reply:Nice work.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:cool what a couple hundred grand will buy these daysVantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Nice!!!Miller trailblazer302Millerxmt304millermatic 200lincoln squarwavelincoln SA250lincoln SAE400Climax BB5000I assume it will get refractory lined?