Non purged tig stainless roots.

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Hey fellas, just curious as to weather any of you pressure welders out there are using the self shielding tig rods? Ive got a job coming up in the generating station that they would be nice to use for, their arent many isolation points on this particular line and would require alot of argon purge. In the past we of course have used daming paper/bread and just purged from the outside but that never is ideal of course. The line we are installing is 6" sch 160, with a new flow meter with weldneck flanges, and also two other regular butt weld fittings. I have recently acquired a package of test rods from magna to see if its somthing we would like to run. Ill tell ya it isnt the easiest rod to run! most likely because ive only ever ran 2 pipes with it so far, 2" sch 160. Iam sure their is a knack to it, but i will admit i am most used to run the typical tig rods. This is a fairly critical joint, 100% xray, and mag partical throughout the sequence of pass's, 3000 psi. I will be required to go in and do a procedural test to qualify our utility comapny to allow this procedure to fly. Just more or less wondering if anyone has extensive use with it and if they like it? it may be somthing we'd like to use more often and get rid of our stainless "stick root" procedure.
Reply:Alternatively, you could use solar flux on the inside of the joints and use your normal rod.  It shouldn't be a problem, since you are not looking at a sanitary weld.
Reply:Originally Posted by Pressure_WelderHey fellas, just curious as to weather any of you pressure welders out there are using the self shielding tig rods? Ive got a job coming up in the generating station that they would be nice to use for, their arent many isolation points on this particular line and would require alot of argon purge. In the past we of course have used daming paper/bread and just purged from the outside but that never is ideal of course. The line we are installing is 6" sch 160, with a new flow meter with weldneck flanges, and also two other regular butt weld fittings. I have recently acquired a package of test rods from magna to see if its somthing we would like to run. Ill tell ya it isnt the easiest rod to run! most likely because ive only ever ran 2 pipes with it so far, 2" sch 160. Iam sure their is a knack to it, but i will admit i am most used to run the typical tig rods. This is a fairly critical joint, 100% xray, and mag partical throughout the sequence of pass's, 3000 psi. I will be required to go in and do a procedural test to qualify our utility comapny to allow this procedure to fly. Just more or less wondering if anyone has extensive use with it and if they like it? it may be somthing we'd like to use more often and get rid of our stainless "stick root" procedure.
Reply:we typically use two tig rigs and stuff rice paper in the top and bottom tube. 1 rig welds and the other follows 180 degrees blowing argon onto the backside of the weld. Thousands have passed xray this way.*edit*didn't see slowdogs post, we do the same.ESAB MigMaster 275Miller Econotwin HFMiller Syncrowave 250
Reply:6" sch 160 ss and tig all the way out? wow.Who makes this self shielded ss tig wire? I'd like to read up on it.We use regular ss tig wire with solar flux backshielding, thats what the company buys.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720
Reply:Hey snoeproe, yes this piping system is part of our combustion turbine generators, generally almost all stainless piping involved with these units. The coal fired boilers i deal mostly with 1 1/4 and 2 1/4 chrome. haha fortunately for us its tig root and hot pass, and then stick all the way out, still going to be a big joint but alot quicker, less heat input which will help us with less wait time to stay within interpass temp. Ive passed tons of xrays on stainless and i do enjoy it. We just found this rod that magna offers and thought it may be a nice innovation and substitute our stick root procedures on stainless. But frankly soooo far id much prefer to run a stick root over running this flux cored stainless tig rod. Hard to explain... but inside the rod is a flux which is burnt off while you add your filler, but imagine the actual stainless filler metal wrapped around this flux like a candy cane, and thats exactly how it burns off, very unpredictable, almost chaotic. The supplier said about 10% of the guys he has sold this to actually use it, the 90% other hate running it.Heres some information for those interested!http://www.magnagroup.com/products/m...re/dis_309.pdfLast edited by Pressure_Welder; 02-19-2012 at 09:55 PM.
Reply:I saw this wire a while back and asked our corporate welding engineer about it, and he said that he would need to qualify a procedure with it prior to using it in the field. You may want to check on whether it will comply with your procedures prior to using it on a piping system.
Reply:I've used flux cored stainless with CO2 shield but... that was a wire feed process.
Reply:Originally Posted by welds4dI saw this wire a while back and asked our corporate welding engineer about it, and he said that he would need to qualify a procedure with it prior to using it in the field. You may want to check on whether it will comply with your procedures prior to using it on a piping system.
Reply:How does it look after the hotpass? I did something similar a few years ago and I had porosity with the hotpass.Looks like more trouble then it's worth but I would keep a few rods in my toolbox--------------------------------------------------------------www.becmotors.nlyup, I quit welding.. joined welder anonymous
Reply:this rod is soley for the root, it creates a slag just like a stick electrode would, and chips off very easily. After your root you go right back to using typical stainless tig rod. It does seem to work well, just very hard to decifer puddle characteristics during root.