Dough separator drum for Bakery production

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I built this SS dough separator drum for a customer who has a custom Bakery equipment business. They are building the rest of the machine in their fab shop but didn't want to tackle the drum for some reason. They also approached a $180 per hour Machine shop but that company declined. I think they probably know that one off items like this are slow to build and that at $180 per hour the cost would be prohibitive.I haven't decided yet what I wil charge  for doing it but it was a nice change from woodwork and gave me some good TIG practice.My welds at the end of the project were considerably better than at the start. Fabricating is Fabricating though, it really doesn't matter all that much what the material is, cutting and fitting are much the same. Attached Images
Reply:more pics Attached Images
Reply:I can't tell from the picts, but it looks like there's a bunch of sugaring on some of those welds. Are you back gassing or protecting the back side from exposure? If not, that's going to be a nightmare to get and keep clean..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Once I got it sealed up a bit I back purged it. They want the drum totally sealed (welded shut)once the final drive shaft goes in. Nothing will get in or out of it so it won't present a cleaning problem.
Reply:Looks like quite the piece to fit together.  Did you have any problems with warpage during the welding?
Reply:Yes, I did have some difficulty with warpage on some of the .065 wall. Keeping the welds short and letting things cool down seems to mitigate the problem.
Reply:Looks like you have many hours of grinding and polishing ahead of you.My name's not Jim....
Reply:I'm done on this one, they want me to start building another drum. It will be similar in design but completely different in dimensions, so jigs and fixtures are not much use. They have a young fellow in their shop who does the polishing.
Reply:Originally Posted by worntornThey have a young fellow in their shop who does the polishing.
Reply:No, I think he is happy to have the work and the Bakery Equipment Company is OK with my work since they have told me to go ahead and build a second drum. It is not a real easy thing to build, as I found out.
Reply:I was a "polisher" For a shop for a little while and they did some food grade. Its not too difficult to grind it all down with proper grits and tools. I was able to have huge pots and funnels done in a few hours time. Those welds from pictures seem very easy to dress up so im thinking the guy is quite pleased. You should have seen some of the **** I had to polish. Talk about making a diamond out of a pile of turds.25 years of age.Been welding since Feb 23rd 2009.LU1007 Millwright (A1)
Reply:That's good to hear from someone who has worked at the polishing end of things. After reading the doom and gloom comments further up in this thread I decided to make sure that weld polishing would not be a problem with this drum. I polished out one of the welds this morning.  It was relatively quick to do and came out perfect, no pinholes.
Reply:When I was welding a lot of stainless we had polishers that would finish the pieces.I actually enjoyed sanding down the welds and polishing occasionally, it was nice to actually complete a piece from start to finish rather than hand it off to someone else.Really good work on that piece by the way!
Reply:Thanks for the compliment. I know my welds are nothing like the calibre of some of the fellows here who do the really top notch stuff, but they are solid and quite smooth. It's great to earn a bit of $ while improving my skills.  Somehow an actual project is totally different to weld on (harder) than any practice piece. This was a good job to take on, not subject to huge life threatening stresses or high RPM, just some tricky shaping and fitting plus lots of different weld postioning.I'll post some pics of Drum number 2 when it's done, hopefully there will be some improvements.
Reply:Nice way to make dough, eh?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:You bet!
Reply:suprising me about the polishing work. have standards changed? or am I using old equipment? the grinder is probably 15 or so years old, plus our old grinder is 25 to 30  years old & it is made differently, no meat came into contact with weld beads on old grinder, but our newer grinder, its a different story. the meat grinder is made of stainless, & it is just raw weld beads inside & out, we have to clean any buildup of "protien" every few days, & it takes a brass brush to the weld beads to clean them up. I know I wished the welds were polished. RandyMiller 140Campbell Hausfield migVictor torch outfitBlue Point torch setSmith torch with vintage Airco regulatorsVictor type A torch setHobart pipelinerLincoln Ranger 9Lincoln 225 tombstone