Valve cluster build

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Here's a project I've been working on for a little over a month now. It's a cluster that will be used to direct raw milk flow throughout the plant. All the valve bodies are used so the project started with squaring up the ends getting them ready to weld. I have a lot of pics from the building process so it may take some time getting them all on here.Last edited by dairywelder; 04-25-2015 at 01:58 PM.
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Reply:Squared up with a milling machineSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Getting the first bottom row lined up ready to tackSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:All the bottom rows are tacked together and laid out how the cluster will be builtSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:The first couple valve bodies in placeSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Used a piece of heavy flat bar stock to keep things squareSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Built the cluster in two halves this is the first half on the stand getting the welding treatmentSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Here's the second half tacked and ready to weldSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Welding the second halfSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Pic from inside a valve body. Sanitary welds all aroundSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Getting ready to marry the two halvesSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Attached Images
Reply:Got the halves tacked together. Halfway through the first weld in the last picSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Made the first couple cip (cleaned in place) jumpersSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Working on another jumper and pipe to go to a divert valveSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Jumpers are made, divert valve pipe work done, this project is almost over .... Now the polishing starts :/Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:dairywelder; nice work on a complex looking piece of piping.i.u.o.e. # 15queens, ny and sunny fla
Reply:My question to everybody here who works for themselves is.... What would you charge to build something like this? There's 158 welds I counted all 3" ss tubing plus tons of prep work and cutting and fitting. I'm wanting to go out on my own and get into contract work but the few jobs I've done outside of my regular job people look at me crazy when I tell them I charge $40 and hour for welding and fab work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Holy milk cow Batman!!  That could get confusing really quick I think.  Very nice work indeed.FYI, there are a couple companies under the same roof in Omro Wisconsin - Stainless Unlimited and Stainless Piping Specialist (920) 685-6830 - that can pull all those takeoffs from a solid section of pipe for a very reasonable price which would save a lot of time and $$ on a project such as this.  I used to contract with them to build fire truck manifolds when I worked for a major fire apparatus manufacturer.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:Originally Posted by dairywelderMy question to everybody here who works for themselves is.... What would you charge to build something like this? There's 158 welds I counted all 3" ss tubing plus tons of prep work and cutting and fitting. I'm wanting to go out on my own and get into contract work but the few jobs I've done outside of my regular job people look at me crazy when I tell them I charge $40 and hour for welding and fab work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:That's what I try to tell them! I had a guy bring me an old rusty header with some cracks around the flange that he wanted welded up I told him I charge 40 an hour and it would take me thirty minutes or so to clean it up and weld so I would just charge him 20 and he thought that was high! After I explained how I'm paying for gas rods and electricity he gave in and paid me but man it's like pulling teeth to get people to agree to a fair price for work where I'm at... People are cheap in mississippi Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:This project is taking too long, you need to stop "milking it"!   hardy harrr
Reply:Originally Posted by dairywelderThat's what I try to tell them! I had a guy bring me an old rusty header with some cracks around the flange that he wanted welded up I told him I charge 40 an hour and it would take me thirty minutes or so to clean it up and weld so I would just charge him 20 and he thought that was high! After I explained how I'm paying for gas rods and electricity he gave in and paid me but man it's like pulling teeth to get people to agree to a fair price for work where I'm at... People are cheap in mississippi Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:@ dairywelder - nice assembly of SS fittings and tubing.  Sanitary welds. Filler? Autogenous? SS grade and wall thickness?  IRT your hourly rate, you are giving away your talent and time.  Establish your hourly shop rate and do not adjust.  You can modulate the hrs quoted for the job, but no dice on altering your rate.Typical shop rates in our sector are $80-100 and $125+ for mobile/field rates. Recommend  or starters you double your existing hrly rate.  You do not want customers who believe you will complete custom fabrication & welding for "cheap" rates.  Tell those dudes to walk.Last edited by ManoKai; 04-25-2015 at 05:21 PM.Reason: spelling"Discovery is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought" - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Reply:Originally Posted by ManoKai@ dairywelder - nice assembly of SS fittings and tubing.  Sanitary welds. Filler? Autogenous? SS grade and wall thickness?  IRT your hourly rate, you are giving away your talent and time.  Establish your hourly shop rate and do not adjust.  You can modulate the hrs quoted for the job, but no dice on altering your rate.Typicall shop rates in our sector are $80-100 and $125+ for mobile/field rates. Recommend  or starters you double your existing hrly rate.  You do not want customers who believe you will complete custom fabrication & welding for "cheap" rates.  Tell those dude's to walk.Hello dairywelder, you have some very sought after skills, very few people are capable of the type of work that you have laid out and performed in your post. In particular, anything food related is of a whole other caliber compared to a lot of other industries. Unfortunately geographical location often dictates the rates that people are willing to pay. If you were elsewhere with your skills: whether building milking manifolds or other specialty equipment, you could very likely name your price. I have experienced this sort of thing when I have worked in various geographical locations around the US. I have seen skills in workers/craftsmen that were just phenominal and then found out what they were being paid, essentially peanuts by many standards. You have to determine what you are looking for in life and where you are willing to go to pursue it and once again absolutely awesome work. Good luck and best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:$40 a hour is, WAY to cheap. I do small /fab jobs on the side and I'm at least $85 per hour. If it's something I don't really want to mess with the price goes up. When your doing high end stainless you must factor in purge gas etc, argon isn't cheap.
Reply:Holy crap thats a rubix cube of valves and pipe...Great looking..must be fun repositioning it to weld around the seams...Of all the things I lost I miss my mind the most...I know just enough about everything to be dangerous......You cant cure stupid..only kill it...
Reply:I cant figure how on 40$ hour you can occupy and maintain the building you are in, and make a living. You are worth wayyyyy more than that, don't buy what greedy customers tell you.  If i guesstimate from where a get sub contracted stainless for waste water treatment plants, they would probably charge 10-15K * for a job like that. Nice work, thanks for sharing.* canadian pesos.
Reply:That's some mighty awesome work sir.
Reply:Dog gone Dairywelder, not only are we all cheap around here but we are supposed to be uneducated rednecks (just ask someone that is not from around here). You are going to have to quit doing work like and posting pictures. You are going to give us a really good name with work that sharp. I have friends here that charge $50/hour for welding, take small jobs, and are always getting hassled about their price. I have a friend over here that charges around $90 and is worth it and does not get too many problems. I spent the last few years leveling in the Delta and they pay $90-100+ an hour for field repair and only complain if breaks later. Good to see of the dairy industry still alive in the state. Been scarce around since the Grade A barns left.SA-250 TMDSquarewave 200Thunderbolt AC/DC1951 G.E. welder
Reply:$40.00 an hour would be a relatively decent price if you had a guaranteed 8 hrs a day stacked up every day and you had zero overheads.  When you're in business for yourself zero overheads doesn't exist.  There's a lot that goes into any small business that doesn't involve turning a wrench, swinging a hammer or actual weld/fab time for a customer."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:Wow guys great to see all these responses... Now let me blow all of your minds, I built that cluster for 15.50 an hour! I'm technically employed by prairie farms they bought the plant I work at a few years back. I spent my first five years there as the night shift maintenance man. During that time I taught myself to weld and my boss took notice and I took a little raise and have spent the last few years doing all the welding jobs at the plant and ignoring maintenance calls. I have outgrown where I work I feel kinda foolish providing this kind of work for such low pay but in the grand scheme of things I'm still pretty new at welding for a living. I've been in talks with a contract welder in my area about opening a shop with him but I feel that's unlikely to happen so now I'm faced with figuring out how to get out on my own and drum up some business. Things very much operate on the good ole boy system here and I'm a Texas transplant so it's easy to get discouraged when facing such a small market. I'm definitely open to advice my wife is an rn so our family can still pay bills if I have a slow start but I really don't know what steps I should take in getting started. I was thinking about going to welding school so I could have some kind of certs to show but was discouraged from doing that by the contractor I know but past that he hasn't been much help. I feel like I'm standing on a diving board but don't know how to jump off...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Anyone who can build what you show in this thread is worth WAY more than $15.50/hr. If no employers in your area pay more than that for your type of work, and you enjoy what you do... Maybe a nation wide job search is a good idea? Seriously, $15.50/ hr is such a ridiculously low wage for a man who can build a stainless unit like that... I am mad for you!IAMAW Local 330Airco 300 AC/DC HeliwelderAirco Dip-Pak 200 with Profax spool gunPowr-Kraft AC225Everlast PowerArc 200stBuffalo Forge No.21 drill pressSpeedglas 9100xxAirco, Oxweld, Purox, Victor torchesLincoln Ranger 8
Reply:Originally Posted by dairywelderWow guys great to see all these responses... Now let me blow all of your minds, I built that cluster for 15.50 an hour! I'm technically employed by prairie farms they bought the plant I work at a few years back. I spent my first five years there as the night shift maintenance man. During that time I taught myself to weld and my boss took notice and I took a little raise and have spent the last few years doing all the welding jobs at the plant and ignoring maintenance calls. I have outgrown where I work I feel kinda foolish providing this kind of work for such low pay but in the grand scheme of things I'm still pretty new at welding for a living. I've been in talks with a contract welder in my area about opening a shop with him but I feel that's unlikely to happen so now I'm faced with figuring out how to get out on my own and drum up some business. Things very much operate on the good ole boy system here and I'm a Texas transplant so it's easy to get discouraged when facing such a small market. I'm definitely open to advice my wife is an rn so our family can still pay bills if I have a slow start but I really don't know what steps I should take in getting started. I was thinking about going to welding school so I could have some kind of certs to show but was discouraged from doing that by the contractor I know but past that he hasn't been much help. I feel like I'm standing on a diving board but don't know how to jump off...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:$40/hr they pay for materials and consumables... that's $80k a year, for a guy who's on his own.... poor guy is probably eating ramen noodles every night you guys must have expensive hobbies...Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Ha I gave up on ramen years ago between me and my wife we pull around 80k a year and in central mississippi that goes a long way. That being said I know how underpaid I am I've been talking with a pipe welder who works for hankock he's encouraging me to go test there but theyre going on a three month job to Texas in a month and I'm expecting my first baby during that time so I need to hold off on that. I'm not sitting idly by happy with the low pay, but really if it weren't for this low paying job I probably would have never struck an arc so at least I found some direction in what I like to do for work while there. So who can tell me, would it be worth my time to go get some certs at welding school if I want to have my own little welding business???Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Originally Posted by dairywelderwould it be worth my time to go get some certs at welding school if I want to have my own little welding business???
Reply:Originally Posted by dairywelderHa I gave up on ramen years ago between me and my wife we pull around 80k a year and in central mississippi that goes a long way. That being said I know how underpaid I am I've been talking with a pipe welder who works for hankock he's encouraging me to go test there but theyre going on a three month job to Texas in a month and I'm expecting my first baby during that time so I need to hold off on that. I'm not sitting idly by happy with the low pay, but really if it weren't for this low paying job I probably would have never struck an arc so at least I found some direction in what I like to do for work while there. So who can tell me, would it be worth my time to go get some certs at welding school if I want to have my own little welding business???Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Purging something like that is probably pretty difficult. I'm curious what the inside of those welds looks like; the one pic looks ok from what I can see, maybe a bit gray. If the welds have incomplete fusion or sugaring, or technically even gray scaling, they can't be used for dairy. This is the kind of stuff that needs to be pretty close to perfect, and charging even $15/hr is too much if its just turning into expensive scrap if it doesn't pass inspection.Last edited by MikeGyver; 04-26-2015 at 09:21 AM.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:Mike, I can tell you from briefly working at a dairy doing some sanitary tubing that his work is a thousand times better than a lot of stuff I saw, and the little I did with a very limited skill set as far as that type of welding goes. Most inspectors aren't gonna look beyond the fact that it's buffed shiny. Of course, it depends on the place, but the one I was working at milked several thousand head three times a day collectively between their two locations.dairywelder, It looks to me that many  daries hire contract or inhouse maintenance guys that do everything. If you wanted to get out on your own, you would probably want to try and absorb some of their welding work. If you can already do all the other stuff, then finding the right guys to work for will be the biggest challenge. It can be insanely profitable, but at the same time they own your a$$.Expert Garage Hack....https://www.facebook.com/steven.webber.948
Reply:There are many process piping contractors such as A@B piping that do that type of work nationally and could work with placing you on jobs that would be local for you. A few of the guys I know in that line of work travel to the job and the company provides travel home for days off. Might be something to check into since it seems they are always looking for qualified help.
Reply:$40 an hour is what should go in your pocket AFTER you pay everything else.    Adjust from there.Vantage 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:Central Mississippi welding in a dairy, he's probably topped out at $15.50. You need to get in the oil and gas bidness to make more money welding. Weld some pipes for some stuff that can blow up and start a huge fire. Kinda hard to start a fire with milk.
Reply:Wow dairy, that looks damn good. Regardless on industry, our market should be paying craftsman like you $40hr as an employee of a company! It says a lot about the system.A lot of shops couldn't even turn the lights on for $40 an hr.-Niche
Reply:Mike guyver- the cluster was purged using an air muffler at the end of the hose and was given plenty of time to clear all the air out before welding was started. Discoloration on the inside welds is coming from the tape that was used to cap the bodies off starting to smoke while welding. I've tried different methods to get around this, use aluminum foil where I can but at this point haven't found a way around this. As far as passing inspection I'm not worried one bit after a couple acid washes all welds are going to be shiny and honestly better quality than 95% of the welds on pipe work that was made before I took over. I don't claim to be an expert by any means keep in mind I've only been at this for a couple years but I got where I'm at by taking people's advice so I'm absolutely open to tips. And Timmy tig is right I'm topped out where I'm at there are guys that have worked here years longer than I have and make a few dollars an hour less. I've grown as much as I can here it's time to move on just biding my time till after my baby comes and wifey gets settled with that before I take on a job that will have me on the road for weeks or months at a time. Btw here's a piece of pipe I welded yesterday no tape used foil and no discoloration on the inside weld. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:very impressive work love the detail . here are some of my last jobs
Reply:That is quite a project and well done ...Don't sell yourself short or cheap ...Excellent work20 an hour ...i would have laughed in there face...I have attitude problems that gets me in trouble also ....but they need a serious reality checkBacked my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:i get guys that rag on me pretty hard for doing "cheap" side-work". . . . .but, like i tell them, i have a day-job. i get paid. why would i break the guy who is just starting out if i dont have to? if its enough to fill the tanks for other work, and gets me another happy contact, i'll take it! but that is taking it easy on the little guy; the big guy pays whats owed.bottom line is, you gotta do what makes you happy, and if you can afford to do favors, and that makes you happy, do it! i like your style, establishing quality before you set your price. your quality is there.bosses stuff:trailblazer 325maxstar 200my stuff:sa 200fronius transpocket 180100 amp Lincoln w/f97 f350 DITKevin
Reply:Awesome job. I've done quite a few sanitary jobs, but nothing that complex. Even though there's a lot of repetitiveness, the complexity would keep me interested to the end.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.