Welding the Car deck on a ferry

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We bid on this job about two months ago, and I finally was able to get onto the ferry to do it last night. The deck on this ship is made from extruded aluminum panels 14" wide and a little over 30' long. According to the OEM four of the panels were the last four made with a defective die.  So these panels have perfectly straight cracks in them, running the length of the panel.After we won the contract, the companies that made the panel and the ship had myself and another welder certified for the process. And instructed us as to how they would like it repaired. This was a very interesting process for me, I had not experienced this first hand yet. In addition to the wps and certificaton, the origin of the material had to be documented.So I was pretty stoked to complete the project, but once I looked at the pictures of it this morning, it looked pretty boring   But I haven't posted anything in a while so..........here it goes anyway. There are some pictures of the cracks, the sheets that were welded over them, and what the welds looked like. I am glad it welded as good as i did, some of you may roll eyes when you see the welds but this is an aluminum extrusion that gets driven on, it was really dirty. I wire wheeled it and degreased it before welding.I welded it with our new Millermatic 350P pulsed MIG setup, and ran that off of the trailblazer 302. It ran without a hiccup, I was kinda skeptical about the aluminum setup in the 350P, it has run well but has also given us a few little problems. It can be kinda finicky. Attached ImagesYup
Reply:I bet that was a back breaker. I hate welding on the floor. Those welds look good to me.
Reply:Looks good from here! Did you use a spoolgun, or feed through the internal feeder, or was it a push-pull feeder?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:Originally Posted by BobI bet that was a back breaker......
Reply:Very interesting job to say the least.  Thanks for sharing it.I take it the work had to be done at night so the ferry could run during the day today?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:we have a 350P at work setup for aluminum, its a screwy peice of machinery, your welds look much better than mine, what were your settings?
Reply:I hope you had knee pads of some kind.What thickness is the material, what does it rest on and is it attached to the base? I can't see any fasteners. Am I correct in assuming the dies left gouges which caused fatigue cracks to develop? It appears in the last shot that the middle of the panels was replaced (they are very shiny!). Did you do that just before the welding?Sorry for all the questions; my computer was down with a viral 'cold' so I'm trying to catch up tonight and couldn't resist.
Reply:Originally Posted by BurnitYeah, around 240' of weld last night on the floor. I am sore. :
Reply:The welds look good.  240 feet IS a long weld.  Heck its a lot to just clean and prep.I would be sore too.David Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55Very interesting job to say the least.  Thanks for sharing it.I take it the work had to be done at night so the ferry could run during the day today?
Reply:That appears to be the Lake Express Ferry That runs from Milwaukee Wi to Muskegon Mi. Just took a trip on it last week, nice job.
Reply:Nice job Burnit  as a side note....you into DK ?-Graham-Mechanical EngineerAutosport Mechanic/Fabricator
Reply:Originally Posted by BobI bet that was a back breaker. I hate welding on the floor. Those welds look good to me.
Reply:Originally Posted by weldckrThat appears to be the Lake Express Ferry That runs from Milwaukee Wi to Muskegon Mi. Just took a trip on it last week, nice job.
Reply:Muskegon has a beautiful harbor and shoreline, lots of sand dunes, you see lots of jeeps, dune buggys and 4 wheelers setup for dune runnin. the trip across takes about 2 hours and you then avoid driving thru Chicago, so if you are going to Detroit a 6-7 hour trip is now 4. lots of bikers take the ferry across, must be lots safer than the Chicago run. Also see lots of Eastern Canadians coming back from Sturgis that way then they head into Canada thru Windsor. its really a nice trip, 3 people with a vehicle round trip is about $600.00 ($116.00 is the port security and fuel surcharge) Milwaukee port has tourist info about MI and vice versa, lots of Mi folks take the trip across to go to Summerfest and the other stuff at the summerfest grounds.
Reply:Originally Posted by weldckr ...the trip across takes about 2 hours and you then avoid driving thru Chicago, so if you are going to Detroit a 6-7 hour trip is now 4.......3 people with a vehicle round trip is about $600.00 ($116.00 is the port security and fuel surcharge)...
Reply:[QUOTE=Burnit;208180]I just got back from the ship again, they are going to have us fix railings and catwalks in the engine spaces. This whole boat is made from aluminum, it is just fatigued everywhere. Does she still sail?  Did you ever get the railings and catwalks work?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:[QUOTE=z0diac;208201I recently thought of making up a bench/chair type thing that you could lean forward on your stomach and do it that way.  Kind of like laying down flat on your stomach but on a bit of an incline.  Like a ramp, with one side lower than the other, you straddle it like you would straddling a chair backwards...  'Think I might try something out and take the offer [/QUOTE]I had one of these chairs for the computer.  Wheels finally broke, so I took them off and if you sit where they intended you to place your knees, the seat is perfect to lay your chest on.  The chair is adjustable, so you can get different heights above the floor.http://www.sit4less.com/products/sit...eling-chair/99
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55Does she still sail?  Did you ever get the railings and catwalks work?