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I need to gouge out some weld.   4" x 4" box   6" long . See the picture.  The welds are all done , picture shows just tacks. The welds are in the 4 corners 6" long.  It's a box splitter that has too much friction in the box ,due to the thickness of the vertical sections.   I am not sure I am going to take it apart yet but thinking about how to do it.   I have right angle heads on my cutting torches.   They are not going to work well inside the box.   Does anyone make a straight head for a cutting torch?   I don't think I have ever seen one. Attached Images
Reply:There are straight torches out there, a 70* head might work as well, you could burn off the outside plates then work your way in rather than try to work your way out. It might be easier to just cut them off rather than try to blow the welds out and then grind things back down flat
Reply:6sunset6  -  If the parts you are removing are "throw-away", gouging the weld is waste of effort.  Cut as low as possible with a regular [90 degree] then wash the remainder with a gouging tip.  Turn the dog-leg of the tip forward and you have nearly a straight torch.  I happen to have a straightcutting head in the Victor Super-Range body; I bought it specificly to reach deep for demolition when nothing else would do.  Your remodel is quite open and you shouldn't require one.     Opus
Reply:No worries  The thing tore itself apart at 2000 psi.  Looks like the welds tore out of the base metal. It was welded with    AC  6011 5/32 at 145 A    with an over pass of 6013  5/32  45A.Now I have a chance to do it over .   I have to change the structure . Maybe thinner vertical plates.  Maybe tilt the top plate up some, it was level.All comments welcome. Attached Images
Reply:Oh my gawd...This isnt meant as an insult or anything, but you might not wanna take on projects like this until you have a little more time under the hood, just for safety's sake.Those are inconstant "bird-****" welds, they couldnt have been that strong. Also, 6013 is a poor choice for this type of application. 6013 is a low penetration electrode, defiantly NOT made for holding heavy plates of steel together in a high pressure application.I would have chose 7018 personally, its lots stronger, gets good penetration, holds up to vibration, is very ductile, and resists cracking. 6013 has none of those attributes. Im hoping no one got hurt when that thing flew apart, but PLEASE dont just patch it back together. A good weld will have the base metal around it fail before it does.Honestly, you did the hard part, you got everything cut up and tacked up. I cant comment on the design tho. However, if you took that tacked up piece to someone, it would have been a breeze to weld up.If you attempt to rebuild this thing, start from scratch and dont weld it yourself, at least, not yet. Log splitters are NOT beginner projects for this reason. A shop would take some time to build that entire thing and then weld it. It looks to me like you had it built just fine, if you took it to someone and had them weld it, you could save some money (If thats why you did it yourself) and have a much safer finished product.[Account Abandoned 8/8/16 Please Do Not Attempt Contact Or Expect A Reply]. See you on YouTube! -ChuckE2009
Reply:There was plenty of room to take out those welds w/ a gouging/scarfing tip. Looks like you found a cheaper and faster way!! I'll suggest cutting holes in the top and bottom plates for the verticals to fit thru and then weld them on the outsides so there's no weld creating additional drag on the wood.                                                                MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:Did it blow apart, or just slowly peel off the base? My guess would be the slow peel... Doesn't look like a super dangerous situation to me.In any case, I would use 7018, and bevel the wedges so you have better penetration without adding weld to the inside of the box. I think the two inside wedges need a bit of angle as well as the top plate. The opening needs to get bigger in both width and height as the wood passes through. Wedges sharpened on only one side like a chisel, and installed with the flat side in, so that the splits deflect away from center. You may see an advantage with thinner wedges on the two inside locations, but if you sharpen correctly, the outer ones will be better and stronger with the thicker sections.
Reply:Actually, looking back at the pics, I think you may have installed the top plate upside down of how it should be. It looks like the taper of the chisel makes the opening smaller as the wood goes through. Changing this may solve your problem on it's own.
Reply:Here is a better picture of what it looked like before. The failure was a slow peel.The bottom plate drops away. The top plate was level. The bevel on the top plate is supposed to push the upper part of the log up and away.  The box shapes were tapered except the side walls were vertical. I thick the basic problem, besides my #$%$$$ welding is too much friction. I think I am going to put it back together with only 2 verticals and more  taper..That means only one box with wood in compression.I appreciate everyone's comments. Attached ImagesLast edited by 6sunset6; 02-09-2012 at 07:49 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by daddyActually, looking back at the pics, I think you may have installed the top plate upside down of how it should be. It looks like the taper of the chisel makes the opening smaller as the wood goes through. Changing this may solve your problem on it's own.
Reply:second the 7018 comment...cellulose has it's place, but it's place isn't in a high stress structural area!  Also I would reccomend that you preheat the p*ss out of that badboy when you redo it!  Having only two verticals will deffinately (my spelling is poor today) reduce the stress exerted on the splitter as it gives the two side pieces of wood more give and maintains pressure in line with what you are using to split the wood.  I would almost keep the two uprights flat on the inside and have the taper knife edge only on the outside edges  It'll reduce a lot of the pressure the joints will recieve.  Same with the top blade.  keep it flat on the inside and it won't be like forcing a golfball through a garden hose.  I'm horrid at explaining things, but basically,This is what I am trying to say...--------------.../|.....|\......| |....| |...---------------Your two uprights...Flat on the inside, bevelled on the outside  Same idea for the top plate!  The chisel-like edge doesn't help things.  ">" causes it to split the wood wider than the opening is.  A few minor changes, but it should work well once the bugs are worked out!  With two uprights it'll also be a lot less ignorant to weld and if you only weld it on the outside of the splitters, there will be even less stress on the thing.  Keeping the center opening...open...will save a lot of headache!Last edited by mb_welder; 02-09-2012 at 08:34 PM.
Reply:That is a better pic. I can see that you actually have both edges of the wedge sharpened, albeit unequally. I really think this is a problem. Even a small taper will deflect the wood, and cause it to make the split larger and larger as it moves through. By re sharpening the long side until you eliminate the short taper, the split will only deflect to the side that is not restrained.  Your angles look pretty good to me.  Going further on the angles will help the wood clear, but may introduce other problems as you start to drive the split into the side of the wedge...I'd also shorten the top plate to the same length as the vertical wedges. The extra overhang adds no real strength, and may contribute to the problem.Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
Reply:6sunset6  -  You didn't tell us that it wasn't welded to begin with.   Opus
Reply:Take a few hours and run some practice beads on some throwaway stock and post CLEAR pics before redoing anything that matters. You can do much better with some practice and feedback! Don't give up, do "choose to improve"!
Reply:I got it all apart   and spent quite awhile grinding everything clean   and putting bevels on the vertical parts.  The think is outside now . Tomorrow is bad weather and Sunday is really cold.Probably will not get back to this till next week.
Reply:Diverging from the title of this thread, more on the welding project line.I went out and took a picture of the splitter I made quite a few yeas ago with just a buzz box and 7018.  I had to cut down the top of the beam to make this four way splitter head work.  I have seen  big processors have six way splitters with two wedges substituted for the one horizontal one pictured.  For the small operator with man power the vertical splitter where the log stays standing is the way to go for larger stuff.As for flame cutting to remove lots of weld material it works but sure distorts the parts.fran Attached Images
Reply:all fixed   Redesign, bevels and some 7018    All helped.   One weld let go in the lifter support. It was too little to start with . Redesign , Bevel and 7018.    Thanks for your comments Attached Images