Warning: I keep seeing guys skip the pre-heat on high-carbon steel welds.

It causes cracking every time, and I had to redo a 2-inch thick flange last week because of it. What's your shop's standard pre-heat temp for something like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_thomas17d ago

Yeah, "learned that lesson the hard way" hits home. I watched a guy skip pre-heat on a big repair and it sounded like a gunshot when it cooled. The whole thing split right down the middle. Now I just assume anything thick needs some heat first, no questions asked. It's one of those rules that only exists because so many people messed up before us.

rubyshah17d ago

Oh man, that gunshot sound is the worst. I jumped so high once I nearly dropped my coffee on a freshly welded plate. My own dumb fault for rushing a bracket on some heavy equipment. Now I treat the pre-heat like a religion. I even warm up stuff my coworkers laugh at, like a three-inch thick piece. I'd rather be the guy who wasted twenty minutes than the guy explaining a new crack.

clark.morgan18d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way with a cracked axle repair. Our shop card says 350 for anything over an inch thick. Saves a lot of cussing later.