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Welding is not black magic, it’s science
- By Josh Welton
- June 29, 2016
They say a magician never tells his secrets. Some welders take a similar approach when it comes to repair work.
“You wait right here while I slide into my booth, wave a magic wand over your broken part, and emerge with a piece that’s better than new.”
Many welders enjoy the air of mystery that comes from mastering the part of the trade that, at its finest, is equal parts art, skill, and science. Some of my contemporaries believe it’s disingenuous to play up the voodoo angle while playing down the logic. They posture that perhaps it’s even a sign of insecurities in one’s abilities, or that one might not understand the process well enough to explain it, so they hide behind smoke and mirrors.
In my experience it’s not so much the case that the welder isn’t willing to give a “peek behind the curtain,” it’s that those who would do the peeking either aren’t willing or are themselves incapable of understanding the complexities of welding and metallurgy.
As a millwright at Chrysler’s now defunct 3.7 engine plant, I was often tasked with welding repairs that were time-sensitive. On any type of assembly or machining line, stoppage was wasted money, and the management in charge of keeping things running couldn’t care less about how something was fixed … only that it was, and quickly.
I specifically remember two instances, two days in a row, when I had to mend busted parts to keep downtime to a minimum. The first was a simple bracket. I can’t recall if it was stainless or mild steel; it might even have been aluminum. I do recall that it took all of 15 minutes to fix, and that the supervisor in charge was kissing my shoes; he was so thrilled at how soon I had him back in business.
The second instance, on the second day, was not mild steel, or stainless, or aluminum. It was a wear bar made from a high-hard tool steel, about 2 ft. long and a solid 3 in. by 3 in. thick. And it had cracked all the way through.
Chrysler had a repair process for this specific steel, which included V-ing the bar to cut out the compromised area and allow 100 percent penetration when welded. There was a certain preheat temperature and a narrow window for the interpass heat as well. Once all the welding was finished, it needed to cool slighty, then it needed to be tempered, then slowly cooled again.
This was not a 15-minute job. All in all, it took an entire shift, and the same boss who’d been praising me the day before was absolutely beside himself: “Well! Well! Yesterday you fixed that bracket in 15 minutes! Why are you screwing off today?”
Try as I might to enlighten him on the differences between the two weldments, he was certain I was somehow trying to put one over on him. I may as well have been speaking Latin.
Finally, I just muttered, “It’s not black magic, its science,” turned around, and went back at it. The reality is, it might as well have been magic. And I can’t hate on anyone who leaves it at that.
Images courtesy of Brown Dog Welding.
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