Technology Spotlight - Pipe weld prep without grinding

You never hear children dream of one day becoming someone who wields a grinder in a fab shop or out in the field. Some people enjoy it, others loathe it, but grinding remains one of those manual fabrication processes that’s difficult to avoid. Surfaces need to be clean and, for weld preparation, bevels need to be made. Some use torches for weld preparation, but they usually need to make a pass or two with the angle grinder anyway.

When it comes to beveling, hand grinding isn’t the only option. Many power tool beveling options involve some type of nibbling or milling cutter, and some have guides that help position tools along the material’s edge. Like milling operations on a machining center, these beveling tools create chips that carry away the heat of the operation, avoiding the kind of heat-affected zones created by thermal processes.

One beveling tool now available is specifically designed for pipe. It’s called the B-500, a single-pass pipe beveler from RIDGID®, part of Emerson Commercial & Residential Solutions, a business of Emerson.

As Larry Feskanich, global marketing manager at RIDGID, recalled, “A lot of our customers make their living in the pipe-working space. We often get our hands dirty alongside these tradespeople to help them overcome some of the challenges they’re facing ... We thought, ‘What’s the best way to mount a beveling system to a pipe?’” Instead of being designed to bevel plate with the ability to adapt to pipe, the B-500 is designed the other way around: It bevels pipe but has the ability to bevel plate.

The system was designed to be easily transported to the work, be it in the field or in the shop. The tool does not have a mandrel that engages the pipe inside diameter. “It has no big, bulky pieces to carry for mounting inside of the pipe,” Feskanich said, “and you don’t need any particular accessory to adapt it to a specific pipe diameter.”

Instead, it grips pipe walls between 3/16 in. and ½ in. thick with two wheels on the outside diameter (OD) and one wheel on the inside diameter (ID). The wheels can adapt to pipe 4 in. OD or more, all the way up to flat plate. (A wheel does need to fit inside the pipe, so the tool isn’t designed to bevel pipe smaller than 4 in. diameter.)

Some beveling units on the market peel a ribbon off the edge, using a cutting action that roughly resembles that of a can opener. Others use nibbling tools with rectangular punches that move up and down.

Still others use a milling cutter, and this includes the B-500. Once the operator clamps the unit, the cutter is positioned parallel to the pipe. “The tool is designed to start from the outside diameter and engage toward the inside diameter,” Feskanich explained. “The axis of the pipe is the same as the axis of rotation of the cutting head.”

Once the system is engaged and the cutting head mills away, it creates a bevel edge based on the tool geometry. In this way, the specific cutting head governs the bevel angle. One cutter creates a 30-degree bevel, another cutter 37.5 degrees, and one more for 45 degrees. All are designed to make the bevel in a single pass.

Operators also set the land thickness they need, anywhere from 0 (a sharp edge on the ID) up to 3/16 in. Once they mount the beveling unit and initiate the cycle, they use LED indicators as a guide to keep the unit moving at an optimal pace.

Feskanich added that the beveler has been tested for use on carbon steel as well as 304 stainless steel. Some have used it to bevel other materials since the tool was introduced, though of course performance will vary with the material type. Feskanich added that the tool follows the circumference of the pipe, meaning that it also will work on out-of-round pipe.

That said, it can shorten weld preparation time dramatically. The company reports that the system will bevel 12-in.-diameter Schedule 40 pipe in less than 2 minutes—no sparks and no laborious hand grinding required.

RIDGID, 800-769-7743, www.ridgid.com