Is this cast fitting weldable easy ?
- Thread starter sweetk30
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I've done smaller fittings a few times, non pressure applications only.
Dagny
Well-known member
I have welded those onto a hydraulic cylinder with no problems lots of pressure.
Just to clarify, I've only done it on non pressure applications, not saying it should only be done on them
it's either malleable iron or forged carbon steel . malleable iron will turn brittle if you weld it I think
LopezBart
Well-known member
This is almost certainly malleable iron. Welding it is tricky, because it tends to convert to white iron which is quite brittle. A high nickel rod will help, as does tacking it. I've brazed these many times with no issues at all.
You may also wish to consider screwing in a steel pipe ******, and cutting that off and welding that to your plate....
You may also wish to consider screwing in a steel pipe ******, and cutting that off and welding that to your plate....
Beerhippie
Well-known member
If it's stainless--many fittings are these days--it will weld easily. Anything else, I'd do as LB suggests^ and cut a threaded, stainless coupling in half and weld one half to the plate. I've done this many times to make up brewery fittings.
For the best weld to the plate, make the hole in the plate so it's a friction-fit on the fitting or coupling and weld it both sides. The inside can be a fusion weld. I do this on brewery fittings to make them easier to sanitize. If you chamfer the inside of the hole, you can even grind the weld down flush on the inside.
For the best weld to the plate, make the hole in the plate so it's a friction-fit on the fitting or coupling and weld it both sides. The inside can be a fusion weld. I do this on brewery fittings to make them easier to sanitize. If you chamfer the inside of the hole, you can even grind the weld down flush on the inside.
Huh?
Stainless fittings are stainless, the rest are typically iron or steel. Many are brass though, maybe plastic, lol.
Wrench97
Well-known member
The plastic ones are a bit tricky to weld but if you get the heat just right......
Beerhippie
Well-known member
My local plumbing supplier is selling mostly stainless threaded potable water pipe fittings these days--cheaper than brass. MIC and often pretty ****** threads that are hard to seal--tape AND dope.
Of course, they also carry black iron--also very easily welded, but not much good for sanitary/potable use. I've had no problems welding galvanized fittings after removing the galvanizing.
Good news is that they're easy to weld.
royce
Well-known member
There is cast iron, malleable iron and forged steel, the first two should not be welded, but may be brazed. In your shoes I would buy a forged steel Elbow and weld it.
LopezBart
Well-known member
Definitely go with the steel ****** welded into a plate; Beerhippie's suggestion of welding on both sides (if you have the room) is a good one. Another approach (if it's a street ell as shown) is to weld a steel coupling to the plate. If you need it as close as possible, welding a cut steel ****** from the backside and using a elbow is probably the best.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Why not use a welding bung so you can thread in your fitting to it?
www.mcmaster.com
McMaster-Carr
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Why not use a welding bung so you can thread in your fitting to it?
McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
What are you, some sort of professional?
Firebrick43
Well-known member
Use to be, might be again some day
@Beerhippie for some reason that isn't stainless though
welder4956
Well-known member
Flip it over and take another picture. There should be more markings with the ASTM material spec to identify it, or go back to the supplier and see if the material spec is listed in the description. If it says A105 it is weldable, if it says A197 or B16.3 it is malleable iron.
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Beerhippie
Well-known member
While I'm not a professional, I do play one at a brewery.
That's dirty because I had to drag it out of the storage container. We've since replaced any threaded fittings that had product contact with other kinds of sanitary fittings, as threads are difficult to clean and sanitize.
We used couplers cut in half, as we always had them on hand and you get a two-for-one deal.
@Firebrick43 : If you ever want to get your hands back in with some sanitary/pressure vessel welding, stop on by! We have a couple of fermenters with leaking cooling jackets and no real S/P welder around anymore. My eyesight, loss of fine manual dexterity and lack of any kind of certifications means I don't do that stuff anymore, and the one guy who used to come out to the area twice a year retired.
That's dirty because I had to drag it out of the storage container. We've since replaced any threaded fittings that had product contact with other kinds of sanitary fittings, as threads are difficult to clean and sanitize.
We used couplers cut in half, as we always had them on hand and you get a two-for-one deal.
@Firebrick43 : If you ever want to get your hands back in with some sanitary/pressure vessel welding, stop on by! We have a couple of fermenters with leaking cooling jackets and no real S/P welder around anymore. My eyesight, loss of fine manual dexterity and lack of any kind of certifications means I don't do that stuff anymore, and the one guy who used to come out to the area twice a year retired.
whateg01
Well-known member
Thicker than water doesn't matter on the suction side. Im gonna guess it's air that's gonna get sucked in through a leaky fitting, and air is considerably "more runny" than water.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
I never did sanitary welding, nor was my profession welding although I have had quite a few certs 20 years ago.While I'm not a professional, I do play one at a brewery.
That's dirty because I had to drag it out of the storage container. We've since replaced any threaded fittings that had product contact with other kinds of sanitary fittings, as threads are difficult to clean and sanitize.
We used couplers cut in half, as we always had them on hand and you get a two-for-one deal.
@Firebrick43 : If you ever want to get your hands back in with some sanitary/pressure vessel welding, stop on by! We have a couple of fermenters with leaking cooling jackets and no real S/P welder around anymore. My eyesight, loss of fine manual dexterity and lack of any kind of certifications means I don't do that stuff anymore, and the one guy who used to come out to the area twice a year retired.
I was just one of the best welders on the off shifts and a decent fabricator so I was rewarded by a lot of time sensitive projects because the actual fab shop guys were all on dayshift, and moved with the speed of molasses in January.
I also did all the offshift tool room welding, repair welding, or pipe fitting. I should of put down ************ welds down like the other mechanics and life would have been a lot easier.
I know quite a few welders that have more skill than I do.
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be super nice i have some already . but this weld job will be in a round object . .Why not use a welding bung so you can thread in your fitting to it?
McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
thinking of whipping up a little box to match the radius and then weld in the bung i have and be done .
Firebrick43
Well-known member
I don't know how thick or access from top but I have heated to cherry red an area of a 10" steel pipe in the middle bottom and used a 2x2 square bar thru the fill port to form a flat section for a sump drain for a fuel tank. Most commercial systems have pump pickups actually through the top of the tank and leave the strainer a 1/2" or so from the bottom to allow **** to settle out, and when you open them for a fluid change or a lot of industrial tanks actually mount the pump in the tank with the motor vertically from the lid, there is usually sludge to wipe off the bottom of a tank.
larry4406
Well-known member
Buy a weldable coupling then use a hole saw with radius that matches your round part and notch it.
Poor man’s tube notcher.
welder4956
Well-known member
The description says "iron" so I would not consider it weldable. Your best bet is to find a carbon steel threaded coupling, cut it in half and weld it to your plate, then thread this fitting into it (as others have suggested). https://www.target.com/p/pipe-decor-3-in-black-90-degree-street-elbow/-/A-1006790811
275 gpm through a 3" suction line is extremely high. Hope that suction line is short or you may have insufficient NPSHa and pump cavitation issues.
Depending on size, I would use a 2m forged steel threaded 90 and weld that to the plate or use a **** weld elbow and buy a threaded ****** and cut the threads off one side and weld it to the elbow. The picture you show looks like a malleable iron fitting to me.
Sch. 40 ******* (black) are carbon steel, typically A53 (welded) or A106 (seamless) steel. Steel couplings are available, the cheapest being merchant couplings (I refer to them as thread protectors as they are straight tapped), but A105 steel couplings are readily available, but typically malleable iron is the most common used on threaded pipe.
Depends on what material it is and how much vibration it will be subjected to but I've been welding for 15 years and have made cast iron and cast steel repairs with all kinds of different methods, there's many things that will work.
For cast iron, a low budget option is a stick rod called nomacast. It's way cheaper than nickel rod. I've only ever had one failure with it on a cracked casting which immediately started cracking after welding. I've repair vises, machine bases, old wood stoves, etc with it and had good results. The vise on my welding rig has the base feet repaired with nomacast and it has held for 3 years now. Good thing about it is it will weld cast iron to steel as well.
With cast steel you can actually weld it with regular tig rod or 7018. However sometimes it can crack. For ornamental railing a lot of shops just buy the cast steel lambs tounges and weld them to the steel railings. I like to bend my own though. I've also fixed a broken cast steel machine handle (like the ones you'd see on an old arbor press) by welding it with 309 rod. An old timer told me it works good because of the nickel in the stainless rod. That repair is still holding as well.
Best option though is brazing, it works on cast iron or steel. You can braze with a torch or a tig welder, but if you use the welder just remember you're not trying to melt the base material. Brazing rods are pricey but they are strong and unlikely to crack.
For cast iron, a low budget option is a stick rod called nomacast. It's way cheaper than nickel rod. I've only ever had one failure with it on a cracked casting which immediately started cracking after welding. I've repair vises, machine bases, old wood stoves, etc with it and had good results. The vise on my welding rig has the base feet repaired with nomacast and it has held for 3 years now. Good thing about it is it will weld cast iron to steel as well.
With cast steel you can actually weld it with regular tig rod or 7018. However sometimes it can crack. For ornamental railing a lot of shops just buy the cast steel lambs tounges and weld them to the steel railings. I like to bend my own though. I've also fixed a broken cast steel machine handle (like the ones you'd see on an old arbor press) by welding it with 309 rod. An old timer told me it works good because of the nickel in the stainless rod. That repair is still holding as well.
Best option though is brazing, it works on cast iron or steel. You can braze with a torch or a tig welder, but if you use the welder just remember you're not trying to melt the base material. Brazing rods are pricey but they are strong and unlikely to crack.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
While it is possible to weld cast iron or steel--and is done regularly--it's much simpler to run down to the local plumbing supply house and drop a few bucks on something that's easily welded--stainless, black iron or galvanized steel.
Hell, stop by the brewery sometime and I'll bet I have something sitting in the storage that will do you fine.
Hell, stop by the brewery sometime and I'll bet I have something sitting in the storage that will do you fine.
How's this weldable more then the iron fitting he has?
Also I'd bet a galvanized fitting is just black iron that got galvanized...
Which is why you walk into a fitting store and get schd 80 stuff in steel or just buy a steel weld bushing MADE for this specific job.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
The "black iron" I'm referring to is for gas line--it's actually steel and the stuff I get isn't cast. Welds just fine.
I've not had problems welding galvy fittings after removing the galvanizing with acid.
Beerhippie
Well-known member
Sch 80 is what I meant. Thanks--it's all I use so I sometimes forget it might not be what the average Joe gets at the hardware store.