Splicing a small I beam together

[jwmorris]

I spliced one together with a 30' span in my shop for the same thing. I also welded plates in the flat although I doubt it needed it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

No

Rather the engineer err on the "overbuilt" side of things instead of the "it's good enough" side of things.

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The stats for loading of beams already have a fudge factor of about 4 built in. When an engineer then adds in his own fudge factor you end up with this situation. I recall a pipe rack built on a construction site once. Most had 6" I beam verts but this one had about 10 or 12" extra heavy beams. I commented to an engineer about how this rack must be heavily loaded and he said no, just one pipe on top. I laughed and said why such massive beam weights and he said a new engineer designed it and they failed to check the design properly by a veteran engineer. It got fabricated that way so, it got installed. Not a big % of $$$ over-run on a couple hundred million dollar project, but if this had been a one of installation, it could have tripled, quadrupled or more the cost to build.

Just like doctors, it pays sometimes to get a second opinion.

 

[ericher69]

So a bit of a snag; may need to scrap project or get a matching piece. (I'm doing this for my fathers shop)

As you can see from the pics one piece is just a little taller than the other; same thicknesses.

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[ThomasH]

So a bit of a snag; may need to scrap project or get a matching piece. (I'm doing this for my fathers shop)

As you can see from the pics one piece is just a little taller than the other; same thicknesses.

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You could weld a spacer on the shorter side without sacrificing much in the way of strength as long as the splice place on the top is nearly the same width as the top flange.

 

[Renze]

Theres all kind of engineers some so full of hot air you could poke a hole in them and do some plastic welding.

I just HAD to quote that on my facebook page, keeping it in style with the plastic welding is hilarious

 

[Sodo]

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Well ericher you know your 3 choices

1) give up
2) spend your time looking for more steel
3) level out the trolley track and keep moving. That little offset in the flanges will weld up nicely with filler plates

 

[ericher69]

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Well ericher you know your 3 choices 1) give up 2) spend your time looking for more steel 3) level out the trolley track and keep moving. That little offset in the flanges will weld up nicely with filler plates

Option 3 it is!

I found out a few things welding this beam together;

1. My Lincoln welding gloves are inadequate for high amperage mig work

Yes that's a second degree burn through the glove!

2. I know the on demand fan on the 252 functions (never had it kick on in the last year of ownership)

Here are some pictures; not my best work but -here comes the excuse- considering I was getting burned while welding and had to remove my glove a few times during I think it turned out ok!

Shouldn't fall apart anyway

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[Arc weld]

Since you posted pic's, I'll comment. For 500 lbs. it will hold. Forget excuses, that's a water blister, a minor inconvenience as far as welding goes. As far as quality it has has some rather obvious flaws. Did your experienced welding friend inspect it and what did he say?

Why didn't you do a better job cleaning it up before welding? You burned hot but maybe too hot. It looks like you may have been going a little too slow for the heat and putting too much filler in one pass. Were you weaving or going in circles while welding? You left unfilled craters and undercut and worse is you left them on the edge of the beam. Great place for a crack to start.

I hate to be so critical but you've got good equipment and asked for advice before proceeding, did a good job lining/clamping everything up properly and in the the end it looks like you got in a hurry and scrimped on the most important details. Shouldn't fall apart??? That's just another way of saying good enough. Sorry, I don't understand.

 

[Sodo]

Arc your paragraph 2 is good, it's the kind of feedback members appreciate, will draw more members to post pics. I understood "shouldn't fall apart" as a joke.

 

[bob722]

I concur with this post. Bevel the .125 gap on the 1st pass to the backer plate, then fill the groove. Make the bevel 45 deg. on one side. Blade Breaker says it correct. I have done this type of welding many times before on other pieces of similar construction.