TIG-washing MIG welds

[k0ua]

I don't know, James... I understand the Titanic hit the iceberg pretty hard. Maybe weld would have been better than rivets, and believe me, I am a strong believer in continuous join (adhesive bonding is part of my profession). Rivets are stress risers and holes are always the start points for cracks but an iceberg and momentum have consequences.


And Yo... any good salesman knows his stuff. I have faith in you... even if you are salesman. This coming from an engineer turned salesman.

Hard to say what would have happened if the hull had been continuous welded. But probably a better outcome. One thing for sure is if the bulkheads had went all the way to the next deck to make an actual watertight compartment the results would have been different. The helmsman did try to "port around the berg" to lessen the impact. If the rudder had been designed correctly (it was too small for the ship) there could have been a different outcome. If the officer that got off in Cherourburg and took the key to the binocular locker with him, and left the key or they had broken into the locker to issue the binocs for the lookouts, well there could have been a different outcome if the lookouts had seen the berg a bit earlier. If the captain has refrained from throttle bending and not ordered the remaining boilers lit to increase speed, it is likely that the lookouts would have had a bit more time to see the iceberg and the helmsman to avoid it.

A whole lot of shoulda, woulda, coulda. Probably if any ONE thing has changed the ship would not have sunk. But......

 

[sandman2234]

I knew a guy with a Greyhound bus he was converting. Had a gasoline generator on board, which he needed a tank built for. He asked me if I could make a tank. I told him stainless, but soon realized the cost was way over his budget. I told him that I could farm out getting an aluminum tank built. I checked with a couple guys I know, who said they could mig weld 1/8 aluminum. I called Miller and asked them about welding 1/8 aluminum with their mig, they said yes. So I bought a sheet of aluminum and had it broke and sheared, then welded. Filled it with water, it leaked. So I had them fix it, which made it leak in different places, and worse. So I called Miller back, and they told me 1/8 was minimum for that particular machine. (NOW YOU TELL ME!!!) So, I took it to somebody else and they mig welded it again. Leaked even worse... so I went to one of the local colleges and took night welding class, bought myself a Miller TIG and filed down all the excessive MIG welds and TIG welded it. It never leaked again. Owner died, generator was stolen before family auctioned everything off, tank was converted to diesel by new owners of the bus. Never saw it again!
David from jax