Welding it "tight" (no weep hole)

[Sodo]

Somehow water got in one of the posts for the roll bar on my cat and expanding the tubing enough that it split one of the corners. This is a heavy wall tube and is quite noticeable.

Wouldn't want to be driving down the highway following some guy who declined to drill a weep hole and his dipper stick fell off :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Sorry couldn't resist….

Careful you could start a trend on TBN where everyone (where it freezes) has to drill holes in everything to prevent the possibility of unseen cracks….. Seriously though, aint that something to have thick metal overcome by ice forces. But it really has to be constrained for that.

 

[LD1]

Wouldn't want to be driving down the highway following some guy who declined to drill a weep hole and his dipper stick fell off :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: Sorry couldn't resist….

Careful you could start a trend on TBN where everyone (where it freezes) has to drill holes in everything to prevent the possibility of unseen cracks….. Seriously though, aint that something to have thick metal overcome by ice forces. But it really has to be constrained for that.

The FEL on dads backhoe has had several cracks over the years. And several repairs. We noticed the bottoms of the loader arms where it attaches to the bucket were bulged from ice-forming. We did drill some weep holes in there and quite a bit came out. But that is because with so many different repairs and cracks over the years, we were not confident we could get a 100% seal without completely removing all the cylinders, and cleaning everything real good.

Somewhere I was reading (while researching frost depth and such for footers) that Ice can develop upwards of 150,000 psi . Just insane.

 

[Sodo]

On motorcycles lots of guys pop dents out of their header pipes by repeated freeze/thaw in their basement freezers. Heres one where the guy says it took 3 freeze cycles. I bet its harder to do this repair near the end (inlet or outlet).

 

[bumperm]

On some aerobatic aircraft, at least those with tubular structures, there's a Schrader valve and pressure gauge installed. The frame is pressurized and any unseen crack will be readily apparent by checking the pressure gauge. Other parts, most notably wing lift struts etc, are sealed. There is typically a small hole left during construction and the strut has boiled linseed oil added, then sloshed around and drained before the small hole is welded up.

In building some towreels for glider tow planes, I opted to make them sealed. True, if you simply try to TIG weld a sealed tube, it'll want to blow out the weld as you finish. I find that drilling a small 1/8" vent hole solves that problem. Then when all done welding the ends and testing (air pressure applied to the vent hole and check for bubbles), the vent hole welds up easily.

 

[Arc weld]

Tubular dragline booms are filled with nitrogen under pressure and set off an alarm if the pressure drops.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

Tubular dragline booms are filled with nitrogen under pressure and set off an alarm if the pressure drops.

That's pretty interesting

 

[Sodo]

Good stuff!

I wonder if my gate got water in it because the fabricator cooled it off with a hose. ??? I don't see why he would though, a large steel item like that cools itself.

But doesn't anyone have scrap ( something welded "tight" ) ? And enough interest to drill a hole & see if there was unexpected water inside? I'm gonna drill some holes in stuff next time I get back to my "woods". I have a few items I welded tight, and could 'bulge' if they freeze hard with water inside (not drilling my kubota).

I imagine there are many many steel posts with open tops, set in concrete which could catch water, and freeze. A capped post could have condensation buildup. Any chain-link fence could have this situation and fences would never stay straight if split open at the base. So is this problem "for real"?