Just remembered a large pile of rusted pipe up on the hill I use for temporary repairsin fences. I need some heavy short gates in a few areas. What would be the best way to fishmouth these pipes for a good weld? These are roughly 2in od and about 1/16 of an inch thick. I have an angle grinder, sawzall and a bench grinder.
I don't know of an easy way to do it - maybe someone else does.
It wouldn't be as pretty, but have you thought about squashing the ends somewhat? Just stick them in a vice and bring them down to .75" - .5", then just grind flat.
Well if the pipe is 1/16"wall that could make cutting with a torch kinda interesting,unlessyou get a very small cutting tip?Plasma is another idea.A grinder doesn't seem the way to go, maybe on something that thin,like the other guy said, just flatten the ends,then you could get a heavier piece of 2" to use as a template to make the flat ends curved to fit around your 2" for welding,something heavy enough where you could hammer the ends on to shape. RICHARD GAUTHIER
Post your question over on the tractorbynet board in the "related topics" forum. There's a fella over there name of wroughtn harv who is a fenceman / welder / metal worker extraordinare. I'm pretty sure I remember him describing his technque over there once but I searched and searched and couldn't find it.
WVBill, I searched also but no dice, I may have been using the wrong key words because I do remember reading it there someplace I think. Funny how you can read something and not remember until you actually need the information.
I agree with Bill that Harv would be the one to ask. I'm sure he has the equipment to do just that very thing but can probably give you the 'work around' to get something close with the tools you have.
The flip side is, of course, that this could be the perfect time to get that plasma cutter you've probably had your eye on. No... wait... that was me eyeing the plasma cutters. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
With the tools you listed there aren't any easy ways. However, if you break down and buy a drill press, get a holesaw, clamp the pipe in place and use the holesaw to cut your fishmouth.
Using the tools you mentioned, plus a 1/2 round bastard file, I would rough out the fishmouth with the angle grinder and then use the file to clean up the fishmouth so that its easy to weld. I've used a file to fishmouth tubing many times when I was building bike frames and while it is slow going, it will do a good job for you.
It's all SO fishy. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img] We pros use what is called a CONTOUR MARKER which operates off of a centerline that you make by using a CENTER HEAD punch and a snap chalk line. For the "little stuff" ....under 4" diameter or thereabouts..., there is a simple wrap-a-round heavy gasket paper-type of thing that is just a pattern that you can use to trace the fish mouth. Most welding shops have those patterns, OR....you can make your own by trial and (some) error. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]
Check with your local welding supply shop. Like CJDave said, they make the paper patterns, but a few years ago I was helping a neighbor build some fences and we found the local welding shop also had hinged metal patterns; just put it around the pipe, mark it with the chalk, and cut it with the cutting torch.
CJDave, Funny you would mention the paper outline, I had read somewhere today about doing something like that. They had said to make one that would work and take a filefolder and a sharpy, wrap around and mark, then cut it out. I think I will try it with a grinder if it keeps raining. Especially since we sent the students home today for the summer. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
Thanks for the ideas everyone.
Patrick
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