Saw a pipe welder on a job in Cleveland do this one thing that has me split

I was on a shutdown at a steel mill near Cleveland last month helping with some boiler tube work. There was this older welder who refused to use any preheat on his joints even though the spec called for it, said he's been doing it 25 years and never had a failure. On the other hand, the inspection guys were threatening to red tag everything if he didn't follow procedure. Does tradition beat out the paperwork every time or is that just asking for trouble down the road?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma_garcia3d ago

...and that reminds me of a buddy of mine who worked pipeline in West Texas back in the 2000s. He swore by this old Lincoln welder that had a cracked baseplate, said it laid bead better than any digital machine on the market. The company tried to retire it three times but he kept pulling it out of the dumpster. Eventually his foreman just let it slide because his X-rays always came back clean. Your mileage may vary but sometimes the old dogs just know their tools.

barbara_jenkins663d ago

Old tools are just old tools though. That Lincoln welder had a cracked baseplate for a reason, it was worn out and unsafe. Digital machines are way more consistent and you don't have to baby them or fight with settings all day. Your buddy got lucky with his X-rays but that doesn't mean every old welder is some magic machine. Companies try to retire gear for liability reasons too, not just because they want new toys. New tech gives you better control and repeatability, especially on pipeline where every joint has to pass inspection. Glad it worked for him but I'll take a modern machine that doesn't need dumpster diving to stay alive.