IntaCooler

so i finished up the dp and ex line with the vband flanges and i tig welded them on but they warped slighly, i really dont get how your supposed to not over heat these things when i need to get the weld to hold with out them warping because now i gots me some banana flanges and they dont seal up
not only that the ------- bolts on the vband clamps all broke off and i have to weld on new bolts, dont know why that is, but i had them clamped together while welding so that the flanges woudnt warp but they warped anyways

now i found this on egay and was wondering if it might solve my problem and what you thought
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Comet...spagenameZWDVW

or should i use some read hi-temp red silicone sealer between the flanges?
other then that i dont know what to do, i really dont want to blow the money i spent on the vband to revert back to 3 bolt flanges...any ideas are appriciated

-g

t_cel_t

i thik there was a thread on here about just making them flat on a belt grinder as the clamps will still clamp tight even if the bands are not as wide as they originally were

IntaCooler

i read about that one but did it work?

SpankedYA!

Just curious on how much heat you threw at those flanges? I haven't had one warp but I usually bolt them together first. I have done about 5 this week that weren't bolted together that was welded to mild steel exhaust tubing and there was no issue. You can take them down to a certain extent and it will still tighten up and seal. If it just a DP, I would just sit in on a sander and let it ride.

IntaCooler

i was using the hobart and had the tig set up at 75-80 on the dial and 15 on the argon, the flanges where stainless and for the turbo housing and mid pipe i was welding ss to ss and the rest was mild to ss
they warped ever so slightly but still enough to leak a little, it hard to tell when the vband clamps are on becasue the seal is covered up.
one more thing, how tight do you tighten the clamp bolts because i snaped all 3 of the bolts on mine and had to weld on some otherones

Toysrme

What he said. Bolt them together something while you weld it will heatsink some of the heat away.
You're too hot. That's why you're warping and mst of the reason why your beads are too convex and uneven.

Beyond that back the amps down, speed up if you can and do some skip welding because:
Incorrect filler application. You're adding way too much filler to both welds to cool the weld puddle buck down because its too hot.
Your electrode angle<s> are incorrect, causing you to wash the base metal back down into the weld and it isn't helping you that you're too hot. Always keep more heat on thepart with more mass, but don't over-do it.
If you're going to dip like that the torch alway remains perpendicular to the joint.

Don't be afraid to weld an inch and stop if that's all you can go. You have tostart somewhere and atleast you'll have no warping, hiher weld quality and youll get real good at start backs and joining to weld existing joints real fast! LoL


Warped is warped. If it must always remain sealed (i.e. good customer) you need to toss the warped flanges that leak. If you belt sand it flat, in the end it will not matter. It's still a warped piece with a flat end. It will re-warp evetually.


CS IDK what the v-band specs are but I do hand tight using a straight driver then add a 1/2 turn on a small wratchet. Seems to work for me.

t_cel_t

yeah you should definitly back down the heat.
you should try 'stitching' around the pipe, do like 1 inch then turn 180* do another inch, let cool and then go from there on the other sides.

IntaCooler

yeah im not going to lie i was rushing it, but only bc of the lack of time i had to finishe the line, since its my only ride
i did have the clamp on but it was too hot, if the leaks get the best of me ill try to use some of the hightemp sealer in the back of the line, but that wont hold for the turbo flange, i might have to get one of those steel gaskets
also i really dont like the fact that these clamps cant hold dont ----, hand tight the bolts all broke on me, i gotta compare the clamps to another so see if there is a difference ion the threads or thickness of the bolt