Welders ?!? (Aluminum)

Hi ! I have a question about welding so hope u can help......
Me and my fried would like to build 50 ft aluminum boat,we have 2 welders with 19,23 years work in shippyard .but they
weld steel not the aluminum alloy 5083,so can u tell me what course will u recomend to me to send to educate my 2 welder for aluminum welding ? thx

 

Hi M.

Well, firstly, I'm not sure what facilities you have available to you in Croatia. Perhaps Daiquiri (forum member) can help. In the first instance, I know there is a lot of shipbuilding in Croatia, so I would seek out DNV. They can tell you the standards, in your own language, what is required to passed a DNV code. The basics are in the HSLC & SNC rules, but easier to talk to them. You could also ask them for recommended centres for training, or local experts who can teach/train/guide you.

Secondly.
If your welders have been welding steel for some 20 years, I'm afraid they are not the most suitable.Steel fabricators invariably do not produce good aluminium welders. The main practices of steel welding do not apply to aluminium, aluminium must be treated with a very very different mind set. A steel welder has been set down a different path and shall always go back to "what he knows" when things get difficult or under pressure of time. This produces poor quality aluminium fabrication. My advice would be to find some dedicated aluminium welders, or find a novice and train them up, rather than convert a steel to ally welder. But this too is not a 5min job.

Training a person to weld aluminium does not automatically mean when they pass their codes, they are a good welder. That takes years of skill and experience.

 

Thx a lot AD HOC for ur advices much appreciated .i will contact daiquiri.the main problem for me is where to start dont know what does it stand for these words,DNV,HSLC,SNC...FOR TRAINING CENTERS i am trying to find them few days but i think there is non in croatia...
i tho the same thing, they are very very god with welding steel but al alloy is different thing.

 

You can contact Daquiri from here, his Bio: http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/profile/daiquiri.html

HSLC & SNC = High Speed Light Craft & Surface Naval Craft, rules, of DNV

DNV = Det Norske Vertias, a Classification Society http://www.dnv.com/industry/maritime/

 

ive contact daiquiri thank u for info....ive read ur post http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/classification/dnv-hslc-snc-2012-rules-42292.html
High Speed Light Craft and Surface Naval Craft 2012 rules
but this is only for planing and semi planing crafts,did not see anything about displacement hulls....

 

For ships:
http://exchange.dnv.com/publishing/RulesShip/RulesShip.asp

 

thank u Ad Hoc ....just 1 more question is this the same category or there is the diference between boats up to 20 m and ships biger than 20 or 100 m

 

How big a machine is needed to weld a AL 1/2" plate to a 1/2 plate?

 

i think this one can weld
http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/product.php?model=M00151

 

Welding aluminium is not size dependent. It makes no difference if the boat is 10m or 100m. The only difference is which rules are being used for the design.

 

sorry ive mean about Classification rules ,are the rules the same for boats up to 20 m and the ships 100m ,
for welding ive answer
mydauphin mydauphin

How big a machine is needed to weld a AL 1/2" plate to a 1/2 plate?

 

No.

That's why 2 different sets of rules.

 

thx ad hoc...

 

I was impressed by a push-pull ESAB MIG when working at Freightliner. It did vertical welds in 3/8" (10mm) quite nicely. The head had a nice lightweight compressed air fed motor. I suspect it was 198os vintage, early 1990s perhaps.

 

In the end, I'm with Guest62110524