Page 93: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2012)

August 2012www.marinelink.com 93yard to invest in new welding equipment, said Ryan Cooper, technical sales repre- sentative with The Lincoln Electric Com- pany in Cleveland, who assisted the shipyard in making the transition. ?For this kind of work, they needed to weld out of position with a solid alu-minum wire (GMAW ? Gas Metal Arc Welding [MIG]),? Cooper said. ?Welding on aluminum is different than welding on steel. The crew was used to welding in position with older power sources using cored wire. To get the out-of-position weld on aluminum, they needed to learn how to use a pulsing power source to get a good bead and the penetration neededfor this kind of job.? During a trial period Lincoln Electricshowcased its Power Wave 355M with Power Feed 25M and the Python Plus Push-Pull gun combined with LincolnElectric?s SuperGlaze 5356 wire, the company?s most popular aluminum weld- ing wire for shipbuilding. The Power Wave features some of Lin- coln Electric's most sophisticated weld-ing technologies and processes combinedinto a single, highly efficient inverter-dri- ven power source designed for advanced semiautomatic welding. Lincoln Elec-tric?s Waveform Control Technology is at the heart of Power Wave 355M perform- ance, enabling processes such as Pulse-On-Pulse and Power Mode. Precise control of process parameters permitwelding on a variety of materials, includ- ing steel, stainless steel and nickel alloys, as well as the aluminum alloy Great Lakes Shipyard was required to use to meet USGS specifications. Programma- ble optimization of the arc for each ma-terial type, welding wire type, wirediameter and shielding gas mix delivers consistent welds time after time. ?Everyone here had been working with older equipment, and we realized the pro-grammable Power Wave 355M would take us to the next step,? Craine said. ?It really simplified the process for our welders. We also evaluated welding wire choices. We tested eight different types of wire, and as far as production goes, the SuperGlaze was the most productive.? Another factor came into play in the de- cision making process ? Training. As Craine noted, only a handful of the weld-ing staff was certified in aluminum weld- ing by the American Bureau of Shipping. ?Only three or four of our 28 welders werecertified to weld on aluminum,? he said. Lincoln Electric stepped in and reme-died the situation with two weeks of in- tensive training for the Great Lakes welders. The program, led by Cooper and a Lincoln Electric Welding School in- structor Lyle Binns, consisted of both classroom lessons and hands-on welding.?At the end of the two weeks, everyone was certified in aluminum welding,? Craine said. On the Job To keep pace with the requirements of both the materials and the job deadlines, theGreat Lakes fabrication team worked 10- hour shifts, six days a week on both of thevessels. ?Aluminum is much more difficult to work with than steel,? Craine says. ?It moves around, warps, flexes. It?s definitely not as predictable as steel, and there?s less margin for error. Because it is delicate and also oxidizes quickly, you can?t grind a weld out on it like you can with steel. You have to start over with a fresh component. And, in steel fabrication, once you cut it, you can just tack it and weld it. With alu- minum, you have to clean it and then weld it almost immediately after cutting.? Smith Berger Marine, Inc.builds a full range of Shark Jaws for AnchorHandling Tug Supply vessels. Standard ratings are 100, 200, 350, 500 and 750 metric tons and all units have Quick Release at the rated load.Smith Berger flexibility allows us to customize our equipment to suit theoperating characteristics of your vessel. Third party certification, loadtests, release tests and load monitoring systems are available options. Rely on the 100 year history of Smith Berger to outfit your vessel with our rugged and dependable equipment.SMITHBERGERMARINE, INC.OFFERSA COMPLETELINEOF SHARK JAWS ? TOWING PINS ? STERN ROLLERS Smith Berger Marine, Inc.7915 10th Ave., S., Seattle, WA 98108 USA Tel. 206.764.4650 ? Toll Free 888.726.1688 ? Fax 206.764.4653 E-mail: [email protected] ? Web: www.smithberger.com SAFE - RELIABLE - ECONOMICALMR#8 (90-97) Real:MR Template 8/13/2012 9:04 AM Page 93