My company purchases welded components in low carbon or 304 or 316 stainless steel. The welding is usually continuous fillet welds ranging from .19 to .5 nominal size.
Occasionally a customer wants the welds "ground smooth". This creates troublesome expectations because I've not seen a technical definition of "ground smooth".
Expectations such as:
- must the toe of the weld be blended into the base metal
- how much grinding undercut is permitted into the base metal
- is 100% cleanup required over the surface of the weld
- if passivated, should all chemical spots and marks get polished out
- is heat discoloration permitted
- what surface finish (Ra roughness / grinding grit size)
- what tests, if any define acceptability
Generally vendors believe it should be a quick pass with the power grinder and customers believe it should look like a medical implant. We all need clearer expectations.
Are there standards or other methods to communicate these expectations to/from customers and pass them consistently to our fab vendors? Suggestions please.
Occasionally a customer wants the welds "ground smooth". This creates troublesome expectations because I've not seen a technical definition of "ground smooth".
Expectations such as:
- must the toe of the weld be blended into the base metal
- how much grinding undercut is permitted into the base metal
- is 100% cleanup required over the surface of the weld
- if passivated, should all chemical spots and marks get polished out
- is heat discoloration permitted
- what surface finish (Ra roughness / grinding grit size)
- what tests, if any define acceptability
Generally vendors believe it should be a quick pass with the power grinder and customers believe it should look like a medical implant. We all need clearer expectations.
Are there standards or other methods to communicate these expectations to/from customers and pass them consistently to our fab vendors? Suggestions please.