Stainless steel cone fabrication

[tamal1475]

We are preparing fabrication drawing of a stainless steel cone which will become the bottom of a coal silo. The available SS 10 mm thick plate width is only 1500 mm. Minimum width required to eliminate joints is 3000 mm. Two options are being considered. 1. By making number of petals and joining them as per development requirement. 2. Joining two plates to make a single plate of 3000 mm and then cut the same as per development requirement. The second option is probably unconventional. The final weld seam after cone rolling will follow a curved line which could be questioned. However, there are some advantages which could be useful. Does any body has experience in the second option? Or can any body highlight a reason for which it is not advisable? Some supporting document will help us to confirm our decision either way.

 

[MikeHalloran]

The first question that comes to mind is whether you can find a roller that can handle a 3m diameter circle.

The second question is how to ship the finished large cone to the installation site.

If the site and the workshop are not accessible by barge, you're probably stuck with truck shipment, and field-joined petals.

There will also be a large amount of waste at the corners of the joined plate, and possibly less waste, or more easily handled waste, cutting petals from smaller plates. There's no reason not to lay out the developed large cone, and the petals, to try and optimize plate usage in either case.

Also, no matter how well or poorly you fair the splice weld in the joined plate, it will roll a little differently from the unheated plate, so the part around the seam will always look a little funky.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[EdStainless]

I have seen similar cones on the bottom of silos at plants making hygienic products.
They used a fabricated blank, using more than two pieces, and then formed it all at once.
I recall that they used 5 section for the original blank.
And yes, they don't come out perfectly uniform.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Plymouth Tube

 

[tbuelna]

I don't think using two linear welds to produce the cone is any worse than using one. A similar process that comes to mind is continuous spiral rolling and welding of pipelines.