A 30 year hand told me to stop grinding my tube welds so pretty
Was bitching to him about failing a bend test on some 2 inch schedule 80 and he asked if I was dressing the cap smooth before bending. I had been, and he said all that grinding thins the wall and puts heat in it. Left the next cap ugly and rough and it passed at 180 degrees. Anyone else's old timers tell them pretty welds are a trap?
Did you check your amperage before you started grinding? I ran into this on some 2 inch sch 80 at a nuke job years back, my caps looked like jewelry but kept snapping in the bend. Old boy on the crew told me to stop treating the cap like a show piece because every pass with the grinder is basically another heat cycle on steel that's already stressed from welding. Wall gets thinner right where the bend pulls hardest, so it rips instead of stretching. Left the next one rough, wire wheel only, and it bent clean. Save the pretty caps for stuff that ain't getting tested.