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Erik the Awful

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Stop-drill that crack before you weld it up. If you don't know what that means, follow the crack until it ends. Get an 1/8" drill bit and drill a hole at the end of the crack. If you drill it and see the crack goes further, drill another hole, etc, until you reach the end of the crack.

Why? Cracks don't spread from a nice, round hole. They spread from an existing crack or a weak point in an edge. Stop drilling before you weld it ensures you eliminate that nasty end that is prone to spread. It's also a good idea to groove that crack before welding it instead of laying the bead over the top of the crack. You really want good penetration.
 

thinger2

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Stop-drill that crack before you weld it up. If you don't know what that means, follow the crack until it ends. Get an 1/8" drill bit and drill a hole at the end of the crack. If you drill it and see the crack goes further, drill another hole, etc, until you reach the end of the crack.

Why? Cracks don't spread from a nice, round hole. They spread from an existing crack or a weak point in an edge. Stop drilling before you weld it ensures you eliminate that nasty end that is prone to spread. It's also a good idea to groove that crack before welding it instead of laying the bead over the top of the crack. You really want good penetration.
Yep. I actually slept my way through an engineering class called "crack propagation"
Turns out, things that are cracked tend to keep cracking unless you do things to stop them from continuing to crack.
A great example of this is the old Mile High Stadium in Denver.
All steel structure and risers.
After every game they had a full time crew that did nothing but stop drill, grind and weld riser cracks that spread between bolt holes.
That is a big part of the reason it got torn down.
That joint was all done
Stop drilling is also really important when dealing with fiberglass.
There is an entire field of engineering devoted to crack
Hours and hours of my life that i will never get back.
 

454cid

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Yep. I actually slept my way through an engineering class called "crack propagation"
Turns out, things that are cracked tend to keep cracking unless you do things to stop them from continuing to crack.
A great example of this is the old Mile High Stadium in Denver.
All steel structure and risers.
After every game they had a full time crew that did nothing but stop drill, grind and weld riser cracks that spread between bolt holes.
That is a big part of the reason it got torn down.
That joint was all done
Stop drilling is also really important when dealing with fiberglass.
There is an entire field of engineering devoted to crack
Hours and hours of my life that i will never get back.

Weird. Did you ever hear of what was causing the cracks?
 
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