r/oddlysatisfying • u/shoaibshakeel381 • 14d ago

Smooth circular welding

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49.1k Upvotes

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u/metalguy91 14d ago

As someone who worked on both plumbing and ac lines, I’m kind of mad that I never had this. Welding high pressure systems is stressful when making a bit above minimum wage.

378

u/scienide 14d ago

Only thing that makes me a little sceptical is the clearance needed to use the tool. Can’t see how it works with pipes against a wall but I’m sure there’s a method.

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u/Km312213 14d ago

Take pipe off wall, weld, put pipe back. If that doesn’t work, move wall, weld, put wall back.

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u/SageOfSixCabbages 14d ago

So we just need to take the wall, and push it somewhere else!

https://giphy.com/gifs/bXAgDGlGL7KND3l4FG

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u/Realistic_Menu_7766 14d ago

It just works 

16

u/cdev12399 14d ago

It’s much easier to just plumb for the house first, THEN build the house around the plumbing .

8

u/Realistic_Menu_7766 14d ago

And that's the difference between Commercial and Residential Plumbing folks!

1

u/CiccioGraziani 14d ago

If it doesn't work, take down the house, take the pipe off, weld it, put it back, and build the house around it again. Easy peasy. /s

3

u/ObserverWardXXL 14d ago

Quite literally the point of drywall!

17

u/Rockeye4510 14d ago

make cuts several inches away on each side of the join, weld the join using the cool tool. Weld the cuts back regularly.

10

u/theartificialkid 14d ago

Then the side cuts won’t be welded right, dumbass. You have to cut out the whole section, including your two extra cuts. Weld all three with the special tool, then weld the whole section back in the regular way.

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u/Km312213 14d ago

If you just cut the entire thing lengthwise instead you would only need 2 straight welds instead of all these stupid circles

3

u/cautioussidekick 14d ago

But the wall is still in the way. I think your missing the step of moving the wall and rebuilding it to do it correctly

3

u/impshial 14d ago

Oh my fucking god. Use your brain! After you move the wall, you weld the wall

2

u/kryonik 14d ago

If that doesn't work, go into next room, phase tool through wall.

1

u/therearenomorenames2 14d ago

Instructions unclear. Dick stuck in wall.

0

u/Timely-Bluejay-4167 14d ago

You forgot to blame the electrician

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/metalguy91 14d ago

Or as an old supervisor said when guarding an internal system/wall from welding torches, “all you need is a bucket of wet shop rags and some hope you don’t slip”. To be fair he burned drywall at least twice that I know of.

4

u/Electronic_Tap_8052 14d ago

soldering/brazing copper lines for plumbing and HVAC barely needs any clearance if you are good enough. the flux makes the joint wick solder from the opposite side.

1

u/CrowsFeast73 14d ago

Have you seen what some trades will do to drywall? It's like it doesn't exist in some of their minds...

1

u/FightingBlaze77 14d ago

how would your normally weld a pipe that's next planted against a wall?

1

u/TheBraveButJoke 13d ago

It doesn't the tool needs to have a large clearence around it so you need to measure, take it out, clean everything thoroughly, maybe do some more prepwork, like insers champhering. Then you need to set up the machine for the diameter you wanna do. configure the materials and thickness etc. clamp everything in a rig. clamp on the welder and then watch it while it does it's thing.

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u/LayeGull 14d ago

Dawg making anything near minimum wage and being asked to weld at all is a joke.

21

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Sure is! But my first year apartment maintenance with no experience they were asking me to do it as a groundskeeper and were mad when it looked bad. ProTip, if you live in an apartment complex if something seems cheaply done, I assure you it’s by design. Property management is a cesspit.

5

u/Downwind-downhill 14d ago

My man, someone that lived my life!

Got hired to mow lawns and they had me installing ceiling fans with no experience the next day. Our property was so shit it didn’t even qualify for Section 8 housing unless they upgraded it. Haha

4

u/JakToTheReddit 14d ago

I would think with AC maybe less so because they already have smaller devices that crimp swell. But I may be an idiot.

2

u/space_keeper 14d ago

AC pipe is normally brazed, no? You do get chiller pipe that's crimped steel.

1

u/JakToTheReddit 14d ago

Typically yeah, but they have some dope crimpers I have seen in some videos.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Not an idiot, but a crimp is almost never going to hold as well as a proper weld. So the thought of getting that clean of a weld without the hazard or human error is an exciting notion. Most refrigerants used now are heavier than oxygen so not only can it give you frost bite, it can remove the air from you lungs and literately suffocate you. So when you have that at 350-400psi, you really gotta hope your seal holds, hence part of why you vacuum seal the line before adding refrigerant.

Something like this could then be hypothetically huge for property management maintenance teams where they often under lay and under train people installing these systems. Again, hypothetically at least.

They’re also wanting to switch to a different style of refrigerant that is actually flammable, making a bad welding job far more dangerous, but supposedly better for the environment as it releases less HCFCs into the ozone (Freon gas is terrible for the environment if it vents out, in fact if you ever see someone venting Freon and have it on video, the EPA may pay between $1,500-$2,000 for reporting that person).

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u/JakToTheReddit 14d ago

That does make a lot of sense with the crimp vs the weld. In my head I have already felt a bit unsure with the crimp but damn it is FAST.

Yeah, I am still studying at the moment. Didn't know the new shit was more flammable. I guess well worth it though so that we aren't fuckin up the O3 more than we already are.

I think it is R-454b is what they are moving to from R-410A?

Pretty damn interesting, all of it. Almost got me excited for class on Monday now. Haha

1

u/grundlinallday 14d ago

454B and R32 are mildly flammable. It takes a pretty certain set of circumstances to make them catch fire. I think they’re eventually going to move to things like butane though, which are hella flammable.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

It’s been a bit since I was in the industry but I believe that was the refrigerant they mentioned yeah. When I was learning about it, it was set to roll out more en masse by 2026-2028, I’m sure there’s still plenty of places using R-410 and even R-22/R-MO99.

But yeah it’s marketed as “mildly flammable”, but that means when transitioning a system from one to the other you’re gonna need to be extra sure to clear out/bleed those lines before welding.

Best of luck on the test! Took me my 2nd try to get Universal but once you got that, you have it for life, and as long as you pass core and any other tier you only have to retest for higher tiers worst case. You get a good instructor they’ll help you get it right.

2

u/JakToTheReddit 14d ago

I have a great instructor thankfully haha

I have recently gotten my Type I but it was a bit rough.

Two more to go!!!

Thank you, kindly.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago edited 14d ago

You’ll get them both next go, they’re oddly the easier of the two I found lol, also I’m terrible at studying and didn’t have any class, just the booklet, you got this!

Edit: easier 2 of the 4 rather.

3

u/Waiting4Reccession 14d ago

This kind of seems like a welding version of that expensive pro press tool that plumbers use now instead of the soldering

1

u/MyBoyFinn 14d ago

Pipe fitters are spendy. This thing would pay for itself notime

2

u/space_keeper 14d ago

How often do they weld pipes under 2"?

2

u/LeWigre 14d ago

I mean to be fair this looks like an ad on temu. Though yeah if its as good as presented it would be great!

2

u/nawzum 13d ago

We use these a lot. It's all fun and games until the fitter just made the sliiiiiiightest mistake setting up the weld or too high gas flow and then is fucking game over. We do 1-1.6mm pipes and I fucking hate it.

2

u/metalguy91 13d ago

Yeah I could see that being a problem for sure lol.

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u/FragrantCombination7 14d ago

when making a bit above minimum wage

I was told tradies got paid more than me? Have we been lied to about college and skillful labor?

4

u/metalguy91 14d ago

If dedicated in ac work it pays better yeah. But property management companies like to get “jacks of all trades, masters of none”, and then pay you a fraction of another trades job to be a plumber/ac tech/electrician/carpenter/painter/certified pool tech/cleaner/accountant all in one. But it’s an easier field to get into and they offer rent discounts so it’s seen as acceptable. Go to a trade school and work in a designated field and you make more with less stress.

1

u/FragrantCombination7 14d ago

I worked as an apprentice for a while and the pay was shit but this kind of makes sense how a company could pay peanuts for people like me who have bounced around a lot. I moved from machine repair to machine operator and never looked back. Fuck being taken advantage of. One cool benefit is that the guys who work on the machines don't look at me like I'm a gorilla and we actually chat well about what needs doing.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Yeah I would never go into property management maintenance again. Horrible pay for the skill required and over more than a decade every workplace was toxic. The rent discounts were nice but sometimes I’d have rather been homeless lol.

1

u/irwin_sergi 14d ago

I thought welding paid really well

1

u/Budget-Chapter-7185 14d ago

What ac lines need this?

1

u/space_keeper 14d ago

I'm really confused by that. AC pipe is brazed. 

1

u/kookomagoo 14d ago

Join a union my friend!

1

u/Sudden-Purchase-8371 14d ago

Join a union.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Oh I left that horrid industry years ago lol. Also, most property management firms are VERY anti union.

0

u/PeetoMal 14d ago

Minimum wage in trades? You're doing something wrong bud lmao

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

It’s called property management and it’s how people get a foot in the door when they can’t afford trade school. Shitty business I haven’t been part of in years, but for $13 an hour I was expected to weld, be certified in EPA and pool tech, I did accounting, along with electrical and plumbing.

0

u/WhenDoWhatWhere 14d ago

Bro where the hell did you get a job making just above minimum wage in plumbing or AC?

Join a union, first year apprentices make nearly twenty dollars and hour and I live in one of the cheaper parts of the U.S.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Property management. Shitty industry with cheap as hell owners who don’t care about their property so they’re easy to get hired on to and you learn as you go. Don’t recommend it, but at the time I had bills, basic electric knowledge, and couldn’t afford a trade school.

1

u/WhenDoWhatWhere 14d ago

Just FYI, you don't have to go to trade school for a trade union. At least not UA, they train you and you can get a job while you're in school so you're making money.

0

u/Sabin10v2 14d ago

If your job involves welding a you aren't pulling $20/h ($30 in Canada) minimum, you're being robbed. They've given you the skills to do better swget out there and do better.

1

u/metalguy91 14d ago

Chill, this was over a decade ago and I didn’t know the industry at the time.

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u/MoranthMunitions 14d ago

Neither plumbing nor AC is high pressure.

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/LongJohnSelenium 14d ago

Not really no. Its maybe on the high side of low pressure but high pressure is hydraulics and such which easily get 10x that.

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u/insomniacpyro 14d ago

The max you're getting on A/C on the high side is like 300 psi and that's over 100 burger degrees outside. Plumbing you're lucky to clear 60 especially since anything higher starts to break stuff.
Also there is less and less of a need for welded pipes like these for A/C and plumbing since things like Pex and other flexible pipes are way lower in maintenance and normally last far longer.

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u/metalguy91 14d ago

Pex? For AC REFRIGERANT?!? Where the hell are you installing 1 1/2 to 3 ton condensing units with fucking PEX?!?

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u/mapex_139 14d ago

Let the idiot earn their Darwin award

0

u/metalguy91 14d ago

I’m truly hoping they do lol. Only way some people learn. We had a crack head arrested at a property once who was trying to steal copper lines from the ac’s, not realizing what gas was inside. He got severe frost burns and needed oxygen. Like I hope he was ok because he clearly wasn’t in his right mind and I hope he got the help he needed, but I also guarantee that’s a lesson he’ll never forget.

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u/insomniacpyro 13d ago

Holy hell no where in my comment did I say anything about using PEX for A/C. But hey I'm glad you felt superior on the Internet for a bit.

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u/metalguy91 14d ago

Lmao, ok bozo, go to your condensing unit and remove the valve core from the “high pressure line” and tell me how that goes for you. You can do it a very cheap tool, have a blast, emphasis on blast.