Hi Paul,
Your concern about welding resonates with me and I
thought I'd describe my experience. I did my first welding when I was about 12,
building go karts and such. But until a few years ago, my welding was something
I'd characterize as "sticking metal together", and that's being overly generous.
I'd weld a little bracket, but would not trust myself with pressure
boundary welds. I live in a major metro area (Washington DC) yet you wouldn't
believe how hard it is here to find a good welder here. The first one I
hired was an old guy who was really good, but my job was one of his last
before he decamped for retirement in Florida. The great benefit of seeing him at
work was that at least I understood whether the welders that followed were
doing things correctly. Afterwards I found a guy who also did a good job,
and who owned a small welding services firm with half a dozen welders
working for him. The owner welded properly, but as soon as he wasn't doing
the job personally, his employees didn't follow the same detailed procedures
unless I called them on it. Again, the crucial thing was having seen it
done properly at least once. Not that the employees were bad welders, it's
simply that their work probably consists of putting up shop signs -- almost
nobody in suburbia knows about building a pressure vessel. I was recently
asked what I was building while I was in my local welding supplies shop getting
some electrodes. I responded "pressure vessels" because I wasn't looking for the
long chat that would inevitably follow had I said "submarines". I
got an "aaaah" and a totally blank _expression_ -- the guy didn't have a clue
what a pressure vessel was. I also had one welder who was useless
and wouldn't even have done a respectable job of the shop signs. I paid
him a bunch of money and then had to spend hours grinding away his
work to start over. The bottom line is beware of the "qualified"
welder because it's a very loosely used term.
Then I connected with Dan Lance here on PSUBS. Dan's a
welding professional who has also built his own K-350. Now I had someone
who not only is a first rate welder but also generous enough to mentor me
through learning to do it myself. Dan put in many hours working on my sub and
providing instruction at the same time. I haven't attended a community welding
course because I couldn't find one here, but even if one existed I
have to wonder if they would cover full penetration welds in thickish plate like
we use on subs. I still don't consider myself a
good welder by any stretch, my welds are all butt welds because they're
that ugly. But thanks to Dan, I'm at least confident they're solid.
The bottom line? Focus on finding or paying
someone to teach you right, rather than contracting out the job, because if
you contract it out there's a pretty good chance it won't get done right
anyway. I have a friend whose entire sub had good looking welds made by a
so-called professional, yet the welds turned out to be garbage when
ground into a little for inspection. But don't lose heart, because when you
do find the right person to teach you how to weld, you'll find it isn't that
difficult if you know what the good practices are. Sort of like
diving... easy to do but easy to kill yourself out of ignorance
too.
Welcome aboard!
Alec
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Hello All,
I am a new member to this discussion group and,
being new to the whole subject of personal submersibles, have a few questions
for the rest of you to help me decide if the whole idea of building my own
submersible is a sensible choice for me. I do NOT want to go further down the
road of resource, financial and emotional investment if its an unrealistic
venture.
I’ll tell you a bit about me, my intended
submersible and also the area where I intend to use it.
My name is Paul Lassen and am 46. I live in Rosebud,
Alberta, Canada (about as land locked as you can get) near Calgary. I have a
masters degree in Industrial Design and currently work as an acoustician who
assesses and designs solutions for industrial noise. I have spent my life
building virtually anything that strikes my fancy. Including everything from
violin family instruments, rally cars, engines, boats, product models, homes,
tools, stereo equipment electronics, on and on. I have also been an
instrumentation mechanic / technician in the oil and gas
sector.
I have good confidence in my ability to build a
submersible with one exception. Welding. I have virtually no experience welding
and I can only imagine the importance of a high quality weld to the building of
a safe PSUB. Can the necessary welding skills be gained through adult education
courses, some additional reading and practice? I get the sense that at least
some of you have done just that. Am I right? If you know of good resources for
welding education then please pass their titles / URLs / whatever along. What
kind of welding is appropriate / necessary for our kind of welding (stick, MIG,
TIG)? Is there an exceptionally well suited model of welder that people know of?
Are there welder models to avoid?
My hope is to build a K-350 with my own little
modes. I intend to use it in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver
Island in British Columbia, Canada where I now boat regularly. On the surface
its a stunningly beautiful area of intersecting fjords and inlets but below the
water I just don't know much. Neither does anyone I've spoken with. I have
oceanfront recreational property there which can act as a good base and the
invertebrate speciation there is really second to none. Depths are between 30 to
60 metres for perhaps 50% of the various inlets of Clayoquot Sound while the
remainder is 60 metres down to 170 metres. Visibility was poor the one time I’ve
bothered to dive there (I far prefer more tropical destinations for SCUBA) and
surface observation of visibility seems to indicate that this is the norm. Water
is typically 11º C (52º F) without much seasonal variation.
The idea of building and operating a PSUB has really
captured my imagination. I just need to know what it will take to get to a skill
level where I can make welds that will result in a safe and reliable
submersible. I also want to know if cool mirky waters (at shallow diving depths)
will allow any kind of observational enjoyment or if I’ll be consistently
disappointed in what I am unable to see down there. Does visibility ever improve at
depth? Finally, explain to me the reasons that the K-350 has become such
an apparently popular PSUB?
I'll be grateful for any
responses.
Cheers,
Paul Lassen