Rings

09/9/07

I used two car jacks, braced across the centre and a gauge to measure across the inside of the cylinder in order to adjust the roundness of the tube to be as round as possible. Then I tacked the rings in to hold the shape.  To be honest, the tube was pretty good and I only really had to squeeze it a little at the part near the main weld, which I assume is at the start of the roll.  I’ve no idea if this is the right way to do it, but it seems pretty near round to me.

In the picture, I am welding in the first 3 rings that fit to the tower base.  I welded a bead of about 150mm in length, spun the hull round on the trailer and welded at the opposite side.  This is to spread the heat out to avoid distortion.  I did six runs, two on each ring at a time, then left it for half an hour to cool down.  My Dad was putting up a gate (see the new posts at the end of the drive) so, I did 10 min’s welding, and then half an hour’s gate fitting.

Submersible Build Log