Quick Question on Welding Costs

[Brian Heligman]

Sorry if this is listed elsewhere, I think I saw it but I'm having trouble finding it again. For TIG welding the 8" CF Flanges to the 6" hemispheres, and adding in 4 half nipple 2.75" CF flange ports in a standard configuration, the shop on my campus quoted 30-40 hours at $1500-2000. Is that a reasonable price? I was under the impression it was a much quicker process.

[David Kunkle]

My chamber is 20" in diameter made from 3 sections, with 10 ports- some 6" to 10" in diameter. I had it welded together by a local shop for a little under $2000 with probably 20 hours into it. With a local shop, you'll probably have to educate them on exactly how the welds are to be done, and best if you can actually watch over them as they put it together. At least you won't show up for it and find out something is welded on ass-backwards. I had to drag this huge thing out of the basement more than once to get leaks repaired in the initial welding.

No doubt you could get it done cheaper than your quote, but you still get what you pay for. You're probably paying for their expertise in vacuum welding, and the fact that it will get done right the first time. If $$ is no problem- go for the pros. If you're a cheapskate like me, local shop would be the way to go.

[Andrew Seltzman]

Was the quote for machining and welding, or just the welding? If it was just the welding, that's way too high(by about a factor of 5).

Use Sharon vacuum, they specialize in vacuum chamber welding and will do it for a few hundred. They did my chamber(2x 8" CF, 10x 2.75" CF) for $350
http://www.sharonvacuum.com/



Here is a cost breakdown for my chamber(I did my own machining and sent it out for TIG welding/leak testing)
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2915&p=17961&hilit=welding#p17961

[DonaldE]

I think that it is a reasonable price. Good share Andrew on cost breakdown for your chamber.

[Alex Cordesman]

Sorry if this is listed elsewhere, I think I saw it but I'm having trouble finding it again. For TIG welding the 8" CF Flanges to the 6" hemispheres, and adding in 4 half nipple 2.75" CF flange ports in a standard configuration, the shop on my campus quoted 30-40 hours at $1500-2000. Is that a reasonable price? I was under the impression it was a much quicker process.

So a dollar per inch of MIG and $3 per inch of TIG for single pass welds is fairly common and reasonable pricing for just welding. If there is a lot of fit up then you are looking at $50-80 an hour. At the point where you cross into the $1500 to $2000 range, you should just buy a TIG welding rig and learn to use it cause you will come out break even in costs and end up with a great tool that you know how to use.

For your specific job, that sounds like maybe 4 hours of work based upon your loose description so $2k is over the top.

-Sandow