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stick welding?

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KWK

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
147
Location
Peoria, Illinois
I was reading an FAA maintenance handbook and was surprised to read, regarding "stick welding" or SMAW:

Some aircraft manufacturers, such as Stinson, used this process for the welding of 4130 steel fuselage structures. This was followed by heat treatment in an oven to stress relieve and normalize the structure.

While I won't have a plane under construction any time soon, these statements bring to mind several questions.

Why was stick welding abandoned for steel tube structures? I've heard of MIG, TIG, and gas being used by modern, commercial operations (mostly the two electric welding forms) but never stick.

Did Stinson actually cook the entire fuselage at 1600 F? Did the rods they use require full normalizing? Perhaps they used stick only for their really big planes with big tubes, like the tri-motors, but then we're talking about a really big oven.

Karl
 
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