To save expensive cleaning and pickling costs to remove oxidation and discolouration on stainless steel circumferential welding, radiused Trailing Shields(R) are available.
Manufactured by Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT(R), Trailing Shields are suitable for any diameter of tube, pipe, tank or vessel from 1 in. These lightweight devices simply attach to all standard manual or automatic TIG/GTAW and Plasma/PAW welding torches.
Luke Keane, Distributor Support for HFT said: “The Trailing Shield is connected to the argon gas supply and it diffuses gas out evenly without turbulence through the multi layers of stainless steel mesh built into the body of the shield. At each side, removable silicone rubber side shields provide a barrier to prevent the argon escaping sideways and remaining over the weld metal. These silicon shields are a consumable and are replaceable as they become worn.
As the weld is started, it has extra argon to that amount coming through the gas cup. Then as the welding torch is moved forward, the weld remains under an argon gas shield until the metal has cooled below its oxidation temperature.”
For manual welding, the welder finds that with this lightweight and low cost tool, there is no difficulty in dragging it along the surface being welded. One further benefit is that it carries the welding torch at 90o to the weld.
With automatic welding machines it is possible to raise the welding speed dramatically and enjoy the major benefits of automatic welding. Trailing Shields are also manufactured in flat format for sheet metal welding.
Each Trailing Shield is delivered with a variable diameter connector so that it can fit any size of TIG/GTAW/PAW welding torch for manual or mechanised welding.