Welding I beams together

[Anonymous-0]

Hello,

Making a long wagon. Got a bunch of 8x10 heavy 16' ibeams that I need to butt weld together to make aprox 28 feet. What would be the best way to weld these together. Should I,

1. Cut the ends off square and butt weld together

2. cut the ends in a step/notch fashon and weld together

3.cut square and weld a plate on the end and and make a flange and bolt together?

Trying to figure what would be the strongest..

 

[RayP(MI)]

I think I would weld together, butt to butt, with a v ground on each piece, and then bolt a couple plates in the webs to strengthen the splice.

 

[Anonymous-0]

If you are doing this to use the completed beam for a building span, you may want to make sure that whatever connection is used, that it's been verfied as a legit detail and calculated to be acceptable with some safety margin, etc. something an engineer would do.

 

[Joe(TX)]

A step notch will spread the load over more weld area and is more desirable.

 

[Brother Dave]

I would v-grove out both sides butt together and weld with multiple passes. Grind the weld smooth on the web and cut a square piece of steel that is the same thickness of the I-beam web. Place the square peice of steel with one corner faceing up toward the top flange and the other corner faceing down toward the bottom flange over the weld area. Weld all around the square piece of steel. Do this on both sides of the I-beam. Well be very strong and should not be a be a problem for a trailer.

 

[NCWayne]

I'm no engineer so I can't give the technical advise on what's best but I know what worked for me and alot of other guys I know. Take one beam and cut the web out of the center leaving the top and bottom flange. When I did mine my beams were 12 inches and I cut out 12 inches. Take the piece butting against it and cut off the top and bottom flange to a length of 12 inches. In other words keyhole one piece into the other and weld them together. The two pieces I used gives me a shed 30 feet wide clear span and I've got five 8" beams 30' long setting on top of them so far with no noticable deflection. I figure I've still got to build a wood frame to get the roof pitch plus the weight of the roofing tin so I plan to put a stiff leg on either end to give the structure a little more rigidity but beyond that it seems pretty sturdy. I've got a neighbor that is an engineer and he says that just based on what he can see it's massive overkill for a shed roof but since I plan to put a chain hoist on one of the beams that it ought to be good for pretty much anything I'm gonna want to pick up.

 

[old]

Butt weld them v the ends first. Then weld plates and or angle iron over that weld. Those are called fish plates. I have done what your doing off and on a lot when I build a new shed and some are now 20 plus years old and seem to be holding up just fine
Hobby farm

 

[Nebraska Kirk]

I work for a house mover and have helped butt weld many beams together. We just cut the ends square, grind both ends nearly to a point and weld. As long as you get 100% penetration, the weld will be as strong as the beam. You know the weld bead will be above the surface of the beam when you are done, we have always ground the weld flat on the top and bottom of the beam, and just left the rest as is, that way the weld is thicker than the beam and that much stronger.

A splice plate is not necessary. You can add one if you want, but it is unnecessary work in my opinion.

 

[Puddles]

There are many ways to splice beams. If I’m in a hurry but still what to pass a UT test I’ll do it this way. Never let me down yet.
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