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Talked to a veteran boilermaker at the union hall Tuesday that made me rethink how I approach tube rolling

I was standing by the coffee pot complaining about a tight bundle I couldn't get the expander into, and this old timer just said 'son, you ain't working the tube, you're fighting the tool.' He showed me a different sequence for tightening the mandrel that cut my time by half. Has anyone else gotten advice that made you realize you were overcomplicating a basic step?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin89618d ago

Heard the same thing from an old pipefitter back when I was still green. I was forcing the expander into a stubborn return bend, and he grabbed my wrist and said 'let the tool do the work, you're just guiding it.' He had me back off the mandrel a quarter turn, then slowly work it back in while keeping steady pressure. Night and day difference. Tubes seated smooth, no chatter, and I stopped burning up expander heads every few weeks.

the_felix18d ago

But tbh I gotta push back on this a little. Sometimes you gotta muscle through a rough tube especially when you're behind schedule and that old timer advice just slows you down. Yeah you might burn through a few more expander heads but that's what the shop stock is for, and I've had just as many jams from babying the tool as I have from forcing it.

sullivan.quinn18d agoTop Commenter

Has anyone actually tracked the hidden cost of scrapped tubes from overworking the metal?