PSA: We stopped using a come-along on those tight flange fits and it cut our time in half

We were fighting a 24-inch steam line flange in a plant in Toledo last month, and the bolts just would not line up. The old way was to crank on a come-along for an hour, fighting it. My lead said to try heating just the bolt holes on the loose flange with a rosebud, not the whole thing. We got it to about 400 degrees, tapped it with a beater, and the bolts dropped right in. Whole job took maybe 15 minutes. Anyone got a different trick for stubborn flanges that doesn't involve beating them to death?

3 comments

3 Comments

viola8425d ago

Heating just the bolt holes" is the key part. We found if you heat the whole flange it can warp and make it worse. That 400 degree sweet spot is everything.

uma_nguyen246d ago

Learned that lesson the hard way when I turned a perfectly good flange into a modern art sculpture.

reese_anderson4325d ago

Read an old shop manual that stressed the same point. It said to use a small torch tip and circle each hole slowly until the metal just starts to change color. Going past that cherry red is where folks get into trouble with warping.