I am trying to remove the corner shank off a 24-inch bucket. I have tried to undercut the weld. I burned off the back of the shank on the underside of the bucket. But having problems getting the rest of it out. Is there a technique to do this?
I've removed a few shanks over the years, and it's never been easy. A corner shank will be harder, because there's no way to burn right through it. You'll either burn through the side of the bucket or the floor of it. Essentially, I burned and burned until there was nothing much left. You will find that if you're not too aggresive, the shank will burn away without cutting into the bucket itself. This is because the torch preheats the metal of the shank, but the metal of the bucket doesn't get hot enough to get burned away. Of course, where the welds are, it's been made into one piece of metal, so to speak. Burn away the part of the shank that isn't weld, and then grind the weld down later. Obviously it's best to have it set up so that the molten metal (there'll be a lot of it by the time you're done), can run away from where you're working on. If anyone knows a better way, I'm ready to learn it too.
good idea, i noticed on the back it was easy to just burn away the shank without damage to the bucket. will try that on the front. undercutting does not seem to accomplish much.
Air-arc is the way to go.
Yeah, but I don't have one of those, though I'd love to try one out sometime. You'd still be just burning and burning the shank away, bit by bit, though, wouldn't you?
You might be able to use a zip disc on a grinder. Lot less damage than most guys do with a torch .Mind you depends totally on experience.I'am a fabricator and like to use a torch. Even so arc air is the way to go if you have it.
Cutting off shanks (or cutting edges) I don't have an air-arc but I sometimes use a machinist/ fabricator down the road a ways that will take off a cutting edge or shank or anything else off pretty reasonably and quick.
Victor scarfing tip Aside from an airarc, a standard cutting torch with a victor scarfing tip is the next best thing. The scarfing tip resembles a standard cutting tip but it is curved and has a larger cutting oxygen orifice. A scarfing tip is made for scarfing and gouging instead of cutting. Its' large cutting orifice provides a "scattered" cutting stream, kind of like a shotgun compared to a deer rifle. The scattered stream makes a very wide, shallow cut, helping to prevent unintentional cutting of the metal to be saved. With a scarfing tip, a guy should be able to have a corner shank off pretty quick. With practice, this is a very useful tool. I think they cost about 30 bucks. Hope this helps.
You can also use carbon arc rod if you don't have an Arc-Air. Not as clean and it does require some power. Never saw a lot of it being used except around the steel mills back east. I always had a kit from Caterpillar around that used long fuel rods wrapped with a thin coating of copper and a tank of oxygen. This used a 12V battery to get the arc started, after that it was pretty much self sustaining. An excellent tool for cutting out long pins from dozer hard bars, loader arms and excavator booms. This did an excellent job as it removed everything in the way -- stainless, hardface, dirt, concrete -- you name it. Burns at 10,000 degrees so not much will stand up to it. Expensive to use however, but very fast. You never know -- unless you have done the previous work yourself -- what you will find when cutting old shanks off a bucket. Nuts, bolts, pieces of rebar or scrap steel, and always lots of dirt it seems. Just cut away till you get the old stuff off, then fit and weld up in a workmanlike manner. Good Luck!
They are called exotheromic cutting rods.Spelling is off I know.Only used them once tearing down a boiler.There is also a scarfing rod that you can use like a stick welding rod but its not great either.