Destructive testing of MM Passport weld.

[Fat-Fab.com]

I have a new to me MM Passport and wanted to "KNOW" if my welds were sound.

So I made up a sample of the joint I am using welded it out, cut it across the joint, polished it with 120 grit and etched it with battery acid.

Material is 1.5"X1.5"X.187 wall. The application is guard rail in a stair well.


Did it pass or fail and why?

[man of steel]

re weld quality

by the looks of it fatfab,you dont have any penetration on the inside and a lack of fusion(you can see on your last pic it looks like its just sitting in the groove, try crankin your heat up a bit and dont go for filling in one pass if your gap is too big better a few hotter passes once the welds have built up underneath . as to pass or fail i couldnt say just from a picture but if you can try a face and a root bend and if it snaps (it failed) good luck and let me know how it turned out ciao

[Jolly Roger]

I build handrails almost daily and don't even worry about it. They don't require 100% penetration. As for the looks of the etched weld it is really difficult to tell. Electric furnace steels are of the highest quality (meaning most expensive) the steel deposited when arc welding is by nature always of the highest quality (electric furnace). That is straight from the Lincoln Foundations "Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding", not just me. This makes it hard to tell anything from the pics due to the potential (actually most likely) difference between the quality of the base metal and that deposited while welding.