Can anyone identify these welds on a vintage jet engine?

[William Payne]

Was at an open day today and there was a 1940’s era De Havilland Goblin Jet Engine there on a stand. Heliarc (TIG) was perfected in 1941 by Northrup. De Havilland were British.

You can see some welds that appear to be early Heliarc or Oxy Acetylene welds but what has me scratching my head are ones that look to be a series of horse shoe shapes. You can also see a lot of spot welds.

Oh and for anyone wondering the engine on the right is an Allison V12

[Bls repair]

The toes don’t look welded . I wonder if could be a type of heated crimp weld of some sort?

[William Payne]

I did wonder that.

[ronsii]

The toes don’t look welded . I wonder if could be a type of heated crimp weld of some sort?

Yeah, they look like resistance rolled welds I have seen mostly on piping setups.

[12V71]

Yeah, they look like resistance rolled welds I have seen mostly on piping setups.

I was just going to add something like that.

[William Payne]

I was just going to add something like that.

I’d love to see that process. There was one weld in person that looked like a continuous spot weld.

[gnm109]

It could be resistance welds as mentioned. In the WWII era, some companies were still using O/A aluminum welding. It's tricky but it works. I once had a shop weld a motor mount back on my Harley Knucklehead crankcase. The welder used O/A and did a terrific job. He used lots of pre-heat and did the work with aluminum filler rod and white borax for flux.

[Mike_L]

Oxy-Hydro welding would be my guess. It actually predates Oxy-Acetylene and was in use in the early 1900s. I’ve mentioned it here recently, but it can be used to weld aluminum, along with precious metals like platinum. Much of the rods sold now that are used for aluminum are brazing rods, whereas Oxy-Hydro is a weld process. 1XXX-6XXX series aluminum can be welded.

It could be resistance welds as mentioned. In the WWII era, some companies were still using O/A aluminum welding. It's tricky but it works. I once had a shop weld a motor mount back on my Harley Knucklehead crankcase. The welder used O/A and did a terrific job. He used lots of pre-heat and did the work with aluminum filler rod and white borax for flux.

Are you sure it’s not Oxy-Hydro you’re talking about? The torch equipment is the same as Oxy-Acetylene but the bottle and regulator are different. Also uses flux.

[Mike_L]

I’d love to see that process. There was one weld in person that looked like a continuous spot weld.

We like to think of ourselves as technically superior to our predecessors, but there were times when they did more with less. I’ve seen some old timers lay some spectacular beads with a an Oxy-Acetylene torch. It’s not all that different than laying a stack of dimes with a TIG welder today. The torches now are electric instead of Oxy-Fuel, but the process and body mechanics are similar.

When you stop and think about some of our greatest accomplishments were achieved with slide rule and pencil.

[William Payne]

We like to think of ourselves as technically superior to our predecessors, but there were times when they did more with less. I’ve seen some old timers lay some spectacular beads with a an Oxy-Acetylene torch. It’s not all that different than laying a stack of dimes with a TIG welder today. The torches now are electric instead of Oxy-Fuel, but the process and body mechanics are similar.

When you stop and think about some of our greatest accomplishments were achieved with slide rule and pencil.

Preaching to the choir man. I’ve been saying that for years.

If you want to have a fun read look up the papers NASA wrote about developing welding processes back in the 60’s. Awesome stuff.

[smithdoor]

To me it looks like Oxy-Acetylene

Dave

Was at an open day today and there was a 1940’s era De Havilland Goblin Jet Engine there on a stand. Heliarc (TIG) was perfected in 1941 by Northrup. De Havilland were British.

You can see some welds that appear to be early Heliarc or Oxy Acetylene welds but what has me scratching my head are ones that look to be a series of horse shoe shapes. You can also see a lot of spot welds.

Oh and for anyone wondering the engine on the right is an Allison V12

[Mike_L]

Preaching to the choir man. I’ve been saying that for years.

If you want to have a fun read look up the papers NASA wrote about developing welding processes back in the 60’s. Awesome stuff.

Always enjoy reading stuff like that, I’ll check those out, thanks for the information.

Looks like the material is most likely Nimonic.

From Wikipedia...

Nimonic is a registered trademark of Special Metals Corporation that refers to a family of lpaste-based high-temperature low creep superalloys. Nimonic alloys typically consist of more than 50% nickel and 20% chromium with additives such as titanium and aluminium.

The main use is in gas turbine components and extremely high performance reciprocating internal combustion engines. The Nimonic family of alloys was first developed in the 1940s by research teams at the Wiggin Works in Hereford, England, in support of the development of the Whittle jet engine.[1][2]

[William Payne]

Always enjoy reading stuff like that, I’ll check those out, thanks for the information.

Looks like the material is most likely Nimonic.

From Wikipedia...

Happy reading

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/

[walker]

“ Can anyone identify these welds...”

Starting in the upper left we have Bob, under Bob is Frank, then Allen. To the right is Betsy...

[William Payne]

“ Can anyone identify these welds...”

Starting in the upper left we have Bob, under Bob is Frank, then Allen. To the right is Betsy...

I completely support your sense of humour haha.