Unwarping a Warped Pan?

[bussell]

Hey Guys,

I had a local welder do some welding on my partitioned 2x4 pan and now its really warped!

If I hold down both ends it will lay flat on my arch - otherwise it will pop up six inches or more. I got it to stay flat by securing it with a chain, but I'd like to find a better fix.


Any suggestions? Any chance it will straighten out once I boil in it?

[heus]

Sounds like your problem may be with your local welder.

[bussell]

heus,

Perhaps you are correct. But can he do anything to fix it?

[Haynes Forest Products]

I take it you put a 2x4 running from low corner to low corner and tweaked the High corners slow as you go baby steps.

[KenWP]

If it was made out of heavy steel I could tell you how to fix it but sheet metal is another story.

[bussell]

Yeah, its pretty thin stainless. So, do you guys think this guy just did a lousy job, or should this have been expected based on what I was asking him to do and the thickness of the metal?

Please take a look at the pictures of the pan at the link below.

[wnybassman]

Yeah, its pretty thin stainless. So, do you guys think this guy just did a lousy job, or should this have been expected based on what I was asking him to do and the thickness of the metal?

Please take a look at the pictures of the pan at the link below.

What were you asking him to do?

[bussell]

The partitions were spot welded so they didn't work all that well according to the guy I bought it from. I asked him to fix it so the welds ran along the entire length of the partitions.

[wnybassman]

The bottom couple pictures shows some heavy buckling on the bottom, was that there before?

[jordy95]

thin pan and alot of heat

[KenWP]

He most likely ran the welder the full length of the pan from end to end. Should have just had him put a few more spot welds and go from there.
Hard to fix now as you can't cut out the welds and start over. How hard would it be to use C clamps and hold the cornors down.
I would maybe ask for a better rate from this welder also.

[3rdgen.maple]

I think it is a fairly easy fix. Pick the pan up and the corner that sits the lowest on the arch is the side you should hit your welder on the head with. Now it may take several tries but after awhile you will feel better and maybe just maybe the pan will lie flat.

[Bucket Head]

All might not be lost here. My front pan warped a little after I welded in the partitions. It would sit flat, but if you moved it two opposit corners would lift up a little. Not as much as yours, but aggravating none the less.

I welded four tabs with a hole in each, on my arch so there was one at each corner of where the pan sat. I then made long "J" hooks out of threaded rod and put them through the hole and hooked on the top of the pan. had wing nuts on them and brought the pan down to the arch. Left them on for the season and the heating/cooling, heating/cooling left the pan flat at the end of the season.

Again, your pan warped more than mine, so I'm not promising success. You would have to make these hooks and install the hold downs and first see if the pan went to the arch without the heat. If it can't go flush with the arch cold, you can't try this trick. Will the pan go to the arch, or close to it, by holding it down by hand? Is the pan flexible at all at this point?

I hope this helps out. Good luck and keep us updated.

Steve

[bussell]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The pan is actually pretty flexible. It can be held down with just my hand - but as soon as I let up it flies right back up. I was able to get it to stay in place with a chain that I ran underneath the arch and around the pan.

[Bucket Head]

Keep it chained, or simply weighted with the chain for a few boils and cool downs and then remove the chain. See what happens. Let us know how it goes.

Steve

[Northern Ont. Maple]

I had the same problem with one of my finishing pans. Measure the diagonals on your pan and using aircraft cable and small turnbuckle shortten the longest diagonal till it sits flat. Adjust the pan while it's on top of the arch and the cable will running over top of the pan and deviders. Hope this helps good luck.

[Grade "A"]

I had this problem on a pan I made once. The good news was that the weight of the syrup was enough to hold it flat. Try putting water in it at the same level as your syrup would be and see what happens, hooking it down like stated before wont hurt ether.

[vtsnowedin]

A skilled metal worker can straighen it using a torch. To illustrate the principle imagine a chunk of steel held in a strong vise. As heat is applied the steel cant expand against the vise but expands in the free directions. When allowed to cool it can shrink in all directions, gets smaller and falls out of the vice. I've seen bridge beams that were twisted ninty degrees by a truck collision brought back to straight by repeatedly heating to dull red in V shapped patterns and letting them cool. They use temperatue indicating crayons to keep close watch on the temp so as to not take the temper out of the steel. Each heat moves the steel about 1/32 of an inch but thats for have inch A36 H sections. A slow process but much cheaper than taking the bride apart to change the beam.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Might even try to run the depth 2 to 3 inches and it might hold it down completely where 1" liquid wouldn't.

[peacemaker]

like said take the way its warped and over compinsate the other way and chain it down then with a metal hammer work the corners that our out mine was like that when we welded it and a body man fixed it for me

[xulgiy]

You should be able to get about 90% of that out by flipping it upside down, putting the low corners on raised blocks and flexing the opposite corners past flat. just take it easy. If not....use the turn buckles as suggested. I'm not sure how much of a fable it is...but I flanged my dividers on the bottom and sides...tacked them in as tight as I could, and never have had problems with mixing gradient. Welding the whole length of a pan without a major heat sink and stitch welding, will warp it every time.

[bussell]

The welder came over and put some SS brackets on the corners to keep the pan flat. It looks like it will work pretty well. With any luck, after this season, the pan will be flattened out by the heat of the flames.