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pipeRunner® - The Revolutionary Orbital Welding System

1 February 2024 | 

It has been a while since our innovative orbital welding system the pipeRunner® was launched – now its time to reveal some of the latest trials for productivity improvements in welding stainless and alloys 625 pipeline and pipeworks.

Pipeline construction and pipework welding are typical site operations. It is all about girth welds pipe-to-pipe. Today we want to show the potential of productivity improvements in welding high corrosion resistant alloyed pipes using stainless steel and nickel alloy 625 for orbital welding of pipelines.

When it comes to welding stainless or nickel alloy pipes, we recommend welding the root and hot pass with suitable high-alloy TIG rods and then the fill and cap layers with our FOXcore high-alloy flux cored wire range in conjunction with our pipeRunner® to boost your productivity and achieve the best quality.

Save time and get excellent quality for The Perfect Weld Seam with our FOXcore range for orbital pipeline welding:

  • folded design for high alloyed applications guarantees a stable arc
  • designed alloyed strips
  • excellent feedablity
  • reliable weld penetration and side wall fusion
  • superb appearance of the weld seam

Welding of Clad 625 API 5LX 65 Pipes

Perfect weld results when welding a Clad 625 X 65 pipe grade with our UTP A 6222Mo-3 Tig rod with a diameter of 2.4 mm for the root and the hot pass, followed by m-GSFCAW mechanized gas-shielded flux cored wires FOXcore 625-T1 of 1.2 mm for the fill and cap layers, welded with our pipeRunner® in uphill progression.

 

  Pipe OD WT Root/Hot Fill/Cap
Bevel Grade Inches mm Process Consumable Gas Process Consumable Gas
Plate Clad 625 X65 < 20" 20-25 GTWA

UTP A 622Mo-3 

Ø 2.4 mm

I1 m-GSFCAW

FOXcore 625-T1 

Ø 1.2 mm batch 2073999

M21

Weld Bead Appearance

Fill Pass
Cap Pass
  • Extremely good penetration
  • No lack of fusion
  • No porosity

Welding Conditions

Polarity DC+
Welding position 5G Up
CTWD [mm] 10 - 15
Welding current [A] 150 - 150
Arc voltage [V] 23 - 26
Travel speed [cm/min] 18 - 24
Preheating temp. [°C] 80
Interpass temp. [°C] 150

Welding of stainless steel pipe grade 304L (1.4301)

The Perfect Weld seam can also be achieved with our stainless steel girth weld solution. In this case, a 304L  pipe welding was welded with Thermanit JE-308 L TIG rod of 2.4 mm for the root and the hot pass, followed by FOXcore 308L-T1 for the fill and cap layers, which were welded in uphill progression with the pipeRunner®.

Weld Bead Appearance

1st Fill Pass
2nd Fill Pass
1st Cap Pass
2nd Cap Pass

Welding Conditions

Polarity DC+
Welding position 5G Up
CTWD [mm] 10 - 15
Welding current [A] 150 - 150
Arc voltage [V] 18 - 22
Travel speed [cm/min] 20 - 24
Preheating temp. [°C] 50
Interpass temp. [°C] 150

In both cases, the best quality was achieved: perfect bead shape, very good slag removal, no risk of lack of fusion and porosity.

Boost your productivity with our pipeRunner® in combination with the excellent FOXcore range of high-alloy flux cored wires with a significant reduction in post weld cleaning and more than double the productivity compared to fully manual pipeline welding of fill and cap layers.

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