How to indicate the tube side with the seam weld in Sophia®

Happy Feature Friday!

Most rectangular tubes made of steel and stainless steel are longitudinally welded. This means they have a seam weld on one side, running the length of the tube. There are several reasons why, as an engineer, you need to be able to determine the side of the tube where the weld is located.

In this blog post, we share those reasons AND show you how to easily specify the side where the weld is located in our Sophia® online software. Previously, you had to submit a drawing to our Customer Service for this. So now you don't have to!

Why would you want to determine the weld side yourself?

Broadly speaking, there are four reasons:

• Aesthetics
• Double welding
• Mechanical load
• Susceptibility to corrosion

The main reason is the appearance of the tube, i.e. aesthetics. Often customers want the weld to be located on a non-visible side so that the part has a neat and/or consistent appearance on the visible side.

In addition, engineers often want to avoid double welding on one side of the tube. By positioning the side with the seam weld appropriately, the side without the seam weld can be used to weld the tube to another part.

Also, the side with the weld is usually slightly weaker than the sides without the weld. That's why an engineer generally wants to avoid exposing the side with the seam weld to the main direction of force.

Finally, the weld itself is more susceptible to corrosion than the rest of the material. For this reason, the side with the weld in an exterior fabrication is often placed on the underside or inside of the assembly to reduce exposure to moisture and slow corrosion formation.

How do you specify the seam weld side in Sophia®?

To do this, run through the following procedure.

(1) Open the component in the 3D view in Sophia®. 

(2) Select the desired material.

Please note: You can only specify the seam weld side in Sophia® for steel and stainless steel, not for aluminium. Steel and stainless steel tubes are usually made by bending a plate four times and welding the joint faces together. This explains the presence of the seam weld. Aluminium tubes, on the other hand, are extruded. They are forced under high pressure through a tube mould and therefore do not have a welded seam.

(3) On the left-hand side of the legend, click on the seam weld icon (shown in turquoise blue below).

(4) Select the side(s) where you want the weld to be located. The selected sides are displayed in pink.

Please note: For square tubes, you only need to select one side. For rectangular tubes, you select two sides. This is because the seam weld on rectangular tubes is alternately on the short and long side. By selecting one of the two sides, we can at least ensure that the seam weld is located on one of the sides you select.

(5) Confirm the selection by clicking ‘Confirm’. The sides are now displayed in turquoise blue. Also in the analytical view.

What if you want to change or undo your selection?

On reflection, do you want to select a different side? No problem. Click the seam weld icon once more and select the desired side(s) again. 

In the case of square tubes, the old side is automatically deselected. In the case of rectangular tubes, the selection of the opposite side is automatically undone.

After completing your new selection, click ‘Confirm’ again to save the setting.

What if you have assigned one or two sides with seam welds to a part? In that case, you can still change the sides, but the function for this part can no longer be disabled. This is because the tubes are supplied with seam welds anyway. So being able to undo the function has no added value.

Do you have any questions about selecting the seam weld sides in Sophia®?

We have written this Feature Friday to make working with Sophia® even easier and more efficient. Thanks for your time and see you next Feature Friday. Do you have comments or questions? If so, please contact us.

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