Spent 3 hours trying to align a 12 inch flange yesterday and still ended up with a 16th gap

I mean, I torqued it twice and even shimmed it with feeler gauges but that thing just would not sit flat. Anyone else ever have a flange that just fights you no matter what you do?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew8541mo ago

Man, that sounds like a real headache. Did you check if the flange face was warped or had a burr on it? I had a 8 inch one last month that drove me nuts for like two hours, turns out there was a tiny nick on the edge I couldn't see until I ran my finger over it. A quick pass with a file got it flat and it went on smooth after that.

drew9061mo ago

Files are the unsung hero of flange problems. Ran into a similar thing on a 10 inch steam line a few months back, couldn't get the gasket to seat right for the life of me. Turned out there was a tiny raised bump from a weld spatter that I missed with the naked eye. A quick hit with a mill file and it was like a new surface.