Should H-beams for steel platforms be welded or hot-rolled?

Of course, choose hot-rolled ones; they have an attractive appearance, reliable quality, and the price should also be low.

Hot-rolled H-beams require 20 rolling passes to be formed. Many manufacturers of H-beam welding equipment (such as gantry welders) online claim that welding is cheaper and more efficient than hot rolling, which confuses me: Q

To be honest, I don’t have exact data showing which is cheaper; it’s just an estimate based on experience that hot-rolling is likely to be less costly than welding. The capabilities of machinery and manufacturing equipment are becoming increasingly strong, and the costs of processing and manufacturing are decreasing. Welding H-shaped steel requires a series of processes such as cutting, grinding, welding, and flaw detection, resulting in high labor costs. With economic development, the trend is a decline in machine prices and an increase in labor costs. Of course, the advantage of welding H-shaped steel is that it allows for the creation of the desired dimensions and shapes directly according to the design.

How long is a typical H-beam found in the market? 6 meters, 9 meters, 12 meters?

I didn’t pay attention to the fixed length before. Generally, the larger models are 12 meters, while the smaller ones are 6-9 meters.

It’s obvious that one needs to buy finished H-shaped steel; it’s difficult to ensure the mechanical properties of such steel through welding by oneself. Moreover, labor costs are high these days, making it not worth the effort.

Hot-rolled is good. In the production of hot-rolled steel using a conveyor belt system, the surface quality of the products can be well ensured. Moreover, since it is a standard product, it is highly standardized and the market for it is large, so it is basically easy to purchase. Welding is generally carried out using automatic or semi-automatic production lines; human factor plays a major role, and quality assurance relies on each company’s own manufacturing capabilities, which inevitably leads to various problems. In particular, problems such as deformation, incomplete welding, and high stress, which are common in welded steel structures, cannot be avoided. However, for special-shaped (large-sized), irregular, and box-type steel structures, welding is the only manufacturing method available. As a general rule, if finished products are available in the market, never buy welded versions.

It can be said that welded H-beams are now rarely seen on the market; they are practically on the verge of being phased out

Why do H-beam welding equipment manufacturers still exist? There are many such companies available online