How Sanitary Tack Clamps work to level up your sanitary GTAW welding

Close-up of a 0.5" sanitary tack clamp by Elite Industrial Sales, designed to assist in aligning and tack welding tube.

If you’re making sanitary tube and pipe welds and aren’t using sanitary tack clamps… you are probably leaving money on the table and creating additional problems. Oftentimes precise fit up and tack welds are an overlooked first step in ensuring a quality and repeatable welding process.  Whether manual GTAW/TIG welding or Orbital welding, let’s explore why Sanitary Tack Clamps are a great tool to level up your tube and pipe welding jobs.

Bottom line upfront:

1. Sanitary tack clamps save you fit up time

2. Minimize offset, mismatch and fit up issues

3. Won’t scratch or damage polished tube

4. Provide quality of life and ease of use features other clamping methods don’t have

   
   

Downsides:

1. Each clamp is designed for only one size of tube

2. Need one inch of straight length on each side of joint.

Let's dig in further

Save time, save money

Time is money, and I’ve never seen an argument why taking more time to make tack welds is a benefit. Sanitary tack clamps provide a quick way to latch both tube ends snuggly and repeatably. Because sanitary tack clamps are very square it removes the guesswork in tube alignment, need for shims, alignment screws and other tricks that waste time and effort.  Consistent and repeatable tack welds pay dividends in reducing costly cut-outs and rewelds. If you’re crossing your fingers and hoping for the best during your orbital weld or after in weld inspection… examining your fit up and tacking process is a great first troubleshooting step.

Minimize mismatch, offset, and alignment errors

Illustration of acceptable and unacceptable tube mismatch according to ASME BPE

Sanitary welding requires clean and smooth welds, often meaning time spent grinding, sanding or polishing tube post weld.  Offset and mismatch are conditions in which the two tubes are not perfectly aligned with the exact same diameter. Each welding code has a requirement, and reducing alignment errors also reduces polishing time .A helpful trick we find is to clamp one side of the joint first. Next slide the other tube into the clamp and use your fingers to feel for any mismatch between the two tube faces. When you’re good to go you can fully clamp the other side and you’ll be confident  that you have a tight centered joint.  Our sanitary tack clamps are very strong and robust, so they also have an added benefit of rounding out slightly warped tubing and maintaining concentricity before you make the first tack.

A close up of sanitary tack clamp showcasing its dual-side clamping capability that allows you to align each side independently, and a centering line for quick visual reference.

Precise collet action won't scratch pipe or tube

Another benefit of sanitary tack clamps is confidence that you won’t scratch, mar or damage the tube prior to welding. V blocks, vice grips, vices, chain straps and c clamps are not designed to provide even clamping force, placing cloth, plastic or rubber in between can lead to uneven welds and is only trying to mask the problem.  CNC machined sanitary tack clamps are designed with a collet style precise fit. This provides even and clamping force around the entire circumference with no chance for dents or scratches.

Upgrade from improvised tools

Necessity is the mother of all invention. Many of us have had to make-do with improvised, hand built or the "wrong tool" to get the job done.  Don’t ask me about the time we used a half a million-dollar CNC machine to polish a part with a rag strapped on with a rubber band... I get it, we have all been there. We took those lessons learned to engineer useful features into our sanitary tack clamps, let's explore a few.

Sanitary tack clamps provide parallel surfaces for secure clamping and precise squaring (blue arrows)

We made machined flat and square surfaces as a clamping surface or reference for alignment.

Rounded and beveled edges so tube won't scratch or mar

We rounded the corners and use a linkage hinge design to ensure that closing the clamp should never damage your tube

Two independent clamps allows each side to be aligned and adjusted separately

Independent clamping on each piece of tube allows for fine adjustments on one side without losing it on the other.

The Solid build and durable stainless steel body means the clamps are stiffer than your tube, they act as a squaring surface that will take the guess work out of alignment by forcing tube back into round and aligned cross section.

The large V grove sides allow easy access for your TIG torch and blocks small breezes while tacking

The v groove gives you good visibility and easy access with your welding torch and blocks small breezes while you tack weld. You can perform 3 or 4 equally spaced tack welds around the entire tube without having to adjust or move the clamps.

Sanitary tack clamps are available in various tube and pipe sizes, we offer discounts on orders for kits.

While all these features were designed with sanitary tube welding in mind, they can be used for any square butt joint tube or pipe welds. If you have tube or pipe to tack, tack clamps can be a solid upgrade. Get creative! They are designed for a lifetime of real work in the field.

These sound like they solve all your problems, but what are Sanitary Tack Clamps not good at?

Sanitary tack clamps aren’t the right tool for every type of tube or pipe weld tack job. They have limitations. They are only designed for one size of tube or pipe, if you are tacking uneven diameters like socket welds or fittings they won’t work. Note, you can contact us for custom machined solutions. ❌They need a minimum clearance of about 1” on either side of the joint between the clamp and any bend or protrusion. ❌They are designed for squared and faced pipe that is round. Tube and pipe are best prepared with a facing tool, mitred or angled joints won't fit.

 ❌Your welding friends may become jealous when they see a professional setup, we suggest you wear tinted safety glasses so it’s harder to see their mean faces.

Be prepared for other welders to be jealous and talk about why tacking joints slower and less repeatable is somehow better :)

Conclusion

Sanitary tack clamps are a way to speed up your fit up and tack welding process, create cleaner more consistent joints, reduce mismatch and offset, won’t damage or scratch polished tube, and have many other small features to make your life easier.  If you think tack clamps are right for you, you can check out our line of sanitary tack clamps or give us a call or email with any questions.

As always keep the welds buttery smooth and your workday smoother Written by, -Joel Ifill