The old hand on my crew told me to stop rushing the roll and my tube sheet finally passed
A guy named Dale who has been doing this for over 30 years pulled me aside two weeks ago and told me to slow down when rolling tubes into the sheet. I had been running the expander too fast and spinning the rollers, which was chewing up the tube ends. I dropped my speed way down and bumped the torque up in small steps like he said, and the hydro test on that boiler held 150 psi with zero weeping. Dale just nodded and went back to his lunch, but I think he was right. How do you all judge when a tube is rolled enough without overdoing it?
Wondering how you actually know when to stop stepping up the torque before you cross that line into over rolling. Dale gave you the slow speed tip but did he tell you what he looks for to call it done? I have heard old timers say they go by feel on the expander handle, some count turns, and others measure tube wall thinning or check for that slight bulge past the sheet. Do you watch the roller marks or listen for the pitch change in the motor? Curious what signal tells you enough is enough on a boiler job where a weep later means cutting it out.