| 12.1 | All joins and coved sections in Altro Safety Flooring are heat welded using matching Altro welding rod. Heat from the welding process melts the flooring material and the welding rod, allowing the molten materials to combine and fuse together. Properly welded seams join the individual pieces of the flooring with a strength equal to, the floor itself. It produces a continuous covering over the surface of the floor, which has no joints to hold soil or bacteria, or to allow the penetration of liquids. |
| 12.2 | After the adhesive has set and the seams grooved to the required depth, heat welding can begin. |
| 12.3 | All seams in Altro Safety Flooring must be heat welded. Unless there is a physical obstacle preventing the use of the welding gun. |
| 12.4 | Do not attempt to heat weld until the adhesive has thoroughly set, as wet adhesive will blow up into the seam by the hot air weld gun thereby impairing the integrity of the seam weld. |
| 12.5 | Ensure that all debris caused by grooving is thoroughly removed from the surface, paying particular attention to the seams. |
| 12.6 | Use only welding rod supplied by Altro. Cut weld rod to the required length where necessary. |
| 12.7 | Ensure the heat-welding nozzle is free of debris by cleaning with a wire brush if necessary. |
| 12.8 | The correct heat setting on the welding gun will depend on several factors, floor temperature (timber floors are warmer than concrete), ambient room temperature, relative humidity, amperage of the electricity supply, extension cord length and wire size. |
| 12.9 | Begin to determine proper temperature by taking the welding rod and exposing it to the direct flow of the hot air. The welding rod should start to liquefy and not burn. Once this is determined, the setting is adjusted to accommodate the other factors. |
| 12.10 | Once moving, watch the welding process at the junction of the welding rod and the material. A slight downward pressure on the speed tip will cause the rod to be forced into the groove. A slight peaking of the material should occur where the welding rod and the groove meet. Sometimes there will be a slight scorching of this peak, an indicator that all is going at the right pace. This peak will be trimmed off later. If moving too fast, slight peaking will not occur. If too slow, the peak of the material will burn. Be careful not to burn the material, as it is difficult to repair. |
| 12.11 | Always test weld on scrap material to ascertain correct welding gun temperature and speed of welding prior to attempting actual welding. |
| 12.12 | Move the heat-welding gun along the grooved seam with the welding rod feeding through the nozzle at a predetermined speed and temperature. |
| 12.13 | Make certain the speed nozzle is kept perpendicular to the floor surface. Do not lean the heat-welding gun to the right or left. |
| 12.14 | After the welding rod has cooled it can be trimmed flush with the floor surface using a spatula knife. On level areas trimming of the weld rod shall be carried out in 2 stages. |
| 12.15 | The first stage involves placing the trimming plate over the weld rod and trimming off the top layer of the weld rod using the spatula knife, this can be carried out while the weld rod is still warm. |
| 12.16 | After the remaining weld rod has completely cooled, the remainder can be trimmed flush with the surface of the material using a spatula knife using a smooth and continuous motion. Avoid stops and starts as this will give an unsightly appearance. |
| 12.17 | Where the finished detail of Altro forms internal and external mitres at coved sections, heat weld all inside and outside corners using matching weld rod. |
| 12.18 | Internal and external corners do not need to be grooved. Begin grooving on the radius of the cove. |
| 12.19 | Welding vertical seams - turn speed nozzle to the up position. Feed welding rod then nozzles, pre-heat weld rod, immediately start at the top of vertical section and proceed down. |
| 12.20 | Place spatula at the point where the required weld ends. This will prevent any disfiguration by the heat caused by the heat weld gun on the finished floor surface. |
| 12.21 | After the weld rod has cooled it can be trimmed flush with the surface using exacto handle and appropriate trimming blades. |
