Why Welds Fail: It’s never just one thing

Weld failures happen all the time.  Some are more serious than others in terms of cost and potential for property damage and bodily harm.  If a weld failure is considered serious it typically gets a lot of attention. Forensics labs and industry experts get called to determine the root cause of the failure.  It may […]

3 Mistakes that lead to distortion in welding

Distortion caused by the heating and cooling cycles of welding is extremely problematic.  It can place structures out of dimensional tolerance creating costly rework.  In some cases parts need to be scrapped.  Understanding the causes of distortion and the properties of the metal being welded are an absolute necessity for those managing welding operations.  There […]

How to Troubleshoot Bad Welds and Other Welding Problems

If you own, run or work at a welding facility you have undoubtfully had to troubleshoot bad welds. Troubleshooting is necessary in order to solve problems, but if you do not have a clear methodology or process for troubleshooting it can be a huge source of downtime.  To properly troubleshoot bad welds, we must have […]

3 Key Factors Affecting the Quality and Cost of Welds

Quality and cost go hand in hand, or at least they should.  Poor quality may be cheap during the fabricating process, but very costly when it comes to warranty repairs and potentially losing customers.  Many of the companies we work with have seen substantial cost reductions when we help them address quality concerns.  For the […]

What Causes Welding Spatter

17 reasons why you are getting spatter in your welding operations

Spatter is present in welding.  It’s all over welding.  But it doesn’t have to be.  Spatter costs fabricators millions of dollars every year.  Its removal constitutes rework that significantly and negatively impacts productivity.  Many fabricators work under the assumption that spatter is a necessary evil, a part of welding.  However, this couldn’t be further from […]

Are Concave Fillet Welds Bad?

You may be surprised to know that sometimes they are desired

The following is an exerpt from:  TROUBLESHOOTING FOR NON-WELDING ENGINEERS There is nothing wrong with concave welds so long as they attain the desired throat dimension. AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2020 Structural Welding Code (Steel) states that “there is no restriction on concavity as long as minimum weld size (considering both leg and throat) is achieved.” Concave welds […]

Troubleshooting Weld Cracking – The importance of crack location

One of the first steps in analyzing cracks to find their root cause and take corrective action is to categorize the cracks.  We categorize cracks based on three elements. Location Direction Timing In today’s article we discuss the importance of crack location when trying to determine what caused it.  What follows is an excerpt from […]

The Importance of Weld Repair Procedures

A repair procedure is necessary any time there is a defect in welding that must be corrected.  The repair procedure is not just a welding procedure specification, but rather a set of instructions and rules on how to repair different types of defects.  There is no standard format for a repair procedure, or a standard […]

Weld Troubleshooting for Non Welding Engineers

NOW AVAILABLE! Troubleshoot common welding and welding equipment problems the way welding engineers do. For more information CLICK HERE or the image  below. Learn and follow the process used by welding engineers to find the root cause of welding problems and their solutions. This troubleshooting guide goes beyond your typical troubleshooting charts on the back […]

Why you should take Undercut very seriously

Can it lead to catastrophic failure?

Undercut is a surface discontinuity resulting from melting of the base metal at one or both toes of a weld which remains unfilled by the weld metal.  It can also occur at the root of groove welds.  Undercut presents two problems. First, it forms a mechanical notch which acts as a stress riser and is […]