Galvanizing is the application of a zinc coating to a ferrous material. It is done to prevent, or at the very least delay corrosion. The zinc coating can be applied in many different ways including but not limited to hot-dipping, metal spray and electrodeposition. Similar to galvanized steel is galvanneal steel. Galvanneal is the process […]
Have you ever developed, written, qualified or approved a welding procedure? If you have, what was the reason? To satisfy the requirements of a contract? To control quality? To improve productivity? To pass an audit? To help new welders? As welding consultants, CWIs and welding engineers we see hundreds of welding procedure specifications (WPSs) every […]
When it comes to fillet welds, bigger is not always better. A fillet weld is easy to measure, simply take out your fillet weld gauges and measure it. However, there is an incorrect assumption that a bigger weld (as measured with a fillet gauge) is always stronger than a smaller weld. Before we get into […]
Welding is a very complicated industrial process with many different variables. Because of this there are an innumerable amount of problems we can experience when we weld. From porosity and spatter to cracked welds, welding problems cost us a lot of money. In some cases welding problems are severe enough to cause significant delays adding […]
One of the specs we need to know about a particular welding machine is its duty cycle. The duty cycle gives you an idea of how hard and how long you can run a welding machine before it overheats and shuts down. Unfortunately at times we have issues with machines exceeding the duty cycle when it shouldn’t, […]
When qualifying a welding procedure specification (WPS) for fillet welds per Clause 4 of AWS D1.1 Structural Welding Code you must only perform a single test. You must do macroetches in three locations as shown below. It is assumed that if we can show root fusion at these three locations that our welding procedure is […]
A common question that is asked when manufacturers are trying to determine costs associated with welding is: How many pounds of wire can I deposit per hour? Or, how many pounds of wire can I deposit at a specific amperage or wire feed speed? There are charts to help you determine this, but it’s always […]
Many fabricators spend thousands of dollars in new welding equipment every year. They look for the latest and greatest technology that will allow them to reduce manufacturing costs. We have seen some of our customers justify the purchase of robots and other types of advanced welding equipment relatively easily. Some pieces of equipment pay for […]
Some repairs, whether it is repairing a failed weldment or repairing a crack in a casting, may easily be done by simply grinding out the crack and applying more weld. Other repairs, however; are more complicated. Or at least they should be. Just last week a customer contacted us asking for help in developing a […]
It is not uncommon to find fabricating shops that are welding a variety of metals including carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminum and nickel alloys. In many cases some of these materials need to be welded to other types. Once very common situation, especially in automotive applications is welding carbon steel to stainless. One of the […]
