CWI Testing

Date 09-15-2008 00:52

Go to the AWS website and download a copy of QC1. It is a free download. That will have all the requirements you have to meet.

The fact that you are a welder is not a negative. That earns you a check mark in the "Plus" column.

I would recommend you get a copy of the text book Welding Inspection Technology and the work book that goes with it. You might be able to buy a used copy from someone here in the forum. You also need to decide which open book code test you want to take. I recommend taking the open book test with a welding code that is closely aligned with the type of work you are welding, i.e., D1.1 if you are doing structural steel, API 1104 if you work in the oil patch, and ASME Section IX and Section VIII if you work with pressure vessels or ASME Section IX and Sections B31.1 and B31.3 if you work on pressure piping.

Read, read, and read again.

Best regards - Al

By michael kniolek (***)

Date 09-15-2008 01:03

AWS Qc1
2.2 CWI a person certified by AWS as meeting the requirments of 5.2 and 6
Education and experiance:
5.2 Certified Welding Inspector
5.2.1 Shall be a High school Grad or state /military equivlancy diploma
5.2.2 Shall have no fewer than 5 years expeiance that has a relation to welded assemblies to national or international standards and be directly involved in one or more of the following , Design, Production,construction, examination, repair.
5.2.3 Shall submit with application with written verification of documented employment
Thats it if you can meet those requirments you should be all set.
Do you meet these?
MDK

By BryonLewis (****)

Date 09-15-2008 04:00

I would guess that any welder could possibly fit in any of those categories. We inspect welds daily. Not always up to "code" but our own personal criteria.
I would be able to fit in the criteria!!!

By ctacker (****)

Date 09-15-2008 04:23

don't necessarily have to have a GED or Diploma.
I don't have either and I got my CWI last year but you have to have more years verifiable experience. (12 years i think)

By vagabond (***)

Date 09-16-2008 17:00

You are correct ctacker. Byron it is a hard test, no doubt about it. I studied for 2 months at least 1 hour a day and I took the seminar with AWS for 1 week, passed first time with a pretty good score. If you study you will pass is my opinion for what it's worth, the seminar is good but all they do for most of it is go over the book(s). If I had it to do again I would not take the seminar for the whole week, I would take the 1 day visual inspection workshop and then the test. A couple people I know did this and had no trouble, and if you do miss the test the first time then take the seminar. But everyone is different, I reccommend buying the books you get at the seminar before you go I bought the WIT text and workbook then I got a copy at the seminar so I had 2 copies which is a pain but I sold one set for 1/2 of what I paid for it. You can sell the books easily on the for sale section here or on Ebay either one. I got the sample test(s) from AWS also and took them. I would read the chapters, take the test and the ones I missed I made up flashcards to study with. This sounds a little childish but my wife is a nurse and that's what they did when she was going to school. I don't think I would have passed the test without them. I also wrote out answers I had trouble with 5 times each. Both of these methods really got the stuff into my head. After that when you go to work it's mostly a matter of being organized and thorough with your recordkeeping and so on. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if your not organized you will probably not be a very good inspector. Learn Excel and Word backwards and forwards because you will use them a lot. Pay attention to your senior inspectors most of them will teach you a lot, and network and you'll stay busy.