hello
I don't post on here that often as I tried searching and found a lot of my answers.
a little about myself, I'm a aircraft structures mech I been in the industry for about 6 years. the first place I worked at ( for the first 4 years) I was approved under the 1595 regs for GTAW welding.
that place went bankrupt.
now for the last 2 years I've run my own A/C structures business and I done a lot of tig welding outside of the A/C industry.
I thinking about getting certified again.
can I personally hold my own certification? is there some sort of certificate?
who can test my welds? is there any approximate cost per sample?
looking into doing GTAW welds on:
6061 aluminum (sheet& tube)
4130 ( sheet and tube)
stainless 321 & or 304 in the future.
if I do sheet thickness larger then .063 then I just need to do groove welds and it gets me qualified for fillet aswell?? is this true (section 4.3.3.1(2)?
can fillet welds count for groove certs?
I guess the table 4.3 kind of confuses me. if I do a tube weld in the 6G position am I qualified for all the position for fillet and groove?
and if I do a groove weld in the 3G position am I qualified to weld in 1G,3G, 1F,2Fand 3F?
unless I do my samples out of thinner then .063 then I would have to do a fillet and a groove?
basically I'm trying to find out the best way to do as many samples as I need to certify me for the most positions and metals as possible without wasting time and money on ones that aren't going to benefit me.
lastly if a drawing calls up a 1595 qualified welder does the AWS D17.1 qualify you?
thanks a lot I know there is tons of knowledge on this site that can help me clarify the standards.
Justin
Interesting questions.
While D17.1 is intended to replace 1595, you still have to comply with the requirements of the purchase order. There are a few inconsistencies between D17.1 and 1595.
You should ask your customer if they would accept welder qualification performed in accordance with D17.1. Don't assume they will, ask first.
Since you are a single person shop, you would be the person signing all documentation since you are responsible for anything done in your shop. Your customers will most likely want to see the involvement of a third party to witness the qualification of the welding procedures, which in turn would qualify you as the welder. You need a test witness to record the welding parameters as you weld unless you are using automatic equipment or you have a third eye in the back of your head so you can monitor the welding parameters. If you have the third eye, I have an alternate proposal for you to consider!
Good luck with your new venture. You are doing the right thing to get your basic WPSs qualified. Even if you need to qualify a different WPS for a specific job, your customer will know that you understand the mechanism of qualifying welding procedures and the documentation requirements.
Best regards - Al
I work for an aircraft repair station,and we do the test welds in house,and send them to an AWS accredited test facility for x-ray to AWS D17.1.
I don't think you can certify yourself,it would be a conflict of interest I believe.
I believe you have to take both a fillet weld test and a groove weld test.Also,look at note 1 from table 4.3
Like Al said, you are wise to qualify your procedures.
This makes being certified to D17 very big and expensive project for an independent operator; as you will have to qualify a procedure (4.4.1) for all welds governed by the code, and every certification you wish to hold for every material group and thickness range encompassed in D17.
Al was also correct when he said D17 has superseeded Mil Std 1595A... But, that is a DOD supercedure and if your customer is not a branch of the Department of Defense, than they may wish for you to stick with 1595 to the letter. There is nothing wrong with bringing this topic up to your customer for clairification.. But do be sure it is clear in your contract doccumentation.
As you work on qualifying your procedures, and you will without a doubt need some third party assistance with that big job; I think many of your other questons will find answers.
any idea how big of an expense? over 10 000$?
so far these arn't huge contracts so it would have to be worth the while. what kind of other third party would I need? like another say approved welding facility or the customer?
also how do I stay current? I know if I weld that group at least once in 6 months you keep it but how do you prove that you welded? are receipts good enough, what if your doing R& D projects where there is no real receipts?
what about home projects, would that keep you qualified?
do you white your own process, (the 4.4.1 thing)is there any examples as how is supposed to be worded? who approves the processes? is this
transport canada ( FAA) thing?
thanks For the help so far.
I think I going to need a lot of it ( I may be in over my head)
Justin
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