If you are taking the CWI examination you can self study, but don't depend on the Welding Inspection Technology Manual to cover all the material that will be on the examination. I believe AWS will provide a list of reference books from which the exam questions are taken, get them, read and study them. You have to be very dedicated and have a lot of self discipline to study all the material on your own. Self study is especially difficult if you have a family and job responsibilities that can distract you.
If you decide to take the AWS CWI seminar, I suggest you take a room at the same hotel. Again, avoid distractions of commuting, job, and family for the six or seven days you will be attending class. I would also strongly recommend you self study some of the materials before attending the seminar. Work the questions on the WIT, study D1.1 or your choice for the code section you elect to use on the exam, and study the welding symbols (AWS A2.4) as well as Welding Terms and Definitions (AWS A3.0).
Much of the examination is terminology, but even if you have been employed as a welder, there's a very good chance you are not familiar with all the AWS terminology. For instance, which of the following is a "standard" AWS term; rollover, coldlap, overlap, or incomplete fusion at the toe?
What is the difference between a weld bead, a weld pass, and a weld layer?
Which is better, a stringer bead or a weave bead?
A post I read earlier this afternoon asked the question, "where does the moisture on cold steel plate come from when the preheating flame is first directed on the steel?" That's a question I include in my seminars for enginners. The answers are always the basis of several minutes of discussion.
What is Pearlite, Bainite, and Martensite?
What element has the most significance on the hardenability of steel, chrome, manganese, carbon, cobalt?
What is carbon equivalency?
How do you calculate heat input?
Is austenitic stainless steel a ferrous or nonferrous metal?
What do the letters EWTh-2 stand for and what does each letter mean?
Which of the following electrodes are considered to be low hydrogen, E6010, E7014, E7016, E7018, E7024, E7028, E8018, ER70S-3, E71T-1?
Can low hydrogen electrodes be properly stored on a job site in a "gas" range provided it is set to maintain a minimum temperature of 250 degrees F?
Can you diagram a fillet weld and identify all of the following "parts"; leg, actual throat, effective throat, theoretical throat, weld interface, heat affected zone, toe, weld size, depth of fusion, fusion face?
The one thing you will have difficulty "self studying" is the visual inspection of welds. The AWS uses plastic replicas of actual welds in the seminar and for the test. They can be confusing for someone that has never used plastic replicas before. You will have an opportunity to practice using the measuring instruments that you will be required to use for the AWS examination if you take the AWS seminars and you will practice calculating tensile strenght, elongation, etc.
Don't forget to practice converting customary units to metric and vice versa.
The list of questions is endless, but you get the idea.
Happy holidays - One Wing, Al
thank you AL , your right on everything,,,,,,,,,after weighing it all out , its best i go take a week and do it right........
you know , its funny you said that about the moisture that forms on the plate as you start to preheat it,,,,,i've been doing just that on 2 inch for the last 2 weeks.......and its literally dripping off.......
i've asked myself that same question......and all i can come up with is "rapid condensation" of some sort.....??????
am i right........??
and "is" there some type of effect a gas heated oven will have on electrodes.........? talk to me AL..........
and by any chance would you happen to know where one can obtain books or manuals on blueprint interpretation for structural steel.........?
Hello Joe;
I read the other post where they were discussing "where does the water come from?" Interesting, very interesting.
The water is a byproduct of combustion. Whenever you burn a hydrocarbon, you produce water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). I don't care if you burn wood, natural gas, or acetylene; the end products include H2O and CO2. Sorry I can't make the numbers subscripts.
We did an experiment in Physics class once where we had to calculate the BTU (heat) content of natural gas. We placed a Bunsen burner in a dish and placed both under a boiler. We measured the flow of water and recorded the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature. We also measured the volume of gas being burned. Several of the students requested new boilers because their dishes were rapidly filling with water from their leaking boilers. The professor just laughed and turned to me; he called me "his little dummy welder", and said, "Tell all these smart people where the water is coming from."
They didn't believe all that water could possibly be coming from the combustion of the gas, but let me assure you, it did. 26 pounds of acetylene produces about 18 pounds of water that condenses on the cold surface during the combustion process. If you were to keep the base metal surface below the dew point, as we did with the boilers, you would not see the "wet spot" disappear. Think of the warm moisture laden air condensing on cold water pipes in the summer.
I don't know where you live, but here in New England, water runs out of the exhaust pipe of our cars and trucks until the exhaust system heats up. Every gallon of gasoline produces about a gallon of water when completely combusted.
So, now you tell me, is it a good idea to use a propane fired gas range to store low hydrogen coated electrodes? What is the burning fuel producing? Are the electrodes exposed to the gases produced by combustion? What's the difference between steam and water?
I was preheating a heavy column in the field in early February many years ago. Once the column was heated, I turned the flame down low so that I didn't overheat the column, but did maintain the preheat temperature. By the time I had the column welded, I had an icicle hanging down in the web that was about three foot long. The foeman accused me of melting the snow off the roof some five stories above my head. No one said you had to be the smartest man on the job to be the foreman.
How many times have you been told to drive the moisture out of the steel before welding? I've heard it many times. Then, once the part is heated, the welders go on coffee break or off to lunch and then resume welding without reheating the part. After all, they already drove the moisture out of the steel. Meanwhile, I get my butt chewed for wasting gas and time trying to "stay warm". I never told the foremen they were idiots or dumb as rocks. I just collected the overtime repairing everyone's cracked welds. The wheelbarrows were full and heavy, but the bank never once refused the money.
As for the steel absorbing moisture; think about it, how thick is a beer can? If the steel (or aluminum) was porous we would not be able to buy beer in cans. The beer would leak out. If steel was porous, you would never get me into a submarine. The water molecule is rather large. The pores in the steel would have to be large enough to accommodate them. We wouldn't need screens for our windows, we could use quarter inch thick plate! Ok, ok, I'm getting carried away, but you get the idea.
Happy New Year!
Best regards - Al
Hello Joe;
I forgot to answer the most important question; where to get books on structural drawings.
I would recommend writing to the American Institue of Steel Construction, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601-1802 or go to their website; www.aisc.org. Ask for Detailing for Steel Construction, 2nd Edition ($200 for nonmembers). Pricey, but worth every penny.
Happy New Year
Al
thank you Al , your the man...........
You have been given some very useful advice and I'd like to chime in with my own two cents.
Whether a CWI or ICC cert is more useful will depend on a variety of factors which include amongst other things: enforcing jurisdiction requirements, job spec requirements, employer requirements.
In CA, the majority of building departments require ICC certification. However, as 1316 pointed out, for school construction, DSA requires CWI.
In the Los Angeles area, in addition to ICC certification, major jurisdictions also require that you obtain a license. Obtaining a license sometimes involves taking a written exam as well as an oral exam. LA City's highly regarded licensing exam is considered the most rigorous. In fact, some building departments require that you obtain the LA City license before issuing one of theirs and or granting you permission to perform inspections within their jurisdiction.
IMHO, it is difficult to say which exam (ICC-SSW or AWS-CWI) is more difficult. While there is some overlap, there are a lot of exam content areas which are different. Examples: ICC steel/welding covers plan reading, bolting (AISC), sheet steel (D1.3), rebar (D1.4), while the CWI exam does not; on the other hand, the CWI exam covers fundamentals of welding and practical and the ICC exam does not.
I know of many ICC certified individuals who were not successful in the CWI exam on their first attempt....and also know many CWIs who were not successful in the ICC exam on their first attempt. Major problem the former group had with the CWI exams, was the practical and to a lesser extent the fundamentals. The latter group (CWIs) had problems with the ICC plan reading portion. Personally, I found the AWS-CWI more challenging, not so much because of the level of difficulty of questions, but due to the length of time; three 2-hour exams over an approximately eight hour span can be mentally draining.
The way structural steel special inspection is going in west, and in CA in particular, it makes perfect sense for a structural steel-welding special inspector to obtain both certifications. Some employers will not send an inspector who does not have both of these certifications to a major project.
It is prudent to attend a reputable seminar prior to taking either test. For one thing, it will significantly cut down exam preparation time, and increase your chances of passing. As 1316 points out, retaking the CWI exam is far more expensive than taking the ICC exam which can be taken twice every six months at a location near you for about $200.
If you decide to attend an AWS CWI seminar, consider doing some heavy duty studying of the "Body of Knowledge" reference materials ahead of time, say about 1-2 months. There are many threads devoted to CWI exam advice in the forum. And since you are already familiar with the D1.1, stick with that code as your choice for the open book portion. The D1.1 has a very powerful index which will come in very handy...and with adequate tabbing, the open book should be a walk in the park for you.
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