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Up Topic Welders and Inspectors / Education & Training / Issues with welding food contact stainless
- - By Arnie Date 10-04-2007 14:47
Hi, I am interested in learning what I must do to be "Certified" to perform food contact welding.
Is there a standard I must follow in the performance of these repairs?  How can I get trained and
prove I have the correct procedures etc.
Thanks
Parent - By aevald (*****) Date 10-04-2007 15:05
Hello Arnie, in most cases you should probably do a bit of research if possible. I would venture to say you may have a specific company in mind to go to work for. If not you will probably need to locate one. Which ever case applies is important because unless they have training opportunities in house you will need to be aware of their procedures and specifically what they do and how they do it. Once you have determined this you can see about going to some sort of training facility and working on learning these specific skills. Specific certifications can vary with different companies and even if you know the actual certification, many times these companies won't recognize them unless they have tested you while you are employed with them. Others may know more specifics relating to your question and will probably chime in here. Best regards, aevald
Parent - - By medicinehawk01 (**) Date 10-11-2007 09:48
I have worked a couple of jobs in that industry (food & beverage) and at those sites, the client required a weld coupon to see if you could provide a sound weld. In all cases on thin wall stainless steel tubing (304 series) was used along with the GTAW process and an argon purge required for the inside diameter. There were several of us welders who certified on that procedure on 2"-.065-316L or 304L stainless or four, 1/2" coupons of the same wall thickness & material in the 6G position with inspection per ASME b.31.1 or 3.
Really though, you would be surprized how loosely monitered the industry as far as fabrication goes. There is alot of testing going on of the "Product" itself which one would guess covers them (and us). From what I have experienced, IF you can perform a weld (on site) which meets the industrial standard and is visibly acceptable, you can do the work. Keep in mind that  most all clients know what to look for (Quality, quantity, craftsmanship, etc.) and some are more picky than others so you'll have to be somewhat proficient to work that particular field.
Be well,

Hawk
Parent - - By 803056 (*****) Date 10-14-2007 01:14
If I remember correctly, ASME has a standard called BPE that is an "annex" to ASME B31.3 that covers piping used in the pharma and food processing industries. That included some additional requirements for welder qualification in addition to the basic Section IX requirements.

Best regards - Al
Parent - - By Arnie Date 10-16-2007 14:37
Thanks to all, this gets me going.
Arnie
Parent - - By turbolaser (**) Date 11-03-2007 09:40
Some of the jobs that I did on food contact chutes and tables were very time consumeing in the "finishing" of the welded area.  I'd get those jobs were I would have to get the grain back into the stainless by hand with scotchbrite pads and sand paper.  So that it looked like a solid sheet rather then spliced.  Very time consumeing and laborsome.
Parent - - By mountspire (*) Date 12-17-2007 13:49
When putting the finish back on the Stainless I use a scotch brite cut in a small square attached to a electric or air dremel. This puts a nice finish on and is very quick. Try different grades of scotch brite to achive the desired finish that is needed. I do a lot of repair and fabrication in the stainless area including food service.

                                                                                                                                              Alan Griffin
                                                                                                                                     A.K.A Mountspire
Parent - - By GonzoWeld (*) Date 12-17-2007 21:36
I have done alot of welding on 14 to 16 ga S/S for the food service industries. What I have found to work really well is using a dyna file made by dynabrade. You can buy all the different finishing belts from coarse to fine and blend the weld out in the direction of the grain so that way it will all look consistent! Cheers,Chris
Parent - - By scrappywelds (***) Date 12-21-2007 01:41
the food grade pipe I did was very thin, can't remember how thin but about 1/16" wall on 6" pipe. we  square cut it with a George Fisher saw, cleaned it up with scotch briteand acetone, then fused it togather with no wire. This was of course 316 stainless with a puge of high prity argon at 25cfm. Flat root inside, no reinforcement outside. No place for bacteria to grow.
Parent - By Stringer (***) Date 01-04-2008 04:21
Nice post, Scrappywelds. I also do a lot of food grade work and agree with your procedure. I do a lot of partial penetration joints in that field as well. No matter how you engineer the equipment, there always seems to be places for bacteria. Obsess over the welds, but then there's a bolted connection or something. Lots of nooks and crannies there, no?
Up Topic Welders and Inspectors / Education & Training / Issues with welding food contact stainless

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