Your "little more detailed" really adds no detail at all. Depending on the process and parts to be welded there is a tremendous range of weld deposition rates. Manual GTAW of small intricate parts may have only a few ounces of weld deposition per hour while a multi-electrode ESW may deposit over 100 lbs. per hour! The same goes for travel speeds, they are process and material specific. So, be a "little more detailed" and I'm sure others will reply with what you can reasonably expect.

Dan,
Directing your attention to robotic programs and parameters may satisfy your perhaps theoretical but unwieldy question.

Appending Mike's response, I have a feeling they will tell you what you want to know about maximum theoretical limits over a variety of variables, unless you suspect a welder overcharged you time for a recent job they did for you.

Engineering or mechanical factors as Mike described as well as other human factors will naturally detract from maximum potentials.

Regards,
d

Welding speeds are dependent upon the deposition rate of the process Say 1lb per hour*the production factor say .5*the deposition efficiency of the process .65. These are just random values but one major variable is the production factor. This can vary widely with the configuration of the piece being welded, slag removal, changing electrodes and preheating or staying below a maximum interpass.

In an answer to your question and don't take offense but this is the truth, I do about a minutes worth of welding every minute. This may not include 1 minute of arc time since I have to chip slag, change rods, inspect my weld etc. However, it is still a minutes worth of welding.

There are formulas, spreadsheets, programs available that help to compare production rates for welding and to calculate the amount of weld in a given joint however without a basic understanding of the variables to be entered and how they are used, they are of little use. The AWS Welding handbook volume one has some good information on welding production and another book by the Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation has similar information.

Deposition rates are easy. Calculating the volume per unit length is pretty easy, the deposition efficiency can be learned by testing, the production factor is the ratio of time spent actually welding/Time spent on the joint or piece.

Good day

Gerald Austin
http://www.weldinginspectionsvcs.com

I think you are getting the idea that no one wants to say how long a weld will take because there are too many variables. Process, electrode size, amps/volts settings, groove configuration, groove fit-up uniformity, the position welded in, type of shielding, welder's skill, welder fatigue, welding environment (heat/cold), all these things have a major influence on how fast a weld can be run. And my list is far from complete.

I can share some info I have accumulated thru testing. Our FCAW PQRs are run with 0.045 wire. The parameters are around 28V, 260A, 12.6 ipm using 100% CO2 shielding, flat groove. The parameters vary a bit with different brands of wire. Please realize, these numbers are on the high side because we have to achieve 5/16" fillets in horizontal position with one pass. The parameters don't work well for many grooves with any root opening. And they are too hot for vertical and overhead under our circumstances. (I will bet that if other people gave their parameters here, you would have a large "cookbook" and none of the "recipes" will work for every situation.)

Also I can tell you that we have experimented with a data logger placed on the machines of many different welders over a period of time, in our fab shop. It was very interesting to learn that the arc was on for only about 1 hour total in an 8 hour shift. Some welders were a little less, some a little more but none were far from the average. And these guys were not slacking off, all the "down time" was for legitimate things like chipping slag, facing off a weld, preheating, etc. The highest arc time numbers came from a job with heavy plate CJP welds where the welder didn't have to move around much.

So there you have some numbers, but I think you can see they don't do much good unless you are doing exactly the same work as we do. If you want to predict how long your weld joint will take, do like most people do- make a mock-up joint and weld it. Then remember that most mock-ups are run under "ideal" conditions so they may underestimate the time.
Hope you find what you're lookin' for
CHGuilford

Well Everyone,

Thanks a lot for all of your help. Looking at all of your answers it has giving me a little bit more of an insight to the welding process. I work with many different weld/fab shops, and I am sometimes frustrated with the wildly varying time estimates that I get back from them when I have a job quoted. I was attempting to see if there were any "rule of thumb," guidelines that you had, but I guess not. Again, thanks to everyone who offered suggestions!

Sounds to me like you're trying to estamate a job here. I usualy give the time at 6" per min. using the GMAW process, and using .035" ER70S-6 wire, ARG - CO2 (75%-25%). Given the info. you provided, that would be my best guestamate.