I am not an Inspector so I am not sure of the Correct answer. However, In 29 years I have had to stamp a few welds. I have always been told that we only have to stamp a weld once. Now if two welders work on the same weld, say a Brother-N-Law Joint. The each side will be stamped by each welder. As far as Long Seams or something of that nature, I would not see any reason for more than 1 stamp unless it was done by multiple welders. In case you need any Stamps, I have Stamps A-Z availible as well as Numbers 1-0 I have Plenty of the ever popular "R" stamp should you need multiples.
Sounds like there are some other requirements involved. If there is a welders stamp requirement required these welds are being considered very critical to life and safety.
FEMA 353 Welding Manual:
- Welder Stamps: It is recommended that each welder mark or stamp a unique symbol at
each completed weldment (Part I: p.3-2).
here's some more info, though not D1.1 there are requirements.
ASME VIII - UW 37
(f) Welder and Welding Operator Identification
(1) Each welder and welding operator shall stamp
the identifying number, letter, or symbol assigned by
the Manufacturer, on or adjacent to and at intervals
of not more than 3 ft (0.9 m) along the welds which
he makes in steel plates 1⁄4 in. (6 mm) and over in
thickness and in nonferrous plates 1⁄2 in. (13 mm) and
over in thickness; or a record shall be kept by the
Manufacturer of welders and welding operators employed
on each joint which shall be available to the
Inspector.
Also,
B31.1 - 127.6
The WPQ shall also show the identification symbol
assigned to the welder or welding operator employed
by him, and the employer shall use this symbol to identify
the welding performed by the welder or welding
operator. This may be accomplished by the application
of the symbol on the weld joint in a manner specified by
the employer. Alternatively, the employer shall maintain
records which identify the weld(s) made by the welder
or welding operator.
B31.3 - 328.5
(b) Each qualified welder and welding operator shall
be assigned an identification symbol. Unless otherwise
specified in the engineering design, each pressure containing weld or adjacent area shall be marked with the
identification symbol of the welder or welding operator.
In lieu of marking the weld, appropriate records shall
be filed.
Richard,
WELCOME TO THE AWS WELDING FORUM!!
I don't believe you will find a REQUIREMENT for the welder to stamp, or mark in any way, their weld in D1.1.
D1.1, Clause 6.5.4 requires the inspector to identify parts inspected and accepted. It actually goes on to prohibit stamping on cyclic members unless approved by the engineer.
NOW, D1.8 Seismic Supplement does require weld identification. There are many factors that make this reasonable for tracing problems.
Then, it goes to the Contract Specifications and/or Fabricator QC. They may want to find the source of a repeat problem with welder performance and be able to fix it. Firing, training, machine calibration, and many more possibilities.
Some contracts, especially to D1.8 and AISC Seismic will even 'MAP' every weld. They want to know who welded every inch, every pass, etc. When a problem is encountered they know the source. The recording of that can get pretty intensive. And is USUALLY not necessary. But on some jobs I can understand. All depends upon the application.
Then, there is a difference between anything API and D1.1.
Hope that helped.
Have a Great Day, Brent
I have heard every four foot.
We never hard stamp welds anymore. We just stencil the weld with a paint marker and use a weld map for identification of welds. The reason for no hard stamping I have been told is because the stamping indents could make the min. wall thickness to thin.
D31.1 does leave it up to the employer as to the type of stamp.
Richard,
Depends on who that "someone" is. If it is your foreman or other supervisor type, then so what, do it the way they want. You are getting paid to do it the way they want. Do what whomever signs your time card/paycheck wants. If it is another hand, then so what, ignore them. If it's QC, FWIW, they aren't really supposed to tell production how to do their job, that is your supervisor's duty.
99205,
I appreciate that in depth reference. I was not aware of the 3' intervals. So does the "B31.3 - 328.5" paragraph supercede all stenciling requirements through proper weld mapping and documentation?
I love this! Learn something new every day in here.
If a weld would fail some time in the future, say 10 years from now, and was stamped with identifying stamp, what would the welders responsibility be? Don't usually court martial civillians. Never heard of any one going to jail. What punishment would be likely with results of life loss or big spectacular failure that would make the 11:00 news?
By 99205 
Date 01-28-2011 04:15
Edited 01-28-2011 04:30
The purpose of stamping is not is not to punish. What stamping does is to give a inspectors/engineers/failure analysis team a starting point, to back track procedures and practices to see were an error may have occurred. This is not to say someone was wrong, it just gives the engineers a point of interest to see if a procedure needs to be changed to prevent future failures of a similar type. This is exactly why Nuke jobs have so much paperwork involved with them. Of course it will also help determine if there were contractor/employer issues.
I never assume one paragraph supercedes another unless it specifically states that it does.
There is no requirement in any code that I can think of (not even Section III) offhand to stamp welds AT ALL. If someone notes an exception I will defer. There is however a requirement in all of them to provide traceability in some manner from the welder to the welds. And in some cases as other posts have noted stamping is even prohibited. How you achieve traceability is entirely up to you.
Jeff,
Both API 650 and ASME VIII state welder "shall" stamp the weld.
API 650
The welder or welding operator’s identification mark
shall be hand- or machine-stamped adjacent to and at intervals
not exceeding 1 m (3 ft) along the completed welds. In lieu of stamping,
a record may be kept that identifies the welder or welding operator
employed for each welded joint; these records shall be accessible
to the inspector.
ASME VIII
(1) Each welder and welding operator shall stamp
the identifying number, letter, or symbol assigned by
the Manufacturer, on or adjacent to and at intervals
of not more than 3 ft (0.9 m) along the welds which
he makes in steel plates 1⁄4 in. (6 mm) and over in
thickness and in nonferrous plates 1⁄2 in. (13 mm) and
over in thickness; or a record shall be kept by the
Manufacturer of welders and welding operators employed
on each joint which shall be available to the
Inspector.
I always thought "shall" in codes / standards was mandatory but both of the codes/standards listed above have a proviso that there is a second option ???
Regards,
Shane
There are two in Section VIII. One based upon other methods of traceability and the other based upon thin materials.
The OP asked specifically about D1.1. Most answers here center around ASME codes. Pressure vessels, nukes, etc are very different from structural codes in D1.1.
The question of required stamping, and especially required to stamp every 4" is the information being sought by this specific thread. D1.1 makes NO such mandate/requirement.
As js stated, you need tracability in all codes. Especially where it is called out within the code as when D1.8 is added to D1.1 for Seismic jobs.
The place I have seen it most though is within the individual shop QC program and while I agree in general with 99205 about the purpose not being to 'PUNISH' there is definitely that provision within the QC policy. They go through a system of writing up the employee and giving them further training and seeing if there is an attitude problem etc. But in the end, if the quality does not improve, they are gone.
Again, that is not per D1.1, it is per their approved shop QC program which was initiated in order to keep quality up and to get a Pre-Approved Fabricator status through some organization to get more work from large contractors.
How often a part is marked and rather it is marked at all will depend upon the job, code in use, shop policy, and Job Specifications/Contract.
Have a Great Day, Brent
Don't forget ISO in manufacturing. Any fabrications or fabricated machined parts will have a number stenciled traceable to the WPS's involved, mill reports for the steel, and are also to be stenciled with the welder's "identifying" mark.
