General WPS for Welder Cert

By buckskin Date 07-23-2005 20:59

Hi All

Does anyone have a suggestion for a general WPS for doing welder certs. I am attempting to get work from a company that requires my welders be certified. The catch is they do not call out a code to be certified too. I contacted a local CWI and he described the process of WPS's and welder quals etc but his first question was about which code to use. The company does not care, as long as the welders certified to something. Has anyone heard of this before? Is there a method (a prequalified WPS for example) for weld certifications that can be adopted, or does one need to qualify a WPS to fit a weld test? I have some info from the local CWI but I'm looking for more input. Any help is appreciated.

By swnorris (****)

Date 07-24-2005 13:17

Contract documents would dictate which code the welders must be qualified to based on the type of fabrication of a given project. If the company just wants to certify for the sake of being able to say they have certified welders, it would make better sense to qualify the welders to a code based on the types of work they do rather than just "certified to something". If it's to D1.1, it contains prequalified WPS criteria and samples of the forms. One question: Why in the Wide World of Sports would a company not care?

By Arnie Corpuz (*)

Date 07-30-2005 06:47

This is the first time I heard the company does not bothered about the welders qualification. What steel components are you fabricating? But anyway, I would suggest you to qualify your welder in accordance with AWS D1.1 and ASME B31.3 that would cover most piping and structural job. But then again, you need to qualify your welder if the welding parameters will go beyond this codes. There is no such pre-qualified WPS that will cover all the codes. The codes requirements varies from one another i.e. process piping, pipeline, structural etc.... ASME 1X (Welding Procedure And Welder Qualification Code) will be a good help for you.

By 803056

Date 08-01-2005 14:49

You may want to consider qualifying your welders in accordance with AWS B2.1.

B2.1 can be used where there is no industry code or standard that is applicable. It offers a standardize method for qualifyng procedures as well as welders.

The testing required, in general, meets the testing requirements of ASME Section IX and a host of AWS structural welding codes.

Be aware that there may be some differences between B2.1 and recognized welding codes and standards, specifically with the approved base metals. However, any customer reviewing your welding documents will understand that you have the technical knowledge necessary to qualify procedures and welders. That's usually one of the attributes the customer is looking for when reviewing welding documents, i.e., do you understand the technology and how to properly document your welding operations.

Best regards - Al