AWS D1.1 FCAW Weave

[mmayocwi]

Ok, I know ASME has restrictions on width of weld bead, and I know there are "rules of thumb". Does the AWS restrict the width of a weld pass deposited with FCAW? I have comber the code and can not find a clear answer.. any help?

 

[gtaw]

There is no limit on the width of the weave for FCAW. However, a split layer is required when the previous layer is 5/8 inch or more, but even that is contingent on the position in which the welding is being deposited.

As for limitations in ASME, you'll have to remind me where that is written.

Best regards - Al

 

[Duwe6]

Weave-width limitations in ASME are "old welding inspectors tales" when discussing P-1, P-8 and other heat-input insensitive materials. Both the Boilermakers and the Pipefitters union training/apprenticeship programs here are still teaching that "stringer beads only" and that weaving is always forbidden.

 

[gtaw]

"Wife's Tails", that's the problem. Much of what young welders are taught in their early training is a collection of wife's tails. Another one that simply will not die is "Heat the steel until the moisture is driven out."

It was once proposed that if a test candidate answered that one question incorrectly, they would fail their CWI examination. I didn't vote for that proposal simply because I thought there should be several questions, any one of which if answered incorrectly should be grounds for failing the examination.

Another question that is maddening is the correct response to: "What is the actual contents of an filled oxygen cylinder?" I had a welding instructor of many years respond, "Everyone knows it is just compressed air." That individual is hardly qualified to teach young people how to weld, never mind it is simply scary to think of him as an inspector.

Best regards - Al

 

[jwhit]

Along with other old wives tales is the one that a defect just pops out and disappears when you weld over it. Yup, that's why codes require grinding to remove them.

 

[Duwe6]

"Heat the steel until the moisture is driven out."

That is what it looks like, though. And if they heat the steel until the condensed water ring evaporates, the preheat is acceptable for most steels up to about an inch thick. I've quit fighting the guys, and when there as a small preheat necessary on a frosty morning, I tell them ; "Heat the steel until the moisture is driven out."

Then I try to get them to recognize that burning [oxidizing] a hydrocarbon makes H2O and CO2. And that steel below the dewpoint will get wet.