Welding Tips and Tricks

So i was talking to a pipeliner who goes to my church about doing a job shadow for a day or two and he had to call the union guy to see if I was a liability risk(I guess telling me not to stand under that pipe in the air might not be enough). He had forgotten and the guy called him about certifications. I guess a utility company here requires certain parts that hold over 60 pounds to be oxy-fuel welded. Why? Why is this still used l? Is there a certain property of oxy-fuel welds for certain applications or is it just we've done this for years, why change it now?

Farmwelding wrote:So i was talking to a pipeliner who goes to my church about doing a job shadow for a day or two and he had to call the union guy to see if I was a liability risk(I guess telling me not to stand under that pipe in the air might not be enough). He had forgotten and the guy called him about certifications. I guess a utility company here requires certain parts that hold over 60 pounds to be oxy-fuel welded. Why? Why is this still used l? Is there a certain property of oxy-fuel welds for certain applications or is it just we've done this for years, why change it now?

it would depend on what they are made of.. if its just plain old steel i would guess no one has bothered to updated the specs for the weld.. but if its made of something other then good old steel there might be a reason for it.

My guess and 2 cents would be outdated weld procedure. Plus nobody wants to stir the pot to change it because there would have to be testing, consulting and hiring of engineers and firms, more testing, pounds of wasted paper with written reports, lawyer fees, more lab tests, followed by millions of dollars to change a WPS that has so far worked. so therefore it never gets changed.

What union?

Poland308 wrote:What union?

I beleive it is the 601 steam fitters, pipe and a lot of other stuff.

Ask him about the UA 67 cert

Poland308 wrote:Ask him about the UA 67 cert

Won't see home for a week and you have me curious. I looked real quick and it seems like it is an unlimited thickness GTAW test. Is this true or am I missing something or can't read.

It is. And it's an established standard that there is already a procedure written for. The 60 series of certs are all unlimited wall thickness and unlimited position. So there must be some special reason they require the OA.