The inspections field can be so challenging. Back in the 70’s (yes, that’s like in 1970) on my first welding job professionally, my employer was very good at illustrating how to determine weld soundness. We worked on logging equipment and the repairs had to stand up to extreme loads.
He showed me how easy it is to break a single sided fillet weld one direction over the opposite direction, how to properly backgouge with air arc for clear CJP’s, what happens when you cool a weld too quickly, and much more.
A couple of jobs later, 1978, I got my first pipe certifications. Learning about how slag, incomplete penetration, undercut, and other discontinuities including improper pre-heat and electrodes over exposed to the atmosphere effect weld quality was even more interesting.
After in excess of 45 years around all kinds of welding and applications one thing really stands out…if you have never taken a weld test and especially been allowed to observe the testing to see where and how you failed, or even how you succeeded, you have not got a clue if you are truly putting sound welds into a project. No, almost no one ‘just knows’ or can ‘just feel’ it.
Most backyard, shade tree welders have no idea if they truly have a CJP weld or if there is a small or large slag line between the welds from the opposite sides of the joint. Most end up with a very inadequate PJP and tell you that ‘it burned in really deep’. (BTW, CJP=Complete Joint Penetration, and PJP= Partial Joint Penetration).
Most of them have so little knowledge of metallurgy that they don’t realize how they have just ruined the mechanical and chemical properties of the steel with improper procedures.
The past several years in inspections has really changed my own perspective on quality and how I view the competence of “welders” I encounter.
It should be just plain criminal to do work that has even a speck of public safety involved without being properly qualified. People using 120v little wire feed welders on projects that are beyond the ability of the unit to run good beads. Oh, the beads may look good, but there is no real penetration, fusion, and soundness to the joint. People using the wrong electrode because they don’t have a clue how steel alloy differences effect the need for different electrodes.
Thus, there are trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, stairways, buildings, and other projects out there just waiting for the right combination of loads before they fall apart and kill someone.
We recently encountered a facility under construction with such terrible practices that thankfully the engineer, when alerted by the special inspectors, made the contractor go back and make lots of corrections/repairs. The workmanship, craftsmanship, professionalism, and use of correct procedures was totally non-existent.
Please, hire professionals to do projects that can have lives hanging in the balance.