Welding speed rates

[ARKeng]

Does anyone know of a quick reference for estimating weld time? Everything I'm finding involves calculations which I'm certainly able to do but it seems like to me there should be a table somewhere that says for a 1/4" fillet weld they can do an average of "X" inches per hour.

Problem is I have a change order from a contractor claiming they can only do 8" of 3/16" weld per hour. This doesn't even seem in the ballpark to me even accounting for setup time. (I could see that maybe they might only get 8" done the first hour, but they're saying this is the rate for 45 hours).

Thanks in advance.
ARK

 

[vesselfab]

8" A MINUTE IS MORE LIKE IT

BUT IT MAY TAKE A WHILE TO GET PERMITS, SCAFFOLDING, INSPECTION, YADA YADA.

Field contractors take a long time compared to shops

 

[Adalius]

Well this depends on quite a bit of factors. What process are you running, for starters. Secondly, is it a fillet or a fillet over a groove, etc? On clean plate with 7018 SMAW we usually roughly figure for estimation purposes only that you can get 5" of just under 1/4 weld using 1/8 rod in 3-5 minutes a pop.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Why not call a welding supplier - like Lincoln. I am sure they have average weld times.

 

[stanweld]

The 3/16" fillet can be made with SMAW in a single pass at average speeds (in all positions) at about 8"/min. Figure at least a 50% non-arc on time and 4"/min. would seem logical. If the Contractor adds in fitup, setup, scaffolding,etc. per vesselfab, much lesser rates would be anticipated.

I think your Contractor is taking you for every dollar they can (assuming a change order).

 

[Mr168]

The "worst case scenario" for SMAW is 15% field efficiency. That still puts you at 72 inches per hour. I will second Stanweld's thoughts here. For every 8 inches of weld, they're charging you for 64 inches of Vaseline.

 

[ARKeng]

OK thanks everyone for the responses and confirming my suspicions. Now I get to go battle it out for the owner.

 

[HgTX]

"Oh, oops, did we say hours? We meant minutes. So sorry."

Hg



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