CWI stamp - is it now required by D1.1 for welder certs?

[dbooker630]

I recently read thread725-241866: CWI Stamp in order to answer this question but I need an answer based on the newest version of the Code.

It was my understanding from previous versions of D1.1 that a CWI does not have to stamp certifications signifying that a person is qualified to weld, at least not in the motor vehicle sector. We use CWE's to train but the actual results of the plate bend test or coupon destructive test are not stamped by a CWI.

I was contacted by a customer a few days ago who told me that the latest version of D1.1 requires a CWI stamp to show that a welder is indeed qualified to weld, and they are requesting that all of our welders have a CWI stamp on their welding cert.

Since I only had the 2006 version available I contacted my welding trainer in order to verify this change, and their CWI sources replied similar to the 2009 thread that the stamp is not required. I understand if the customer's purchase order requires the stamp, but if anyone is aware of any changes to the Code I would appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[weldtek]

Ask your customer to reference a specific paragraph in D1.1.

 

[Mr168]

The 2010 edition has no such requirement, and includes the standard verbiage for inspector qualification requirements:

"An individual who, by training or experience, or both, in metals fabrication, inspection and testing, is competent to perform inspection of the work."

The day D1.1 starts making a CWI mandatory for welder quals as part of the Code is the day that any knowledgeable customer starts invoking Section IX in lieu of D1.1 for welder qualifications as mandatory (which is already permitted by D1.1 with Engineers approval anyways, and very common practice.)

 

[qcrobert]

M168 is correct, D1.1-2010 edition has no requirement for a CWI stamp.

Some of our customers do require (by contract) that testing be performed by an AWS CWI.

 

[Duwe6]

It's an "Old Welder's Tale". AWS D1.1 [and the others in the D1 series] has NEVER required a CWI stamp, or any 3rd-party testing. It is the company that the welder is working for that is certifying him/her, and the company is accepting that responsibility and liability.

It makes me "feel better" when I see a WQT -- welder qual -- that was given the Visual inspection by a CWI. But a WQT properly completed and certified soley by the company hiring the welder is fully acceptable. Unless there was a clause in the bid/job specification, or in the contract, there is no "basis" for rejection of that WQT certification.

 

[gtaw]

As a welder I used to believe it was a good idea to have third party involvement when qualifying welders because I took more than one performance test for other so called welders. At the time I was an apprentice and didn't know any better. It didn’t take long before I caught on and stopped taking the same qualification test again and again.

Now I am sure third party involvement is a necessity. Thirty years as an inspector has made me a cynic. I was recently visited a shop for an unrelated matter when I witnessed the mechanical contractor qualifying several pipe welders. The shop "QC" inspector would prepare the bend straps, bend them, and then grind out any small surface defects and pronounce the welder qualified. Need I say everyone passed the test?



Best regards - Al

 

[Ron]

Duwe6 is correct about the "old welder's tale". When the CWI system was introduced in the late 1970's, it was always rumored that it would soon be mandatory for all inspections to be done by a CWI, including welder certification testing. Even though I'm an engineer, I became a CWI in 1979 in anticipation of such a requirement since my company at that time was very pro-active and one of my mentors was on the D1.1 committee.

That "rumor" never came to fruition but continued long after I let my CWI certification lapse. Similar was true of ASNT Certification for NDE/NDT. I became an ASNT Level III, also in anticipation of future need/requirement.