Estimation of Standard Welding Time

Actual Welding Time

Reduction of the costs by reducing the actual welding time is one of the most important tasks of production monitoring. In this case the actual welding time may be estimated within certain limits. However, a second factor that has just as great a significance for reduction of the overall costs is increasing the proportion of actual welding time in the overall time. The approach shown here uses part of the calculation for the requirement of filler metal and the deposition rate of the individual electrodes. = reference values for total weight of joint in kg / deposition rate of consumable in kg/(h*A) / chosen amperage in A x 60 min/h = reference values for welding time in minutes The deposition rate is not shown for every single brand as the divergence resulting from the different welding conditions does not justify this level of detail. The following table presents a summary of deposition rates for different types of coating. In the case of ranges of values the lower value in each case should be assigned to the lower current intensity limit for this electrode. deposition rate [kg/(h*A)] type of stick 1.5 mm 2.0 mm 2.5 mm 3.2 mm 4.0 mm electrode medium coated (rutile) 0.01 0.009 0.009-0.015 0.009 R 0.01 0.010-0.011 0.009 RC thick coated (rutile) 0.008 0.008 0.009 0.009 RR 0.009 0.009-0.0091 0.009 0.009 0.01 RC 0.01-0.011 0.011 0.011 AR 0.008 0.008-0.009 0.008-0.009 0.009 RB thick coated (basic) 0.009-0.010 0.01 0.01 B 0.009 0.01 0.01 R(B) metal powder type 0.012 0.013 RR (160 %) 0.014 0.015 RR (180 %) 0.016 0.017 RR (200 %) 0.02 RR (240 %) 0.012-0.014 0.011 0.011 AR (120 %)

5.0 mm

6.0 mm

0.009 0.01 0.01 0.011 0.009 0.011 0.011 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.021 0.01 0.011

0.011

Bhler Schweitechnik Austria GmbH. - Economy-Welding Time.doc

0.015 0.016

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Example for Calculation

A metal sheet with a thickness of 15 mm is to be joined in the horizontal-vertical position. Let the weld length be 10 m. A vee weld with a preparation angle of 60 is chosen as the weld preparation. For quality assurance reasons the root will be back welded. A basic stick electrode will be used (the metal recovery code according to EN is 4). An electrode with 3.2 mm will be used for the root and an electrode with 4.0 mm will be used for the filler and cover passes. The stub length is assumed to be 70 mm. Thus the example is identical to the example for estimating the electrode requirement. The electrode is specified more particularly as BHLER FOX EV 50 to obtain a calculation variable. influencing factor weight of weld without weld reinforcement x factor for the effect of the welding position (weld reinforcement) x allowance for back welding (if necessary) reference value for the total weight of the weld / deposition rate of consumable in kg/(h*A) / chosen amperage in A x 60 min/h reference values for welding time in minutes
r .. root pass, f .. filler layer, c .. cap layer

calculated values r 0.15x10 = 1.5 kg f+c 0.91x10 = 9.1 kg 1.15 r f+c r f+c r f+c 1.19 2.05 kg 12.45 kg 0.010 110 160 60 112 min 467 min

Duty Cycle
The proportion of actual welding time is often referred to as the duty cycle. This value specified in percent does not make any statement as an absolute variable about the efficiency of a method of working since with high-performance procedures where it is not possible to reduce the downtimes to the same extent as the actual welding time for example, the duty cycle may actually drop in percentage despite the total welding time being lower. The downtimes that reduce the duty cycle may be dependent on the procedure, component, operating environment and the welder himself. The individual aspects are not dealt with in greater detail here. In any case an accurate analysis is required to find reference points for reducing the downtimes. For the calculation of standard times attempts have been made time and again to specify reference values for the duty cycle. Values of this type range for example from 5 % for tack welds in assembly to over 30 % for individual production of machine casings and 55 % for series production of machine casings up to 70 % for series production of components in turnover jigs. One may not overlook in this case that these figures have to be checked individually for each company or have to be compared with in-house statistics since investigations of different sizes of company in different sectors showed divergences in the average duty cycle between 30 and 75 %. With statistically well-covered duty cycle values the standard time is calculated as follows: Standard time = actual welding time / duty cycle x 100

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