Another welding scandal?

Last year, it was the Bay Bridge scandal. Now, it's the Anchorage Environmental oil tank scandal.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - State environmental officials dismissed allegations of improper welding procedures used on massive oil tanks at Valdez three years ago, but a recent anonymous complaint of a cover-up has prompted a Prince William Sound oil industry watchdog group to probe the issue again.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.'s marine terminal manager Tom Stokes, in a recent letter to the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, noted that the state reviewed the welding procedures and found virtually no problems in 2003.

Even if the welds failed, concrete containment dikes would hold the oil, Stokes said in his letter.

Stan Stephens, the citizens' council president, and John Devens, the group's director, met with Alyeska President Keven Hostler last week to discuss the resurrected allegations.

Stephens and Devens haven't reached any conclusions, according to council spokesman Stan Jones.

"Like you, we've seen both sides of the documents," Jones told the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Monday. "We're not sure what to make of it so we are hiring an expert on tank welds."

Read the rest at the Anchorage Daily News website...

Need AWS quality procedures written up?

If you do contract work that requires American Welding Society (AWS) standards, then it's a matter of time before a welding inspector or engineer asks you for your welding procedures and certifications. The folks over at weldingprocedures.com can help by providing a to-spec procedure document. Your welders can be qualified using the AWS D1.1 Steel Welding Code along with your procedure.

The procedure costs $35 and is accepted on any project worldwide where AWS is specified.

FCAW (Flux cored arc welding) General WPS using E71T-1: Good for all common carbon steels and approved for all joints in the AWS D1.1 Code.

SMAW (Stick Welding) General WPS using E7018: Good for all common carbon steels and approved for all joints in the AWS D1.1 Code.

GMAW (Mig welding) General WPS using ER 70S-6: Good for all common carbon steels and approved for all joints in the AWS D1.1 Code.

Custom WPS For this procedure you must send us all pertinent information including electrode type, material to be welded, joint design, machine settings you use and any special conditions. The only condition is that the procedure complies with processes, electrodes and joint configurations that are pre-qualified by an AWS welding code such as AWS D1.1-2002 Welding Code for Steel.

Check it out over at www.weldingprocedures.com.

A cool, new welding helmet from Millerweld

Miller Electric offers an addition to the Big Window Elite Series: the Inferno.

For professionals and hobbyists alike, the Inferno provides the maximum viewing capacity, is lightweight, comfortable, and offers light-state clarity and exceptional battery life. It features the Performance Series Lens technology, including replaceable batteries with solar assist for exceptionally long life (3,000 hours on MIG) with no recharging required. The Inferno easily handles low-amperage DC inverter and TIG applications (5 amps and below) and has a reaction time of 1/20,000 second. For more information visit millerwelds.

Picking one of these up is a definite thing on my list...

Laser welding a growing category

A couple of notes on laser welding...

The industry is experiencing growth, most of it coming from European companies. The German laser welding equipment market looks to be growing strongly, and that will affect United States markets as well. As existing users within particular industries widen their deployment of laser welding equipment and the benefits of such a strategy become more apparent, a positive ripple effect on uptake levels will ensue. See article here.

A British firm, Electrox, plans to double its US operations in an effort to replicate the conditions that produced a 300 per cent revenue growth in the UK last year, according to Business Weekly. The market is there, and it's pretty unavoidable as manufacturing heads into the laser welding methodology.

Industrial welding programs

Thomson offers a good training program for people who work on the periphery of welding in an industrial environment. Here's the description from their site...

Industrial Welding Training helps plant maintenance workers develop a working knowledge of and learn the theory behind gas and arc welding techniques and equipment, and the cutting of iron, steel, pipe, and nonferrous metals.

Trainees receive an overview of basic mathematics, print reading, and safety, followed by the fundamentals of metallurgy, electricity, and weld inspection. Since welding demands repeated hands-on practice, make sure your employees have easy and frequent access to oxyacetylene and shielded metal arc (stick electrode) welding equipment.

Program graduates will develop the expertise to:

• Select the proper tip for gas welding.
• Read basic welding prints.
• Explain the start up procedure for arc welding.
• Describe the various uses of Gas Tungsten Arc Welding.
• Discuss the use of Gas Metal Arc Welding.
• Select the proper shielding gases for welding.
• Describe the procedures for the inspection of welds.
• Discuss the procedures for nondestructive testing of welds.