Welding & Fabrication Math: Weld Volume, Filler Metal, Heat Input & Cutting Layouts

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Weigh the steel, stainless and aluminum parts of a Redforge Fabrication job: plates from thickness × width × length, round bar with π/4 × d², and the job total in pounds and kilograms.
• Calculate the cross-section area of five fillet welds and five groove welds, plus the effective throat of the fillets, the numbers every weld volume and filler estimate starts from.
• Turn weld areas and lengths into weld metal volume, weld metal per foot with a reinforcement allowance, and the total weld metal Redforge must deposit on a steel frame job.
• Look up the deposition efficiency per process, turn the weld metal of six job lines into filler metal to buy, round up to whole packages and price them.
• Turn the volts, amps, length and arc time of six passes on a groove weld into travel speed and heat input, check each pass against an illustrative WPS range and chart the heat input by pass.
• Estimate the arc time and paid welder hours for six job lines from deposition rates and operating factors, price them at a shop rate and find the welding cost per pound of weld metal.
• Plan the saw cuts for a handrail and stair job from 20 ft (240 in) bars: pieces per bar including the saw kerf, bars to buy per part, the remnant left on each full bar and the material utilization.
• Cost a handrail and stair-stringer job for Redforge Fabrication: labour from arc hours and the operating factor, shielding gas, filler, consumables and overhead, the quote price with markup and a doughnut chart of the cost breakdown.