Post-Weld Operations, Maintenance, and Documentation
Domain 6 - Post-weld operations, maintenance, and documentation. The exam checks that you finish the job properly, keep the machine serviceable, and leave a record proving the weld was made to specification.
Post-weld operations
Remove spatter without gouging the base metal; clean silicon islands and heat tint on stainless (brush, then pickle and passivate if specified); grind flush where a finish symbol requires it; straighten or stress-relieve only when the WPS or drawing calls for it. Check final dimensions, distortion, and weld size against the drawing before release, and do not paint or coat before inspection is complete.
Equipment maintenance
- Daily: inspect torch, nozzle, liner, contact tip, drive rolls, gas hoses, and ground clamp; verify gas flow with a flowmeter.
- Replace a contact tip when the bore wears oval or clogs with spatter; blow out or replace the liner when feeding stutters.
- Check drive roll tension and spool brake; keep consumables dry and identified.
- Water-cooled torches need coolant level and flow checks.
- Close cylinder valves, back off regulators, cap cylinders for movement, store upright and secured.
- Keep calibration records for machines and gauges.
Documentation and reporting
A complete package normally holds the WPS and PQR references, welder ID and qualification records, consumable certificates with heat or lot numbers, base metal certificates, preheat and interpass records, inspection and NDT reports, repair records with location and disposition, and as-built drawings. Entries are made at the time of work, legible, and signed; corrections are struck through and initialled, never erased. Nonconformances are raised, not hidden.
Worked example: The wire feed stutters and the arc stabs. Check the spool brake (too tight), drive roll tension (too loose, wire slipping), and the liner (kinked or clogged). Fix, run a test bead on scrap, and record the maintenance action in the machine log.
Traps: adjusting the machine without recording it; signing a report for work done on another shift; leaving a cylinder valve open with the regulator pressurised.