Welding Economics

Reference Booklet
For Class Use Only

This book is for class use only. It is not a working set of specifications or
a code. The information contained herein may not match the current editions
of the referenced documents. Do not duplicate or distribute this book.

Table of Contents
Page | 1
 Formulas __________________________________________ 2

Tangent Angle Conversion ____________________________ 5

Material Density_____________________________________________________________________ 5

Deposition Rate _____________________________________________________________________ 6

Deposition Efficiency _________________________________________________________________ 7

Material and Labor Costs ______________________________________________________________ 7

Decimal Form of Commonly Used Fractions _______________________________________________ 8

Deposited Weight of Common Fillet Welds _______________________________________________ 9

Formulas

Area of a Rectangle Area (A) = Thickness (T) x Width (W)

Area of a Fillet Weld Area (A) = a x b ÷ 2

Page | 2
Area of a Circle Area (A)= πr2 where r equals the circle’s radius and
radius = ½ diameter

Volume per Foot Volume (V) = Area (A) x 12 inches

Total Volume Volume (V) = Area (A) x Length (L) of weld

Density Density (D) = Weight (W) x Volume (V)

Deposited Weight Deposited Weight (DW) = Density (p) x Deposited Volume (DV)

Filler Metal Required

Filler Metal Required (FM) = Deposited Weight (DW) ÷ Deposition
Efficiency (DE)

Deposition Efficiency
Deposition Efficiency (DE) = Deposited Weight ÷ Filler Metal
Required (FM)

Total Labor Time Total Labor Time (TLT) = Arc Time (AT) + Non Arc Time (NAT)

Arc Time Arc Time (AT) = Total Labor Time (TLT) - Non Arc Time (NAT)

Operator Factor
Operator Factor (OF) = Arc Time (AT) ÷ Total Labor Time (TLT) x
100

Productivity Productivity Improvement (PI) = (Old Labor time – New Labor Time)
Improvement ÷ Old Total Labor Time x 100

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Deposition Rate
FOR CARBON AND STAINLESS STEEL
Deposition Rate (DR) = Wire Feed Speed (WFS) x (Wire Diameter
squared) x Deposition Efficiency (DE) x 13.1

FOR ALUMINUM
Deposition Rate (DR) = Wire Feed Speed (WFS) x (Wire Diameter
squared) x Deposition Efficiency (DE) x 4.32

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Tangent Angle Conversion

Tan θ
Decimal
Equivalent

15° 0.268

30° 0.577

45° 1.000

60° 1.732

75° 3.732

Material Density
Approximate Density for Some Common Engineering Alloys

Material Density*

Carbon steel 0.284

Stainless steel 0.289

Copper alloys 0.324

Nickel alloys 0.321

Aluminum alloys 0.098

Magnesium alloys 0.063

Titanium alloys 0.163

* Density is in lb/in3

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Deposition Rate

Process Electrode Amps Voltage Deposition

Diameter Rate (DR)*
lb/hr
SMAW 3/32" 70-110 20-30 1.35-1.75
E-7018 Low
hydrogen 1/8" 110-140 20-30 2.3-2.7
Carbon Steel 5/32" 140-200 20-30 2.75-4.3
3/16" 200-300 20-30 4.8-5.6

0.045"
180-280 24-28 4.9-10.5
FCAW 0.052" 180-310 24-28 5.2 -11.2
ER-70T-X 100%
1/16" 210-350 24-29 4.9 11.7
C02 Carbon
Steel 3/32" 350-550 30-34 9.6-21.3
7/64" 550-700 30-36 17.1-23.0
SAW 3/32" 250-700 26-34 6.9-20
Carbon Steel
1/8" 300-900 28-36 8-28
5/32" 400-1000 30-38 9-48
3/16" 500-1300 32-40 10-42
1/4" 600-1600 32-42 15-55
GMAW 0.030" 140-200 24-26 4.0-6.7
Carbon Steel
0.035" 180-230 25-27 6.3-8.0
Spray
0.045" 260-340 25-30 8.0 -13.0
0.052" 275-400 26-33 8.3-13.5
0.062" 290-400 26-36 8.8-14.0
GMAW 0.030" 75-140 14 -16 1.8-4.0
Carbon Steel
Short Circuit 0.035" 90-160 15-19 2.1-4.1
0.045" 130-200 17-19 2.8-5.5

Page | 6
 0.052" 150-250 17-20 3.7-6.25

GMAW 0.047" 180-200 24-26 4.8-5.1

Aluminum
Spray

Deposition Efficiency

Average
Welding Deposition Efficiency
Process (DE)

Shielded Metal Arc Welding 55-65% 60%

Gas Metal Arc Welding 90-97% 95%

Gas Tungsten Arc Welding 95-100% 98%

Flux Core Arc Welding 80-90% 85%

Submerged Arc Welding 95-99% 98%

Material and Labor Costs

Plate and Structural

Mild steel $0.42/lb.

Aluminum $0.96/lb.

Stainless Steel $0.52/lb.

Page | 7
 Filler Metal Costs
SMAW
6010-1/8" $2.85/lb.

6011 -1/8" $2.75/lb.

7018 -1/8" $2.25/lb.

FCAW
0.045 wire $1.85/lb.

0.052 wire $1.75/lb.

GMAW 0.047" AIwire $4.35/lb.

SAW
1/8" $2.36/lb.

5/32'' $2.34/lb.

Flux $1.50/lb.

Labor Costs

Straight time billing rate $55.00/hr.

Overtime billing rate $82.50/hr.

Decimal Form of Commonly Used Fractions

Decimal Decimal

1/64 0.015625 1/2 0.5

1/32 0.03125 33/64 0.515625

3/64 0.046875 17/32 0.53125

1/16 0.0625 35/64 0.546875

5/64 0.078125 9/16 0.5625

Page | 8
 3/32 0.09375 37/64 0.578125

7/64 0.109375 19/32 0.59375

1/8 0.125 39/64 0.609375

9/64 0.140625 5/8 0.625

5/32 0.15625 41/64 0.640625

11/64 0.171875 21/32 0.65625

3/16 0.1875 43/64 0.671875

13/64 0.203125 11/16 0.6875

7/32 0.21875 45/64 0.703125

15/64 0.234375 23/32 0.71875

1/4 0.25 47/64 0.734375

17/64 0.265625 3/4 0.75

9/32 0.28125 49/64 0.765625

19/64 0.296875 25/32 0.78125

5/16 0.3125 51/64 0.796875

21/64 0.328125 13/16 0.8125

11/32 0.34375 53/64 0.828125

23/64 0.359375 27/32 0.84375

3/8 0.375 55/64 0.859375

25/64 0.390625 7/8 0.875

13/32 0.40625 57/64 0.890625

27/64 0.421875 29/32 0.90625

7/16 0.4375 59/64 0.921875

29/64 0.453125 15/16 0.9375

15/32 0.46875 61/64 0.953125

31/64 0.484375 31/32 0.96875

63/64 0.984375

Deposited Weight of Common Fillet Welds

Page | 9
 Volume Carbon Steel Aluminum Stainless
Fillet Weld
Area of a Foot (0.284) (0.098) (0.289)
Size
(in2) (in3 ) (lb/ft) (lb/ft) (lb/ft)

1/8" 0.125" 0.0078125 0.09375 0.027 0.009 0.027

3/16" 0.1875" 0.017578125 0.2109375 0.060 0.021 0.061

1/4" 0.25" 0.03125 0.375 0.107 0.037 0.108

5/16" 0.3125" 0.048828125 0.5859375 0.166 0.058 0.169

3/8" 0.375" 0.0703125 0.84375 0.240 0.083 0.244

7/16" 0.4375" 0.095703125 1.1484375 0.326 0.113 0.332

1/2" 0.5" 0.125 1.500 0.426 0.147 0.434

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