Welding certification is a big deal. Jobs that require welding, such as nuclear plants, bridge construction, aerospace, petrochemical, generally require a welder to pass a welding certification test before welding anything.
But what about the thousands of hobbyist welders who buy a 115 volt flux cored mig welder from Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, or even Craiglist?
Do they need to be certified too?
Technically no. But I have a suggestion for anyone anywhere who welds anything important… where if the weld fails, someone will get hurt or killed:
This could be handlebars for a helicopter, a bike rack for the back of a Jeep, a landscape trailer, or a deer stand. (All of which could kill someone if the welds failed.) The next best thing to certifying a welder is to destructively test the weld.
Let’s use the chopper’s handlebars as an example. Obviously you can’t destroy all the welds you make, but what if you had to weld a set of dummy handlebars just to test the weld setup? Wouldn’t the pipe be worth the price just to have confidence in the welds?
By welding a set of dummy bars using a few extra tubes of the exact same type of material and thickness and then pulling the dummy bars back and hitting them with a BFH (big damn hammer) you would have a pretty good idea about the strength of the welds. If the welds broke, well, at least you weren’t cornering at 90 mph. Go back to the drawing board until you figure out what went wrong.
This type of test would be an eye opener for most welders. It is very informative when you see good looking welds that you think are fine, separate when BFH tested. Your gut control time and makes for better welds. Let’s face it… sometimes welds that look good are not good.
Welding certification may not be necessary for everyone, but a little destructive welding test goes a long way.
