The risk of fire and explosion is ever present with welding and thermal cutting and the fatal accident at an Auckland tank farm is a timely reminder of this. It is no coincidence that most welding equipment and welding consumables come with warnings either in the user instructions or on the packaging. Nor is it…
In May 2015, Standards Australia senior management was alerted to the fact that the 2014 editions within the AS/NZS 1554 suite contained material that was included without adherence to Standards Australia’s standards development processes. The relevant material relates to specifications contained in the following standards: AS/NZS 1554.1:2014 Structural Steel Welding, Part 1: Welding of steel…
The third edition of the Code of Practice for the Fabrication of Stainless Steel Plant & Equipment referred to as the “Blue Book”, is now available. The “Blue Book”, as it is generally known as in industry, has established itself as a key document for the specification of stainless steel plant in New Zealand. It…
The flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process is widely used in NZ for the welding of steel; the gas-shielded process variation for in the workshop, and the self-shielded option for site work. While FCAW has a proven track record as a productive and reliable process, welds made with cored wires may occasionally have distinctive surface…
A series of seminars on Engineering the Repair and Retrofitting of Steel Structures took place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in April 2015. More than 60 engineers have attended the events. The seminars were presented by Robert E. Shaw, one of the leading experts on seismic welded and bolted connections, the Chairman of the International Institute of…
HERA member Denis Cunningham Ltd is a family-owned and -operated business in Canterbury, established in 1975, in Sockburn. During 2015 they celebrate their 40th birthday. Current staff of fifteen includes many family members, and jointly has over 100 years of experience in welding equipment sales, service and hire. One of the staff members has been…
More than 80 professionals attended the seminars jointly-organised by the NZ Welding Centre and SCNZ in March. The seminars were held in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. The seminars provided a comprehensive insight into normative requirements of the existing NZS 3404.1 and AS/NZS 1554 standard framework and included an overview of the Steel Fabricator…
Weld access holes are frequently required in the fabrication of structural components. The geometry of these structural details can affect the components’ performance. The size and shape of beam copes and weld access holes can have a significant effect on the ease of depositing sound weld metal, the ability to conduct non-destructive examinations, and the…
Surface roughness is a measure of the texture of a surface. It is quantified by the vertical deviations of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are great, the surface is rough, if they are small, the surface is smooth. The roughness of a surface has most commonly been measured by an…
This month the 2011 edition of our most widely-used welding standard AS/NZS 1554.1 was superseded by the published 2014 edition. The expectation is that the new edition of the standard will now be implemented by all users. Standards are periodically reviewed to ensure they are up-to-date with developments in technology, to take account of changes…