Welding calculators

Three calculators for the planning phase rather than the post mortem: consumable quantity from joint geometry, carbon equivalent from a mill certificate, and travel speed with arc energy and heat input from recorded parameters. Each one prints the formula it uses and the assumptions behind it, because a calculator that will not show its working is not usable on a job.

Consumables

Weld consumable calculator

Weld metal and consumable quantity for single V butt welds and for fillet welds, from joint geometry, weld length and deposition efficiency. For estimating and for ordering.

Open the consumable calculator

Weldability

Carbon equivalent calculator

IIW carbon equivalent from a mill certificate composition, with the Ito-Bessyo Pcm cracking parameter alongside it and indicative hardenability bands.

Open the carbon equivalent calculator

Heat input

Travel speed and heat input

Travel speed from run length and time, then arc energy and heat input from amps and volts, with the process thermal efficiency factor k shown separately.

Open the travel speed calculator

Nothing you type leaves your browser

All three calculators run entirely in the page, in JavaScript, with no form plugin, no external script and no analytics on the calculation. There is no submit button because there is nothing to submit: the answer updates as you type. Three practical consequences.

Your numbers stay yours. A joint detail, a plate thickness and a mill certificate composition together describe a job. None of it is transmitted, stored or logged.
It works with a bad connection. Once the page has loaded, the calculator keeps working. That matters in a workshop office and it matters on site.
It is instant. No round trip to a server, so you can sweep a value and watch the result move, which is how estimating actually gets done.

The previous versions of these calculators were built on a form plugin that posted every entry to a server before returning a result. Replacing that was worth doing on privacy grounds alone.

Each one shows its working

Every calculator page carries the exact formula, the assumption set, and a worked example with numbers you can check by hand. Where the tool departs from the simple version, it says so on the page. Two examples of why that matters.

The travel speed calculator reports arc energy and heat input as two separate numbers, because they are two different quantities. Heat input is arc energy multiplied by the process thermal efficiency k. Quoting one against a procedure limit written for the other is a straightforward way to fail an audit.
The consumable calculator assumes steel at 7.85 g/cm³ unless you change the material. The same joint in aluminium weighs about a third of that, so a density assumption left unstated is a purchasing error waiting to happen.

Where the standards sit

These are estimating and checking aids. They are not a substitute for a qualified welding procedure or for the applicable standard.

Preheat and heat input control for structural steel welding: AS/NZS 1554.1.
Pressure equipment: AS 1210 and AS 4041, with procedure qualification under ISO 15614.
The requirement to record what you actually used, and to be able to produce that record: AS/NZS ISO 3834.

Disclaimer

AWI provides these calculators as a free resource to the welding industry. Validate the accuracy of any result before relying on it. AWI accepts no responsibility for consequent losses from the use of these resources.