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Simplified Weld Monitoring Without Instruments
(Almost true; you will need a steel rule for both methods and an accurate wire feed speed for GSFCAW).

To begin, I recommend that you select the Projects table and Inline Add one with the title "General Welder Monitoring" and click Save All or the  symbol on the far left. You will need to refresh the page or click the Projects menu item again to show the sub-tables icons.
Then click the red ellipse  which will allow you to Add New a parameter monitoring record for GSFCAW or SMAW welding. If you prefer to work in US customary units, click the purple ellipse  (Monitoring USCU) instead.

For GSFCAW, pick the "1.2mm Rutile FCAW Wire (Generic)" consumable and then tap the black Start button (*). This will turn green to indicate the clock is running. When the weld pass is finished, tap the Finish button which will turn red to indicate you have an arc time. Fill in the ROL and Wire Feed Speed, and identification in the comments, and click Save.
* when you add a record, the start time is automatically set, so strictly speaking this step isn't necessary, but often you will want to prefill some of the data before the welder begins.

For SMAW, pick one of the electrode sizes and input the ROL and stub length after the welder has finished burning the electrode. If you leave the stub length blank, 50mm (or 2in in USCU) will be assumed. The generic electrodes assume certain electrode lengths and results will only be accurate if these match the consumables used. If your electrodes lengths do not match, please create specific Consumable Parameters entries for them (see next help item below).

The Travel Speed, Arc Energy, and Heat Input figures will update on the form as soon as there is sufficient information to calculate them, whenever you update and move off a relevant field. However, if you update the Arc Time using the Finish button, you will need to click in or tap the Arc Time field to update. All values are recalculated anyway when you press the Save button, so this only matters if you want to check the values before saving, eg. to inform the welder of the value.

It's recommended that you input a Welder and WPS number. You can also add a description in the comments, but these are optional. When you add a new record, the start datetime is automatically added, but you can override this with the Start button or fill it in manually if needed.

In the lookups section, you can add parameters for other (named) consumables. This is essential if your SMAW electrode lengths are different, but you may also wish to tweak values for more accuracy. Contact me via LinkedIn or email if you would like more information about this - though I will be adding tools and more detailed descriptions about how to do this later anyway.

Monitoring - Consumable Parameters

Before adding new Consumable Parameters, please ensure that you have a Shared Key defined in your USER PROFILE, if you want to share this data with other people. If this isn't done, and you want to share it later when you do have Shared Key, you would need to Edit and Save each Consumable Parameter to update it.

The Consumable Parameters table contains the data used to perform all the simplified monitoring calculations (ie. in the Monitoring and Monitoring USCU tables).

A number of generic parameters have been included so that users can test out the system. These have names beginning with a tilde symbol (~).

The "~ 1.2mm Rutile FCAW Wire (Generic)" parameters will work pretty well with any Rutile FCAW steel wire of that size. However, the generic electrode parameters assume certain electrode lengths that may not match the consumables being used. Users should therefore create new entries for the consumables actually being used.

The Diameter and Electrode Length must be input in mm, though the Name may be anything you want, as long as it includes the diameter so that it can be identified in the dropdown.
The Electrode Factor should be input as 17 unless you have refined this through evaluating existing run-out parameters.

At the moment there is no example data for solid wire GMAW as I have insufficient data for this process. However, I would like to obtain such data so if a user has existing PQR data, I would be happy to assist creating the parameters for that. The same is true for metal-cored wires.

Inputting Consumable Parameters for GMAW/FCAW wires is straightforward by entering the Wire Factor and Wire Constant variables. It is vital that the correct Process is input.
The Efficiency variable is normally 0.8 for all wires and electrodes, but alternative figures can be input if a more accurate figure is known.
Monitoring : Units - Tips & Tricks

Although the Monitoring Table is designed to receive metric units and the Monitoring USCU one is meant for US customary units, sometimes you need to mix and match. For example, you may be generally working in the metric Monitoring table, but have a wire feeder that displays the wire feed speed in in/min, instead of m/min.

The application can convert to the required units if you type the first letter of the input units after the value. Eg. if you are entering the wire feed speed in in/min into the field which expects the value in m/min, entering "380i" will immediately convert it to "9.65" m/min.
Similarly, if you are using the USCU version, entering "10m" in the wire feed speed field, will immediately convert to "394" in/min.

This conversion also works in the ROL and Stub Length fields to convert between inches and mm. For convenience, you can also use the "*" character - typically you would use this on mobiles and tablets where the numeric keypad is in use.
Monitoring : Multiple Electrodes

Occasionally, you may wish to input average figures for several electrodes involved in a longer weld length, ie. you have the figures for Total Weld Length, Total Arc Time, and Total Stub Stub Lengths.

The application can work out the averages for you if you press the "/" character at the end of the value. A popup will appear asking for the number of electrodes, enter the value and click OK or press Enter and the average figure will be substituted.