Weld map and weld log. A free Excel template, and how to fill it in.

What a weld map and a weld log are for

A weld map is the drawing with every weld numbered. The joint list beside it gives each number a row: where the weld is, what it joins, the WPS, the welder, the filler, the inspection and the result. The weld log records the work as it's done, shift by shift. Together they make the welds traceable: for any weld you can say who welded it, to which procedure, with which material and consumables, and how it was inspected.

They also organise the work. The shop knows what to weld next, the inspector knows which joints to test, and at the end the dossier has one line per weld instead of a pile of loose reports.

What the standards ask

No standard prescribes a form called "weld map". What they ask for is traceability, and a weld map with a joint list is the usual way to give it.

• ISO 3834, the quality requirements for fusion welding, asks the manufacturer to keep identification and traceability where the contract or the product standard requires it. At the comprehensive level (ISO 3834-2) that covers the position of each weld in the structure, the welder, the WPS, the parent material and its heat, the consumables and their batch, the NDT and who did it, and where and when repairs were made. Those are the columns of this template.
• EN 1090-2 asks for traceability of the constituent products and sets the extent of NDT by execution class and weld type. The higher the class, the more of it your client and your certification body expect to see weld by weld.
• Material traceability starts at the EN 10204 inspection certificate: the heat number on the plate has to match the certificate, and travel with every part cut from it.
• Acceptance is set as a quality level, usually from EN ISO 5817: the result column means "meets that level", so write the level in the title block or the job's ITP.
• Piping codes ask that each weld can be traced to the welder who made it, either by the welder's mark next to the weld or by records. The joint list is that record.

Numbering the joints

• One number per weld, unique in the job, kept for life. Write it on the drawing next to the weld symbol.
• Drawing number + W + sequence: 1023-W01, 1023-W02. Site welds take F (1023-F01) so the shop list and the site list never collide. In piping, line or spool plus weld: L101-S3-W04.
• Number in an order the shop can follow: by assembly, then along the main member or left to right on the sheet.
• Repairs keep the number and add a suffix: 1023-W03-R1 is the first repair of W03, with its own row, its own report and its own result. The original row stays rejected. That history is what the client asks for when a weld shows up twice in the NDT reports.
• Never reuse a number. A weld removed by a drawing revision keeps its row with a remark; a new weld gets a new number, even if it sits where an old one was.

How to fill it in

The Weld map sheet has the title block, a framed area for the drawing and the joint list.

• Title block. Job, drawing, revision and sheet. When the drawing changes revision, check the joint list against it before anyone welds.
• Drawing. Paste the drawing or a screenshot inside the frame and write the joint numbers on it.
• Joint type, material, heat no., thickness. From the drawing and the material records. Heat no. means the heat numbers of the two parts joined, read from the material marking and its 3.1 certificate.
• WPS, filler and batch, welder ID, date. What was used and who welded. The welder has to be qualified for the joint on that date: that's what the welder continuity log is for.
• NDT required, method, extent. Visual testing applies to every weld. Mark "Yes" when the joint is selected for further NDT, with the method and the extent the specification sets, for example UT at 10%.
• Report no., result, repair. The VT and NDT report numbers, the result (Accepted, Rejected or Pending), and for a rejected weld the number of its repair.

The counts under the title block show how many joints are listed, welded, waiting for a result and rejected.

The Weld log sheet takes one line per joint per shift: date, joint, welder, WPS, runs welded, filler batch and gas, and what was measured: preheat, maximum interpass temperature, current, voltage and travel speed. The heat input column works itself out with the EN 1011-1 formula and the k factor of the process. Compare it with the WPS when the WPS limits heat input, or check a single run with the heat input calculator.

Common mistakes

• Numbers that change between drawing revisions, so the reports no longer match the welds.
• A repair recorded by overwriting the original result. The history is gone, and with it the reason for the extra NDT.
• Heat numbers only on the cutting list. If the heat isn't on the joint's row, tracing a weld back to its certificate means searching the shop.
• The welder column filled in from memory at the end of the job.
• NDT extent written as "as required". Write the figure the specification gives and mark which joints were selected.
• One sheet for the whole job, with hundreds of rows and no drawing reference. Keep one file per drawing or per assembly.

Where a spreadsheet stops

For one drawing and a few dozen welds, this file does the job. Past that, the same weld gets typed in three places: the map, the log and the NDT report. Nothing checks that the welder was qualified for the joint on that day, that the WPS covers its thickness, or that the heat number matches a certificate on file. A rejected weld doesn't hold anything up. And at the end someone still has to gather everything into the dossier.

In Worgify every joint sits on the drawing with who welded it, which WPS and its inspection result. The log fills in as the work is done, the system won't assign a welder or a WPS that doesn't cover the joint, and the joint list becomes the weld index of the dossier.

Terms used on this page: traceability, WPS, filler metal, acceptance criteria.