cwb certification

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Has any one done cwb certification for their company. Friend of mine tells me it is difficult to find structural welders around southwest mb. I am qualified for all position smaw welding. He's just not sure how much work his company has. A Lot of money to put out.
Reply:Unfortunately we are required to hold cwb tickets at our company ontop of our 4 pressure tickets. seems cwb has pretty much weaselled their way into everything and as far as I am concerned cwb is nothing less than a joke.  Horribly easy test to attain. The only reason I could see mb having a hard time getting qualified cwb welders is because anyone with any talent is on the pressure side of welding plus structural pay is generally far less than a qualified pressure welder. The fact that those of us with multiple pressure tickets still have to test for cwb is a slap to the face don't waste your time with structural try and get your pressure tickets provided you have your red seal already and then head out west or join the union, iam also from south west Manitoba
Reply:Some people actually qualify their companies under AWS even though they are in Canada.  An AWS qualification for an employee is for as long as he is doing the procedure unlike the two year expiry in Canada.  I am not sure if AWS changed theirs to two years but I don't think so.  There is a reciprocal agreement between AWS and CWB.
Reply:Depending what division your company is planning on working too.......Division 1 and 2 require a weld engineer to be employed by the company.Division 3 doesn't require a weld engineer, but can't do any work that requires one, ie structural steel.  I do know weld engineer's are not cheap.......  Also there is a requirement for CWB weld supervisors, but not sure if this applies for Div3.  The company I work for is Div1, we have CWB qualified engineers, supervisors, and inspectors....which all equal HUGE money being paid to CWB.
Reply:If you head west you will notice the pay for pressure welders and structural welders is almost the same, at least in the union industrial work. I know pressure welders who have failed the CWB. The CWB has a fail rate of around 55% for first time smaw testers.  Wages are poor in Manitoba compared to Alberta. Structural work is much less stress than pressure work. The pressure welders are required to have their CWB in Alberta to weld pipe support brackets/braces. My union hall pays for my CWB ticket.I've been working in Alberta for quite some time now and I've seen plenty of structural welders producing far nicer welds than many pressure weldersLast edited by snoeproe; 09-16-2014 at 11:37 PM.JasonLincoln Idealarc 250 stick/tigThermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52Miller Bobcat 250Torchmate CNC tableThermal Arc Hefty 2Ironworkers Local 720