Weld metal and cost calculator
Weld metal, filler to buy, arc time, welder hours and cost per foot for a fillet or single-V groove weld in steel.
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- Your own numbers, worked out as often as you like
- The full weld plan you can print or save to My work
- 7 cited sources, linked, with the checks to make
- Every other tool for the same role, in the same plan
- A plain-words read of your result (a fuller AI read with the Bifrost AI add-on)
Included in these role plans
Example result · fictional numbers
What you get: weld plan
Worked out by this tool from its default inputs. Its role plan lets you run your own numbers, print the sheet and save it.
4.68 lb of weld metal in about 1 pass: order 1 × 33 lb of filler, 2.23 h of welder time, $185.37 all in ($4.63 per ft)
- Weld cross-section
- 0.0344 sq in (0.0313 sq in plus 10% allowance)
- Weld metal per foot
- 0.117 lb/ft
- Weld metal deposited
- 4.68 lb over 40.0 ft
- Filler to buy
- 4.93 lb at 95% deposition efficiency
- Arc-on time
- 0.78 h at 6.0 lb per arc hour
- Welder time
- 2.23 h at 35% operating factor
Joint and passes
- Joint
- Fillet, 0.2500 in leg, 0.177 in theoretical throat (0.707 × leg)
- Weld cross-section
- 0.0344 sq in with 10% allowance
- Weld metal per foot
- 0.117 lb/ft at 0.2836 lb per cu in
- Largest single pass
- 0.0537 sq in (a 0.3125 in fillet with the same allowance)
- Passes, estimated
- 1 pass (cross-section / largest single pass, rounded up)
- Weld metal per pass
- 0.117 lb/ft on average
Also on the sheet
- Same weld, each process · 5 lines, starting with “SMAW”
- Consumables order · 7 lines, starting with “Filler for the weld”
- Procedure checklist · 7 lines, starting with “WPS number”
The plain-words read of this example
40.0 ft of 0.2500 in fillet weld holds 4.68 lb of steel weld metal (0.117 lb/ft). At 95% deposition efficiency for GMAW you buy 4.93 lb of filler, 5.17 lb with 5% extra: 1 × 33 lb. At 6.0 lb per arc hour and a 35% operating factor that is 0.78 h of arc time and 2.23 h of welder time. About 1 pass; job total $185.37, $4.63 per ft. Minimum preheat at 0.500 in: None above 32°F (0°C) base metal.
7 cited sources
- AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2025, Structural Welding Code – Steel (American Welding Society)
- AWS A3.0M/A3.0:2025, Standard Welding Terms and Definitions (American Welding Society)
- Job Knowledge 96: Welding costs (TWI)
- The ABC's of Arc Welding: calculating welding consumables (Kobe Steel (Kobelco Welding))
- Understanding the relationship between deposition rate, deposition efficiency and production output (The Fabricator)
- Welding, Cutting, and Brazing: OSHA standards (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
- The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding (The James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation (TRID record))
Plus 6 step-by-step checks, a print layout and a link that reopens it with your numbers.