Turn wire size and feed speed into a deposition rate, then into arc time, shop labor hours, and a total job cost, factoring in operating factor and consumable pricing.
Operating factor is arc-on time as a share of total shop time; the rest is fit-up, positioning, slag/spatter removal, and changeover.
Labor is usually the largest welding cost. This estimator works forward from what the wire feeder delivers to arc time, shop time, and total job cost.
Labor is about 80% of the cost, so operating factor is usually the first thing to improve.
The shop rule DR ≈ 13.1 × d² × WFS is the same equation with a steel density and 100% efficiency built in. It doesn't hold for aluminum, nickel, or titanium wire, or in metric units. Calculating from geometry and density works for any wire.
| Setup | Arc-on time |
|---|---|
| Manual (SMAW, GTAW) | ~25% |
| Semi-automatic (GMAW, FCAW) | ~40% |
| Mechanized or robotic | 65%+ |
The rest of the shift goes to fit-up, positioning, tacking, cleaning, and changeovers. Better fixturing usually saves more than a faster wire feed speed.
Multi-pass procedures, mixed processes, and crew-level scheduling are exactly the kind of estimating work Jeffrium takes on directly.