3.6.2 Designation of Welding Positions
This section will give the student a quick view of the welding positions with respect to groove and fillet
welds made on plate material.
A weld is said to be made in the flat position, horizontal position, vertical position or overhead position
depending on the position of the joint in relation to the floor. Welding techniques for the four positions
of welding vary according to the positions the weld metal is deposited. It is possible to deposit weld
layers of considerable volume in the flat and vertical positions but stringer beads are normally used for
horizontal and overhead positions. These positions are better illustrated in Figure 3.19 to augment
some of the definitions given earlier. The number and letter combinations are used to designate each
welding position for quick reference. The letter G stands for groove weld, letter F for fillet weld. The
numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 correspond to flat, horizontal, vertical and overhead positions respectively, as
shown in Figure 3.18.