Deciphering Welding Symbols & Abbreviations

The use of symbols on engineering drawings helps to communicate design specifics of a project to the welder and all involved. For this reason, it is important that everyone knows and understands the weld symbols in order to achieve the correct end result. To help with uniformity, there are a number of standards relating to weld symbols including the British (BS EN 22553), European, International and American (American Welding Society) standards, details of which often overlap, but still need to be consulted individually depending on which standard is being used.  
 

In its simplest form, a weld on an engineering drawing is identified by an Arrow pointing to the joint, a Reference Line annotated with letters, numbers and symbols indicating the area to be welded and the weld process and specification, and a Tail, detailing additional information relating to the welding process. 

Table of Codes pertaining to welding processes:

Other symbols which might be encountered on the reference line are indicators for Automatic (AU), Semi Automatic (SA), and manual (MA) welding methods.