Women in welding can have it all! Just ask Bailey Dakos. High school Homecoming Queen and winner of both a crown and welding helmet her senior year. Athens Welding Program sparked interest with some female students. “At Athens High School, the welding program has over 70 students, and only four of them are girls. This talented foursome is creating a 12 foot utility trailer to enter into upcoming agricultural competitions.
The all girl team never had any welding experience before this class, but they’ve enjoyed learning all of the techniques during the year.”
Welding Education
Welding Student Always Has Something New to Learn
“Stetson Hill is interested in a career in welding, and ag classes and FFA competitions at District 93’s Technical Careers High School are helping him prepare.
‘In the welding field, there’s always something new to learn. It never gets boring and there’s a ton of different areas to go into from agriculture to industrial,’ he said. ‘Welding is used on everything from cars, to tractors, to skyscrapers.’”
Deanna Drew inherited a welding program at Amboy High School in Illinois that she admits was in bad shape. The students had an inadequate number of dated helmets, old machines, no safety jackets, poor ventilation, and water leaks that were too close for comfort to the welding area. This past fall, Drew got to work on improving the shop.
Drew organized a series of fundraisers and applied for multiple grants, raising money for new helmets so that every student can wear them while in the shop, new gloves, and welding jackets. A grant paid for the replacement of the ventilation system, and additional funds and donations covered new welders and welding carts.
Drew’s class is bursting at the seams, and she couldn’t accept every student who applied for it. Step by step, her welding class continues to make leaps forward, offering a welcome hands on time for her students.
Welding Industry
Optrel introduced a new helmet to take the welding industry by storm! Optics are crystal clear with a light state of 2.0 (something uncommon in welding helmets) making this the brightest and clearest view yet.
"The Crystal 2.0 Welding Helmet with Crystal 2.0 Lens Technology (CLT2.0) delivers 31 percent visible light transmission in its light state (Protection Level 2.0). The crystal 2.0’s true color perception is industry-leading, delivering a near-perfect color spectrum that provides unsurpassed optical clarity. In its light state, the view is the same as looking through a clear glass window. In its dark state, the crystal2.0 provides a high-contrast view of the welding pool and best-in-class clearness.” Learn more about this helmet here.
CPI Aerostructures Completes Acquisition
“CPI Aerostructures Inc., a manufacturer of structural assemblies for aircraft, has acquired Welding Metallurgy Inc. (WMI) from Air Industries Group Inc. The company expects to complete the integration of WMI’s operations into its Edgewood, N.Y., headquarters by the end of Q1 2019. WMI provides welded products and assemblies, large-diameter tube bending, and integrated electronic assemblies primarily to the defense and aerospace markets.”
Welding Jobs
Welding Training Leads to Careers in Lancaster, PA
“Lancaster County Career and Technical Center (LCCTC) has three programs in the welding discipline that can lead to any number of successful careers, starting with free training funded by a $100,000 grant from the BB&T Growth Fund and administered and matched by the Lancaster County Career and Technical Foundation (LCCTF). According to Anthony Gillespie, executive director of the LCCTF, the premise of the program – Workforce 2020 – was to match workers with jobs in Lancaster County with the initial focus on advanced manufacturing.”
Welding Events
Plastics Conference
Apr 30, 2019
AWS developed this conference featuring the latest advances in manufacturing, fabrication, installation and examination related to thermoplastics welding and joining.
FABTECH Mexico
May 7, 2019 – May 9, 2019
Join tens of thousands of industry professionals May 7-9, 2019 at FABTECH Mexico! The event takes place at the Cintermex in Monterrey, continuing to co-locate with the established AWS Weldmex and Metalform Mexico.
Welding Gone Wrong
Welding Fire Contained Quickly
“A minor fire erupted at Schuette Metals in Rothschild on Friday evening. The president of the company says four welders were at the building finishing up projects, when he thinks a spark got into the exhaust system and set a filter on fire.
‘Damage is limited, had to replace the filters, that’s about it,’ he said. ‘Because we were gonna pull all the other filters out, make sure they were out. So it’s minimal.’