Welding students in Oregon have received real world welding experience, practical projects, and a healthy challenge as they learned their craft through their school’s partnership with Fabform Industries. The students in the intermediate and advanced classes have worked on projects for the company with supplies purchased at cost. They recently completed a 14-foot by 7-foot hydraulic dump trailer, the largest project ever completed by students at the school.
While the students received valuable hands on job experience and were able to create videos demonstrating their construction process, the high school was able to sell the trailer as a fundraiser for the welding program.
Welding Industry
European University Studies Arc and Hybrid Welding Advances
“Although Kuopio, Finland-based Savonia University of Applied Sciences (SUAS) is a multidisciplinary school, its common theme amongst all areas of study is developing real-world solutions based on creative experiments. In mid-2015, engineers in the school’s Innovative Engineering and Energy Industries department undertook an 18-month experiment to study how laser, arc and hybrid welding methods affect seam quality in cold-temperature machinery.”
Fronius Offers Two New Multiprocess Welders
“Fronius has introduced the new TransSteel 2700 and the TransSteel 3500 Compact multiprocess welding systems for GTAW, GMAW, and SMAW. The systems offer a maximum of 270 amps (TransSteel 2700) or 350 amps (TransSteel 3500 C) during all welding processes with no loss of power.
All devices are equipped with a polarity reverser; some flux-core wires need to be welded using the negative pole, and this can be done by plugging the polarity reverser into the front of the machine.”
Laser Offers Potential to Cut or Weld for Manufacturing
“Visitors to the LASER World of Photonics event in Munich later this month will get an idea of how in the future a single laser machine will be able to perform cutting, welding, and additive manufacturing procedures.
The multi-functional tool, under development through a project led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) in Aachen, Germany, is said to be aimed at SMEs in particular, and a key application area is expected to be electric vehicle production.”
Robots Fill Key Positioning Rolls for Assembly Lines
“Meanwhile, welding robots are becoming just as common, even in small shops. Costs have come down in recent years, and they are easier to program. Given that many metal fabricating companies can’t find welders interested in working for them, they also are looking at robotic welding cells to alleviate bottlenecks in the welding department.
Even with the move toward robots in the welding department, positioners are still a part of the mix. Welding positioners serve the same function and a more demanding taskmaster, as welding robots don’t need bathroom or lunch breaks.”
Welding Education
Michigan Welding Student Wins Air Force Welding Competition
“A Menominee high school student won a United States Air Force welding competition. The competition asked Wisconsin area high school welders to make a U.S. Air Force insignia.
Dante Sartorelli spent three weeks creating the award winning plaque. The junior started with enlarging the U.S. Air Force logo and placing the design onto sheet metal.”
New Hampshire Welding Students Meet Growing Job Demand
“This June, 28 students will receive a certificate in welding technologies, armed with high-demand job skills thanks to a collaboration between Great Bay Community College and Seacoast School of Technology.
Since 2014, the two have partnered to offer a 36-week credit program at SST’s welding lab and facility in Exeter. The college credit program consists of three 12-week semesters. Students receive training for entry-level and intermediate jobs in five major welding processes: MIG, TIG, stick, oxy-fuel and plasma. After completing the program, graduates are qualified to work as fitters, tack welders, solders, certified welders, welder inspectors and engineers and fabricators, and are prepared for AWS certification testing.”
Welding Jobs
6 Weeks of Welding Training Leads to Income Boost
“Fredrea Lakes still cannot quite believe how a six-week training program turned into a life-changing, $6-an-hour boost to her pay. A year ago, she was living in a homeless shelter in Detroit and working minimum wage jobs. Her last check at her old job was just $40 because she worked so few hours.
Now, she’s wearing a welder’s helmet covered in Star Wars stickers — with a sticker of Jimi Hendrix on the inside — at her full-time job at The Armored Group factory in Dearborn Heights. ‘This is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had income wise,’ said Lakes, 29, who often worked at retail stores or fast food joints.”
Welding Offers Former Inmate a New Path in Life
“He took a chance on himself when he was incarcerated at the toughest prison in Nebraska,’ Diane Good-Collins said. Good-Collins founded the 180 Re-Entry Program at MCC.
‘How do we want them to return? We want them to return educated, trained, prepared and ready to start a new life and not go back into prison,’ she said.”
Pipe Welding Offers Many Career Paths
“Smith focuses his students on pipe welding and inspecting not just because “that’s where the jobs are and the money is,” but because the pipe focus itself has so many different paths: from low-pressure chilled water lines to the code-welding world of pressurized pipe. Pipe welders can spend careers welding chilled water lines, or they can tackle jobs of various levels, all the way up to the most critical nuclear applications.”
Welding Events
2019 Welding Industry Summit
Aug 29, 2019 – Aug 30, 2019
This Summit is intended to bring the best quality information and construction welding professionals together for a series of interactive presentations on how more value can be brought to welding operations and the best way to execute success welding plans into projects.
Welding Supplies on Sale
Find the best rebates, discounted bundles, slashed prices, and free shipping offers available online for brand name welding machines, welding supplies, and welding safety gear at Baker’s Gas and Welding. Baker’s has steep discounts on Lincoln Electric welders, slashed prices on Hypertherm consumable kits, and the always popular Build with Blue rebate program for Miller Electric’s most popular welders.
