Welding and Fabrication Technology — Columbia

In this course students are introduced to the type of tasks generally performed by welders and how their skills and knowledge are applied to both the construction and manufacturing industries. Because of its importance students will also learn how safety procedures apply to welding and cutting operations. They will also complete a ten-hour OSHA approved safety orientation that explains job site hazards, accident prevention, and standard safety procedures.

Students will learn to set-up and safely use oxyfuel metal cutting equipment and processes. They will then learn to read and interpret welding symbols from construction drawings. These symbols direct the student to use the correct welding procedure to meet the specifications.

Students will learn the classifications and types of welding electrodes used in arc welding. In addition, they will learn the criteria used to select the proper electrode for a specific application. Students will also properly set up SMAW arc welding equipment prior to beginning welding operations. They will learn about the different types of welding equipment and the types of current used in their operation. As a part of learning about the total scope of welding operations, students will be introduced to various welding codes and the agencies that govern these codes. They will see examples of weld imperfections and learn what causes these defects. Students will also be introduced to various weld testing procedures

This course is a continuation of WEL110 Welding and Cutting Fundamentals and introduces new technical information as well as continues to develop fundamental arc welding skills.

As a continuation about the characteristics of metal, students will learn to properly prepare metal for cutting and welding operations. This includes cleaning and grinding operations. They will also learn some of the basic joints used in welding metals together. Students will then use plasma arc cutting equipment to cut metal at a faster rate with a cleaner cut. As metal is heated and cooled, its characteristics and strength can change considerably. Students learn how metal is formed when it transfers from a liquid to a solid form, what are identifying metal designations and structural shapes and the strength characteristics of various types of metal, and the effect heat has on the strength properties of metal.

Students will be given an opportunity to continue to develop their skills in operating electric arc welding equipment and developing SMAW arc welding control and application techniques. Students are expected to successfully weld weave and overlapping beads, horizontal fillet welds (2F position), vertical fillet welds (3F position), and overhead fillet welds (4F position). In the process they will use fit up gauges and measuring devices to be sure the metal is properly aligned before beginning welding operations.

In this course, students first learn a new technique for cutting, gouging, and “washing” steel using air carbon arc cutting and gouging equipment.

Students then use the welding techniques they developed in the first two courses and apply them to welding plate metal with open grooves. Students will learn to form grooves in plate metal and setup welding plate using a metal backing.

Students will learn to weld steel plate in a flat V-Groove (1G position), and vertical V-Groove (3G position). Students will also learn to weld V-Groove steel plate in the 1G, and 3G position.

This course introduces students to Gas Metal Arc Welding and Flux Core Arc Welding processes used for welding carbon steel plate. Students will learn the similarities and differences for these two processes. They will learn to setup the welding machine, gas flow meter, and welding gun. Students will then practice welding plate in the Fillet Weld positions (1F, 2F, 3F, and 4F) and Open Root V-Groove positions (1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G) using both processes.

This course introduces students to Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) processes. Students will learn the different components of GTAW equipment, the different types of filler metals used, and the types of shielding gases used in the welding process. They will learn to weld sheet steel, aluminum, and stainless steel in several basic joint designs to include butt weld, T-joint weld, and a lap weld.

This course applies both GMAW and GTAW welding procedures to various fabrication processes. Students set up equipment to weld various types of sheet metal. Using an assigned project, students will read and interpret drawings, learn to layout, cut and/or correctly apply bend reductions to specifications, and weld joints using weld designs and procedures learned in WEL140 and WEL150. Sheet metal application may be steel, stainless steel, and/or aluminum.