Good points.
One of the problems a student faces is how all the force-fed information is applicable in the real word.
Speaking for myself, half the information they were teaching me in high school was just so much useless dribble. My shop classes were where I was able to put some of the information to use and it became relevant. A couple of teaches did excel at tying classroom lessons to real world situations. I looked forward to their classes and dreaded the others.
It sounds like you are doing it right. Keep up the good work.
As for UT, I've been using UT in my work since 1985. I used it for checking welds early on, but now I use it as an investigative tool to assess the conditions of some of the world’s largest machines. Ultrasonic testing is very versatile. It can be used for a wide variety of applications. The medical industry uses it for checking the condition of a patient's heart and checking the development of a fetus just to list a couple applications. I use it to check material thickness, weld integrity, the soundness of forgings, look for developing cracks, etc.
I demonstrated my new UT machine to my grandsons (4 and 6-years old) to show them how it could detect the bones in my arm and the plate holding grandpa’s wrist together. Then I let them see the radiograph that shows the bones, plate, and all the “wood” screws holding everything together. They like the radiograph better.
Best regards - Al
In my opinion ultrasonics is the most fasinating non destructive testing method. Unlike magnetic particle or penetrant methods, ultrasonics allows you to probe the material or welds like no other method. In recent years ut has been advanced by computer technology to a point of being state of the art in material and welding exams. If you get the "bug" to learn UT go to formal training at one of the many schools around the country. Krautkramer, Hellier are but a few of the better ones. The math portion can be a bit daunting at first, but once you understand the formulas you will use pretty much the same ones over and over. I started my ut experience in the hey day of nuclear construction so I had the opportunity to learn from different guys and you will find that different level II's have different ideas about how to accomplish the same task. Its all good when you learn different ways of doing things. UT takes a lot of time to master, so if you get in, stay for the long haul. Understanding the codes that you will work with is another hurdle, but if you stick with it, you wont be disappointed.
Dave
Thanks for the reply. I think it would benefit me most to weld for a while first and of course that would get me familiar with the codes. I'm not worried about the math because i have always been pretty good at learning. If/when i decide i want to learn it i will definitely go to a real school for it. My instructor at college has started a new system where he will have prospective students take the ASVAB to determine if they will be successful in his welding program or if they might want to consider enrolling in a different degree program. The students in this quarter were his first run to take the ASVAB. He is going to use the scores of graduates as baselines to compare prospective students to. We got our scores today and i did really well on it, so i think i can really take my career any direction i want to.