I completed my third opportunity as a welding skills judge yesterday for the Tennessee VICA Skills Regional Championship.I wanted to share my experience with other forum readers and interested professionals. Prior to the practical welding contest, the participants are given a sketch of the contest fabrication which includes welding consumables, base materials and welding parameters. These were the following welding parameters listed:
Process: SMAW
Filler Material: E7018
Polarity: DCEN
Volts: 80-145
I was appauled this had been checked and approved by VICA Skills USA. I was further distressed when only one contest participant questioned the data. Oh my!!
cccasey,
I was involved with VICA both years of my welding education at our local Tech Center and must say that if you can get involved with it, do so. As a first year student, I was only involved locally until district contests, where the contest consisted of a simple vertical 3/8" bevel plate. Due to rules this was as far as I was able to advance as a first year student, but a second year friend advanced to state where he earned 2nd place honors producing a weldment I did not understand until my next year when I was actually able to go. We were given blueprints with processes, dimensions, and footnotes only and given the run of the shop at Tulsa Welding School, no specs on amps, volts, polarities, etc. (you are required to know these things out in the field where I come from, so that kinda cancels out the chance of a typo or secretarial error of 100 volts like listed above). We did not even know which of the blueprints we would have to build, just that it would definitely be one of the 10 or so given to us in the packet-and each print contained at least one full penetration groove, several fillets, as well as oxy-fuel cuts and included GTAW, FCAW, GMAW, and of course SMAW. What we ended up producing was a birdhouse looking object capable of saving at least two birds from the effects of a nuclear war. Again, my instructor succeeded in producing students who claimed a top ten honor for my buddy and a third place for me (gotta admit I'm still a little razzed about the fact that the two guys who placed before me had read their blueprints wrong and placed their bevel plates on the weldment backwards, but such is life...) To conclude, it was an awesome contest, one that I am proud to say that I was able to claim even a third place in.
I was also involved with the "political" side of VICA (it didn't turn to Skills-USA until my second year) as an officer locally and then again for our district, and that is also worth the time and effort. Since I came from a small town, anything that got me away to different places impressed me, and the number of people I was able to meet was worth the time alone.
Good luck!
G. L.
Interesting,
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