WWIA Fall 2014 conference

Date 11-06-2014 16:35

Hello folks, I recently was fortunate enough to attend one of the WWIA's (Washington Welding Instructors Association) bi-annual conferences in Bellingham, WA. We were treated to an array of vendor displays, presentations/examples of information on consumables, tool advancements, and the opportunity to see and use some of the recent applications of virtual reality welding stations. One of these was the Lincoln 360 and another one was the combination real welding/virtual combination, definitely interesting stuff.

Aside from this part of the conference, we had a full day of tours of area companies/businesses to view the fabrication and welding applications associated with these companies. Bellingham's service area mainly caters to shipyard and petrochemical industries although they also have many of the other fabrication type shops that are found everywhere. On this particular visit we were treated to an aluminum boat builder yard, another yard that deals with both steel and aluminum boat construction, a logging truck accessory manufacturer/structural fabricator, and a piping contractor with both shop and field construction/fabrication. I've included some pictures from our tours.

To finish out our conference we had our general business meeting which is comprised of planning for future events, discussion of program approaches, challenges, and initiatives. We try to move our meetings around the state to allow for more complete understanding of the industries of others and the other geographical and social issues that apply for a particular program. Additionally, we share each others methods for improving student retention, bettering our training regimens, improving the visibility of our programs and getting across the importance of the trades in general. One of the big things that I am appreciative of regarding the other welding programs across our state is everyone's willingness to share what's working and what's not. We don't quite have total participation from all of the programs across the state but we're pretty close. There were 20+ participants at this particular event.

The state of Washington is challenged with shortfalls in our budgets and we have all been forced to really rack our brains to come up with alternatives that don't totally rely on budgetary dollars. Meeting such as this one have allowed us to come together and share with one another the various methods which we have come up with to gain support from industry and local sources and in some cases foundations and others who might be nationally aligned. It's really nice not to feel alone in the many challenges that vocational educators can face. Hope you folks enjoy the photos. Best regards, Allan

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 11-06-2014 17:14

Call me crazy, but that overhead crane in the school lab is something I had always wanted and never had !

Looks like a great meeting and the shipyard stuff with aluminum is always impressive.

By aevald

Date 11-06-2014 17:42

Yes Lawrence, I share those sentiments as well. That photo is of the facilities at Bellingham Technical College. The facility is 5 to 10 years old now, definitely a gem and a model of technology for education. We are still waiting our turn on our campus for some upgraded facilities, likely about the time that I retire. At least our successors might have a great facility that will be left to them. The first picture there is of a mock-up ship application, they fit and weld piping within the confines of a scale size ship hull/cabin type environment. You'll notice the fresh air hose, minus the fan, that is fed into the structure, they emulate all aspects of actual shipyard work both for hull construction and piping applications.

The aluminum section of the shop at BTC is very well outfitted and has plenty of choices for GMAW and GTAW equipment. Advanced processes, standard processes, etc. It is also completely walled-in from the rest of the shop and therefore not subjected to contamination issues. As to some of the aluminum boats at the yards that we toured, unfortunately there are issues with nondisclosure so we were not allowed to have free reign with our cameras. I did get some pictures, however I am not able to share them here, I will share them with students yet I will not provide them access to copies. There were 2 105 ft. foot-traffic ferries that were being built at one of the yards and all I can say is that they comprised phenomenal fit-up and welding craftsmanship. Another interesting note: the cutting method for their parts was accomplished with a high-speed CNC router table.

I was able to share photos of an aluminum wheelhouse that was going to set on top of a steel boat and as such there are seams where Data-bar has been used to join the aluminum to the steel. I'll see about adding that picture here soon. Best regards, Allan

By kcd616

Date 11-07-2014 00:16

Lawrence,
had a crane like that
but the floor was never that clean :eek:

props Allan
sincerely,
Kent

By Tyrone

Date 11-08-2014 11:54

Nice Allan!
WWIA. Good idea. Lots of "like" bodies to pool and access your resources.
I wonder how those steel ships get primed/painted when they are constantly wet and rusted from the rain. Do they wait for a break in Washington weather? :wink:

Tyrone

By Blaster (***)

Date 11-08-2014 17:04

That is a good question about the rain. I don't know the answer. Although I know I have heated material with rose buds prior to painting on cold wet days. But I do know that in Western WA, particularly along the coast, the rain doesn't stop much from happening. Some folks here do just about everything in the rain, including welding - frequently with rubber gloves on under their leather gloves and galoshes on their feet.

By aevald

Date 11-09-2014 00:15 Edited 11-09-2014 00:20

Thanks Tyrone, as Blaster said and I would similarly, I hadn't considered the rain and painting very much...ever. I really should know the answer as this is all in my backyard. What little I do know from other experiences: they will often utilize "tents" and in some instances very large heaters to warm over-sized items that won't fit into a building when they go to painting them, the same for blasting. But when you're looking at something as big as the ferry that you see in the background of our group picture, I honestly don't know. Maybe Google or some questions put to our hosts at BTC might yield an answer. I'll see if I can address that and share what I find a bit later.

As to the primer, a considerable amount of the plate used for the construction is pre-primed with weldable primer and yes, that small detail has bitten a number of them in the hiney when the mill thickness of the paint is excessive. Along with the primer treatment of many of the parts, they often come with etching lines showing locations/orientations of adjoining pieces and part # markings, kind of like a large jig-saw puzzle.

I'll see if I can include some photos that give a little glimpse of the marking lines, the ones that I have aren't very good but I believe that you'll get the idea. One of these is of aluminum with pre-marked lines and some of them have been sanded in preparation for fitting and welding, some of the ones on the steel aren't very clear as to their purpose in this photo, unfortunately. Thanks for the question and best regards, Allan

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 11-09-2014 04:53

Tyrone,

When we were building Nuclear submarines up in Groton, CT, painting metal was a three step process that was followed with the same sequence regardless whether or not the painting was done on the exterior or the interior and I believe the same steps are used in most of the shipyards except for probably Aluminium construction since it isn't necessary to paint although in the interior there could be some exceptions where paint is used and the only difference would be the media used to clean the surface prior to priming... here are the basic steps below:

Just before they're ready to paint, the metal is grit blasted followed with priming then painting however many coats afterwards and of course the area is covered from the elements. :grin:

Respectfully,
Henry

By Tyrone

Date 11-11-2014 11:49

Henry,
Yeah, I suspect that this outfit would use a similar process to EB.
Tarp the area for blast, prime and paint.

Tyrone