Hello welder6g, I see you're getting a little flak already(not of any serious nature though), for the course offering scenario that you're presenting here. I know where you're coming from, I teach at a community college program and we are constantly trying to figure out new ways to get some interest sparked in our programs. I'm guessing that you offer various types of courses from the serious would-be career welder to the occasional welder who's main career also requires some welding, to the hobbyist, artist, home do-it-yourselfer and possibly the industry upgrade person. I would be interested to know if you have tried any approaches that you feel have been successful above the norm so-to-speak? As I said I'm constantly looking for new and innovative things to try. One thing that I would like to mention, in Washington state a large majority of the community and technical college instructors have been together for a number of years in an association, we usually meet twice a year for a get together to discuss any number of things regarding our programs, legislative issues as they pertain to us, the job market,statewide as well as nationally, campus type issues regarding our programs, FUNDING, and we also usually have the hosting college put on some industry related tours and also look at the hosting programs facilities and course offerings. If you don't already do this you might consider moving in this direction as it will help to ensure the viability and life of your program. If you're already on top of all of this then I'm just preaching to the choir. Best of luck and Regards, aevald
Greetings Guys,
I have spent quite a bit of time over the years training and testing welders throughout the South Pacific (Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu etc) and on the average it would take me about a week to get the majority of my class through an ASME IX 6G test.
The test would be an E6010/E7018 test on 6" pipe.
The reason I found for them picking up the welding so quickly was that they mimicked everything I did, they had no preconceived ideas or any ingrained bad habits.Some of them had never seen workboots before in their life, let alone a welder but once they got over their fear of hot sparks etc they took to it really well.
As you can imagine they had no idea of any of the technical side of welding but my scope of work was just to get them through their tests.
The coupons were then sent off to NZ or Australia for radiography.
They then went off and welded their fresh water pipelines etc.
Very rewarding job and some pretty nice locations to work in too,
Regards,
Shane
Is that from SCRATCH. No welding experience at all ?
The Tulsa Welding School does offer a 3 month course... But as for being lost... You are wrong. I opted for the longer program the full 8 month course, and have gained invaluable exp. thus far. The 3 month course is only a structural welding course, for those people that want to go that route. It follows the same curriculum as the Hobart school, and the instructors are equally as skilled. I am in phase 6 out of 10 phases, and already have plenty of work lined up for me.
Shane, if I didn't know you better I'd say the bar man is calling again!!!
Jon,
I'm trying to concentrate on typing, I'm ignoring the barman.
Gerald,
The hardest thing I find when training Europeans (white fellas) to pipeweld is having to bash all the bad habits out of them that they have learnt from their mate down the road etc.
Taking the locals in third world countries is easy, its just monkey see, monkey do (I definitely do not mean that to be derogatory). Although they can perform a satisfactory weld test, as I mentioned in my earlier post they have absolutely no idea of the technical side of welding.
Ed Craig mentions on his website that he can have a 12 year old (I think his name was Jesse) putting in a pipe root run with GMAW SC in one day and filling and capping with FCAW within a week that would pass any North American welding code.
From personal experience I would say it is easier to learn to weld SMAW on pipe than GMAW/FCAW,
I am sure there are those that would disagree, I am just trying to clarify my earlier posting that it is possible to train a welder from scratch in one week.
Regards,
Shane
Shane, I have to agree with your point. I understand your statement better now.
I had a guy 22 yrs old, NEVER welded, come in, I showed him how to run a fillet weld flat one time. He did it exactly like mine. I then did one vertical up. He did the SAME thing.
I figured I must have just really stunk when I started.
Hey, when I very first stepped into the booth some many, many years ago, learning SMAW, I was afraid to even touch the rod to a piece of wood they kept in the test booth... yep, really knowledgable!!! lol!!! You can call me Forrest... Forrest Gump if you like, lmao!!!
During the 5 years that I taught at a manufacturing facility, I was given a total of 80 hours to teach employees how to weld and pass a plate test with short arc in the 2F, 3F, 1G, 2G and 3g posititons and 2F, and 1G with spray. This also included classroom and video time learning weld symbology, welding safety, how to read WPS's, and going through and testing to ISO procedures that the company had in place. I had many employees in and out in less than half the time with 2 employees that made it out in 2 1/2 days (10 hour days) but nonetheless, 25 hours. It had very little to do with my teaching abilities, it was more like show me and let me do it. So, it can be accomplished if you have someone willing to learn and listen. On the other side of the coin, I had many who made sure they used every single one of the 80 hours allowed.
Mke
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