for the Frankton, Indiana, Heritage Days, fund-raising to buy Christmas presents for needy children, and building tables for the Ivy Tech Engineering Department. It has also raised enough to present $1000 to the AWS Indiana Section scholarship fund. Welding Wars Groups battled it out during the first Welding Wars Competition (Fig. 17) held at FABTECH Nov. 19 and 20. First place went to Jeff Anderson, Garrett Harris, and Austin Raetz with Kankakee Community College, Kankakee, Ill — Fig. 18. They prepared for this competition before coming to the show and were excited to win. “It was tough,” Anderson said. “It looks easy but was hard,” Harris added. Second place was awarded to Anthony Godinez, Ryan Crandal, and Brad Williamson with Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Mich. Third place was earned by Jeffrey Kubic, Matthew Zohfeld, and Robert Stephens with Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, Ill. Prizes included welder backpacks with supplies from BSX; gas metal arc, gas tungsten arc/shielded metal arc, and plasma cutting machines from Lincoln Electric; and three-in-one gas metal arc, shielded metal arc, and gas tungsten arc machines from Tweco. Given a 2-h time limit in which to work, the three-member teams were given a project drawing to interpret and materials for creating it. Gas metal arc and gas tungsten arc welding with plasma arc cutting were used. Among the additional sponsors were NI Steel for donating steel and Bessey Tools for providing clamps. A panel of AWS Certified Welding Inspectors evaluated all weldments to the requirements of the current AWS D1.1, Structural Welding Code — Steel, based on project accuracy to print specifications, weld size and overall weldment appearance, craftsmanship, professionalism, and safety. Professional Welders Contest A record number of welders, 206 to be exact, put their skills to the test to see who would earn the bragging rights as America’s best welder by winning the Professional Welders Contest at FABTECH. The two-day event attracted contestants from all over the United States including California from one end of the country and Massachusetts from the other. The competitors were required to weld a ¼-in. square tube at a 60-deg skew onto a ¼-in. plate all around with 1⁄8-in. 7018 electrode — Fig. 19. A time limit of five minutes was given, which included cleaning the weld. All the welds were examined by AWS Certified Welding Inspectors according to D1.1 criteria. To eliminate any question in determining the winners, in addition to the visual inspection, the weld profiles of the finalists were examined with Wiki-Scan, a laser scanning inspection system (Fig. 20) that accurately measures the weld bead within the set limits. The winner of the $2500 first-place 50 JANUARY 2014 Fig. 17 — Students from Moraine Valley Community College display teamwork while competing at the Welding Wars event. Fig. 18 — The Welding Wars winners present at the awards gala were (from left) Matthew Zohfeld, Jeffrey Kubic, and Robert Stephens (third place, Moraine Valley Community College); Anthony Godinez (second place, Ferris State University); and Jeff Anderson, Austin Raetz, and Garrett Harris (first place, Kankakee Community College).
Welding Journal | January 2014
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