A day at Penta Career Center
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 11:11 pm
I had the opportunity to visit the Juniors and Seniors at Penta Career Center in Toledo, Ohio this past Friday. I have been talking with John Sliwinski (WTFH here) the Welding Instructor there for the past few months about welding in general and he mentioned how the students like to have visitors and was invited to come up and weld with them and tell them a little about what I do. I will say now, I think it was more of a benefit to me than them. I learned so much in the little time I was there with them.
The day started with the Juniors who were mostly welding SMAW, 7018 1F welds. What impressed me was the willingness to learn from all the students. All of them wanted to improve their skills and were willing to listen to advise from someone they had never met. John had them weaving a single pass instead of a stringer and then a weave like I would have done. At first I thought this odd but as I listened to his reasoning and saw the results it all clicked. The next step the students would be doint is a 3F and/or 3G where they will need the weaving technique. So in doing a single weave showed them the results of inproper rod angle, not holding the sides long enough and long-arcing, specifically related to undercut on the top leg. It seemed most of the students had the undercut problem but what was impressive was the improvement by the end of the class. They all were able to self diagnose their problems be it long arc or to much amperage. The most difficult task for me was keeping up with the 20 some students and remembering what the last weld looked like so I could tell if there was improvement. One Junior was newer to GTAW and brought in a aluminum shovel to repair. I watched him weld up the small crack like he had years of experience under his belt. No advise needed from me for sure. One student was working on GMAW-S in the 3F position and was quite good. He was welding a little cold for my taste and I suggested he raise his volts to 19.5 and wire around 220-250 on the other side of the fillet and cut and etch them to see his results. I believe a cut and etch is a great learning tool for all of us and believe he was quite impressed with the results. The lower amperage had shallow penetration and the higher had acceptible side pen but LAF in the root. When I asked him why that was he answered like he had done this for years.
After a excellent lunch prepaired by the culinary class consisting of sea food it was on to the Seniors. Again, the Senior class was just as eager to learn. They were welding GTAW, GMAW and SMAW and that alone kept me on my toes. They began with a few doing SMAW while I worked with a couple students with GMAW-P with a Lincoln C300 and Miller Pipeworx, neither of which I have ran before. We started with the Lincoln running .035 and 75/25 gas. After getting it dialed in a little I explained how it will run better with 90/10 so we switched out bottles and they noticed the improvement in the arc right away. I also showed them a little on 3G pulse basics on the Miller. I didn't care for the Miller as of now anyway. It was harder to dial in, which I never got right, but I am sure with more time it would be a great machine. Impressive to me was the fact that the two students I was working with directly were able to weave up the plate rather well. I believe with a little more helmet time they will have no problems passing this test. I also spent a few mins with the two Skills USA regional champions who were quite impressive with their skills. I wish them the best of luck as the move on!
I can go on and ramble but one of the things that I took away from this experience is how much work a Welding Instructor actually puts in during a day. It is one thing to answer questions here on the forum either from a question in text form or a few pics asking how improve. We can take our time thinking about our response and respond when we are ready. With 20 kids showing you their welds wanting help it really puts you on your toes. Now add a mix of welding process and not being able to see everyone of them actually lay the bead down and it becomes a challenge, which I liked actually.
I hope to be able to have this opportunity again in the future. I want to thank John and all the Penta Career Center staff for allowing me to look over the welders shoulders. The future is bright with these students!!
-Jonathan
http://www.pentacareercenter.org
The day started with the Juniors who were mostly welding SMAW, 7018 1F welds. What impressed me was the willingness to learn from all the students. All of them wanted to improve their skills and were willing to listen to advise from someone they had never met. John had them weaving a single pass instead of a stringer and then a weave like I would have done. At first I thought this odd but as I listened to his reasoning and saw the results it all clicked. The next step the students would be doint is a 3F and/or 3G where they will need the weaving technique. So in doing a single weave showed them the results of inproper rod angle, not holding the sides long enough and long-arcing, specifically related to undercut on the top leg. It seemed most of the students had the undercut problem but what was impressive was the improvement by the end of the class. They all were able to self diagnose their problems be it long arc or to much amperage. The most difficult task for me was keeping up with the 20 some students and remembering what the last weld looked like so I could tell if there was improvement. One Junior was newer to GTAW and brought in a aluminum shovel to repair. I watched him weld up the small crack like he had years of experience under his belt. No advise needed from me for sure. One student was working on GMAW-S in the 3F position and was quite good. He was welding a little cold for my taste and I suggested he raise his volts to 19.5 and wire around 220-250 on the other side of the fillet and cut and etch them to see his results. I believe a cut and etch is a great learning tool for all of us and believe he was quite impressed with the results. The lower amperage had shallow penetration and the higher had acceptible side pen but LAF in the root. When I asked him why that was he answered like he had done this for years.
After a excellent lunch prepaired by the culinary class consisting of sea food it was on to the Seniors. Again, the Senior class was just as eager to learn. They were welding GTAW, GMAW and SMAW and that alone kept me on my toes. They began with a few doing SMAW while I worked with a couple students with GMAW-P with a Lincoln C300 and Miller Pipeworx, neither of which I have ran before. We started with the Lincoln running .035 and 75/25 gas. After getting it dialed in a little I explained how it will run better with 90/10 so we switched out bottles and they noticed the improvement in the arc right away. I also showed them a little on 3G pulse basics on the Miller. I didn't care for the Miller as of now anyway. It was harder to dial in, which I never got right, but I am sure with more time it would be a great machine. Impressive to me was the fact that the two students I was working with directly were able to weave up the plate rather well. I believe with a little more helmet time they will have no problems passing this test. I also spent a few mins with the two Skills USA regional champions who were quite impressive with their skills. I wish them the best of luck as the move on!
I can go on and ramble but one of the things that I took away from this experience is how much work a Welding Instructor actually puts in during a day. It is one thing to answer questions here on the forum either from a question in text form or a few pics asking how improve. We can take our time thinking about our response and respond when we are ready. With 20 kids showing you their welds wanting help it really puts you on your toes. Now add a mix of welding process and not being able to see everyone of them actually lay the bead down and it becomes a challenge, which I liked actually.
I hope to be able to have this opportunity again in the future. I want to thank John and all the Penta Career Center staff for allowing me to look over the welders shoulders. The future is bright with these students!!
-Jonathan
http://www.pentacareercenter.org
