any good 4 yr welding programs?

[snickerd3]

Asking for a counterpart.  His son (senior HS)really wants to be a welder, but the parents are still hoping for a 4 yr degree first.  Anyone know of any good programs to make them both happy.  They are currently looking at Pittsburg State Univ in Kansas, they have a heavy machine program.  

 

[Ble_PE]

@Supe you have any input?

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Supe could answer better. But welding engineer comes to mind. Maybe he could go into that?

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Ohio State has a good welding program ( I heard)

 

[Supe]

Pennsylvania College of Technology.  Associates and 4 year (BS) degrees available through their Welding Engineering and Fabrication Technology program.  A LOT of hands on welding/lab time in addition to the typical first/second year engineering curriculum.  Lab time covers all the basic processes, plus robotic welding, CAD/CAM classes, design projects, etc.  Not ABET accredited, but very heavily recruited across manufacturing and power/construction industries.  I graduated from there after transferring from Ohio State and am glad I did.  The program is developing quite a wait list, but they were just given another multi-million dollar grant from the state for expansion.

The others are Ohio State (ABET accredited, very little hands on), Ferris State (ABET accredited, slightly more hands on than Ohio State, but very manufacturing/automation oriented), Letourneau (sort of balled into their materials program, very little hands on), and maybe a very small handful of others that work it in as sort of a partial curriculum in a materials or industrial program. 

I really can't recommend it enough.  It has a small school feel, is very affordable, has some of the most top notch facilities I've ever seen (and the welding lab has been renovated twice since I've graduated.  They also have a state of the art machining facility with the latest HAAS equipment, and a well renowned plastics lab), gets you a four year degree, and has a ridiculously high placement rate (I think over 99%).  I've worked with at least half a dozen PCT grads since I've been in the nuclear side of things, and the salaries are definitely at the high end of the spectrum.  I'd encourage them to check it out in person - I scoffed at it until I walked in and laid eyes on the shop, then I was sold.

If they have a hard time getting feedback from the school or admissions dept., let me know and I can provide the contact info of some of the WE faculty who will respond and give honest feedback.  I still keep in touch with several of them, and some of my classmates are part of the next wave of instructors there.

 

[SNAPE/SMOTT PE]

Question for you welding engineers. I’ve been informed (since they let our QA guy go...who reviewed these) that we mechanicals (the three of us left) will be expected to start reviewing WPS/PQR docs before sending to client for review. And to start looking into learning how to/what to review.

Any guides or resources out there for learning this? Thought I’d ask here before trying to reach out to one of our offices (who will only question why, since they have staff who do this).

 

[kevo_55]

Writing or reviewing WPS & PQR's all come from the AWS standard that you are using.

SEAOC has a really good guide on WPS review but you need to be a member to have it.

@Supe will have a ton more info though.

 

[Supe]

Question for you welding engineers. I’ve been informed (since they let our QA guy go...who reviewed these) that we mechanicals (the three of us left) will be expected to start reviewing WPS/PQR docs before sending to client for review. And to start looking into learning how to/what to review.

Any guides or resources out there for learning this? Thought I’d ask here before trying to reach out to one of our offices (who will only question why, since they have staff who do this).

To make a long story short, there may be some guides out there, but I have spent the last 8 years of my life writing, reviewing, and giving presentations to committee members on what a colossal POS the AWS qualification rules are.  I have not personally come across a review guide for AWS worth using, because 90% of the committee members can't even agree on what the words mean.

However, if I recall, SNAPE is O&G?  If so, most of what you'll be reviewing is probably written to ASME Section IX or API standards (structural would still be AWS).  I can't give any advice for API since I rarely use it, but CASTI has a companion guide to ASME Section IX.  I think its out of print, but is the most worthwhile of all the books if you can find it.  Section IX has followed the same format for a loooong time, so even an "outdated" companion book can still be really helpful when just starting out.  Just be cognizant of the fact that a lot of the augmented testing by the O&G/offshore industry is not covered in Section IX, and is usually steered directly to reference standards by a project spec (e.g. CTOD testing).

 

[Supe]

There are also quite a few Section IX seminars that are given all over the place.  If your company wants to foot the bill (about $3k for three days), ASME does one in Houston pretty frequently.  Walt Sperko is usually the course leader, so its a decent intro.  Section IX is, thankfully, WAY more logically written/organized.  Where it gets a bit trickier the first time around is some of the notes that provide exceptions that are frequently taken advantage of - e.g. you can put 3/4" of deposit with two welding processes in a single 1.5" plate and take credit for both.  But, the exceptions become the norm due to cost savings, so you get used to what to look for in short order. 

 

[Supe]

Even if its a low alloy steel where they're concerned about how the composition affects service life, that's a bit... strange.  Especially if he's just looking for an XRF type PMI scan - those guns are usually a lot better about telling you what something isn't than what it is.  They do a pretty poor job of differentiating between different grades of similar composition.