Welders, Cutters, and Welder Fitters

Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.

Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.

Lay out, position, align, and secure parts and assemblies prior to assembly, using straightedges, combination squares, calipers, and rulers.

Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.

Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.

Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys.

Clamp, hold, tack-weld, heat-bend, grind or bolt component parts to obtain required configurations and positions for welding.

Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.

Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits.

Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.

Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.

Operate manual or semi-automatic welding equipment to fuse metal segments, using processes such as gas tungsten arc, gas metal arc, flux-cored arc, plasma arc, shielded metal arc, resistance welding, and submerged arc welding.

Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material.

Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.

Analyze engineering drawings, blueprints, specifications, sketches, work orders, and material safety data sheets to plan layout, assembly, and welding operations.

Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.

Remove rough spots from workpieces, using portable grinders, hand files, or scrapers.

Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter.

Signal crane operators to move large workpieces.

Preheat workpieces prior to welding or bending, using torches or heating furnaces.

Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information.

Guide and direct flames or electrodes on or across workpieces to straighten, bend, melt, or build up metal.

Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.

Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.

Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.

Use fire suppression methods in industrial emergencies.

Cut, contour, and bevel metal plates and structural shapes to dimensions as specified by blueprints, layouts, work orders, and templates, using powered saws, hand shears, or chipping knives.

Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.

Fill holes, and increase the size of metal parts.

Estimate materials needed for production and manufacturing and maintain required stocks of materials.

Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.

Operate metal shaping, straightening, and bending machines, such as brakes and shears.

Join parts such as beams and steel reinforcing rods in buildings, bridges, and highways, bolting and riveting as necessary.

Gouge metals, using the air-arc gouging process.

Set up and use ladders and scaffolding as necessary to complete work.

Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces.

Dismantle metal assemblies or cut scrap metal, using thermal-cutting equipment, such as flame-cutting torches or plasma-arc equipment.

Mix and apply protective coatings to products.

Operate brazing and soldering equipment.

Melt lead bars, wire, or scrap to add lead to joints or to extrude melted scrap into reusable form.