PROGRAM SUMMARY

The primary goal of the Metal Fabrication shop is to provide the education necessary for students to become entry-level workers in the metal fabrication, welding, and sheet metal fields. Qualification and certification standards are based on A WS (American Welding Society) guidelines. The Northeast Metal Fabrication program is registered with the A WS as an Educational Institution Member and participates in the S.E.N.S.E Schools (Excelling through National Skill standards Education) program. This national standard provides guidelines for minimal learning objectives, performance conditions, evaluation. and learning objectives necessary to accomplish welder training.

Students will learn a variety of welding and cutting processes including:

• Shielded Metal Arc
• Gas Tungsten Arc
• Flux Cored Arc
• Standard and Dual shield
• Gas Metal Arc
• Gas Welding

Cutting processes that are taught include: Carbon Arc; Plasma Arc; Flame cutting. As part of the program, students will learn to use state-of-the-art power equipment: shears; bending brakes; rollers; saws; a variety of bench and hand tools. Students will be taught to use these tools to cut, bend, and shape materials such as steel, stainless steel and aluminum. Applications of shop machinery are project based.

Shop-related classroom activities include, but are not limited to: safe practices; shop math; basic electricity; blueprint reading; weld-symbol identification; weld theory; as well as writing and communication skills. Additionally, students are given 10 hours of OSHA training and receive an OSHA safety certificate. The shop and related curricula are correlated and exceed A WS recommendations. Students who complete the training program pass 7 workmanship qualification tests using a variety of welding and cutting processes, pass 2 welder certification tests, and achieve a minimum score of 70 on the written examination, will be issued a national certificate from the AWS.