welding course for engineers?

[mTreadwell]

I'm a mechanical engineer a couple of years out of school. I design and specify weldments from time to time as part of my work, but my only training with welds so far comes from on-the-job learning. Sidebar - why don't they cover the practical stuff in school? I feel like a welding course and a machining course would have made me about 10000% more useful when I started. My school had some options for this but there were limited seats and I couldn't fit them into my schedule.

Anyway, one of our senior engineers has mentioned a "welding for engineers" course he's been meaning to take, but I can't find any such thing offered by AWS or the local welding schools.

I've considered taking a basic introductory welding course but really I'm more interested in something a little bit higher-level - besides reviewing things like symbols and conventions, maybe some detail about compatibility of metals, basic weld technology, conventions and best practices for designing / specifying welds, AWS vs ISO/DIN... I know that's all over the place, I'm just trying to come up with topics that might be useful in such a course.

I found links to

http://www.welding.org/technical/courselist.html

in previous discussions here; the non-welder course sounds like the right kind of thing but maybe a little lacking in technical depth. Can anyone suggest other courses or resources (welding for dummies?) that might be useful? Bonus points for something that's offered in the Baltimore area...

Cheers,
-Mark

 

[Mr168]

Unfortunately, all-encompassing courses that are of any sort of practical value are hard to come by, which is why I chose to major in it at college.

The first book I'd recommend as one of the best, to-the-point resources you can have is "Metals and How to Weld Them." Its one of the Lincoln books, so it's very cheap, and covers topics such as mechanical properties, methods of welding, fundamentals of metallurgy, welding various steels, aluminums, alloys, and exotics, heat treating, as well as common welding problems and what makes a "good" weld.

 

[dbooker630]

If you have an adult education or vocational school in your area, try contacting them to see what they offer. We have partnered with the vocational school in my area (Central Ohio) for many training activities, including a course that our production welders go through that involves several days of classroom in addition to learning how to lay a bead.

 

[evelrod]

Mark, you don't need to take a course to get all the "book lernin". You can do that on your own. Most outside construction unions have welding courses for their apprentices and, by law, must offer the course to non union applicants. Just about any welding school, technical school can teach you the mechanics, you need not go for a full certification...it's handy, but not at all necessary for you to understand the ins and outs of design/fabrication.
Also gives you something else you can "fall back on", eh?

Rod

 

[Bribyk]

I second the tech school route. I know one in my area that holds welding and machining courses for about $500 a piece. Your employer may (should) pay for it as PD. Or for about $1000 you can get a MIG (GMAW) and stick everything in your garage together.

 

[unclesyd]

This a very good course to get one started in understanding welding

http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/

http://www/AsmStore/ProductDetails/?vgnextoid=2f9c9cfb6e0f8110VgnVCM100000701e010aRCRD

Here is one that I found by searching "welding courses +state". State meaning your location. These type courses are very intense
at times, buckets full of information.
I was told about this particular one by a ex colleague who works for New York Transit,

http://www.aacc.edu/welding/file/WeldingCoursesF08Web.pdf

 

[HgTX]

How about this?

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/knowledge/training/seminars/SEMBWD.pdf

When I took it quite a few years ago there was a little tiny bit of hands-on at the very end (during the tour). The classroom portion covered a lot of what you ask about in your 3rd paragraph.

Hg

Eng-Tips policies: faq731-376

 

[gtaw]

Check the ASME web site for the course they offer called "Practical Welding Technology" PD359.

The link is:

http://catalog.asme.org/Education/ShortCourse/Practical_Welding_Technology.cfm

It might be what you are looking for.

Best regards - Al

 

[mTreadwell]

Thanks for the input everyone. HgTX, the Blodgett course looks especially good (especially at half the price of the ASME and ASM courses - I assume the difference pays for some combination of hands-on time and course materials). Now I just need to convince somebody else to pay for it...

 

[welder1234]

When I was look for a welding job I tried the guys at

http://www.bbloverseas.com

and they suggested a course for this, can't remember which one exactly but you can see their website and give them a call

 

[Mr168]

While it may also be more in-depth than you're looking for, Ohio State offers distance learning courses for its MSWE courses in a non-degree format, so no graduate school requirements need to be met to enroll.