Welder / Cutter / Solderer

Use hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand-soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Assembly Line Brazer; Brazer; Fabrication Welder; Maintenance Welder; MIG Welder (Metal Inert Gas Welder); Solderer; TIG Welder (Tungsten Inert Gas Welder); Welder; Welder Fitter; Wirer

Tasks

• Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
• Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
• Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
• Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
• 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.
• Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
• Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
• Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.
• Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter.
• Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises.
• Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.
• Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.
• Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment.
• Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material.
• Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.

Knowledge

• Production and Processing
• Mechanical

Skills

• Monitoring

Abilities

• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Near Vision
• Problem Sensitivity
• Finger Dexterity
• Manual Dexterity
• Control Precision
• Oral Comprehension
• Deductive Reasoning
• Selective Attention