Crazy Welding Skills on Display at WorldSkills 2022 Special Edition

it starts with a simple bead on plate and that one bead that one simple bead can light your path and can change your life next thing you know you might be rolling up on a bus in front of Lincoln headquarters getting ready to compete on a world stage with welders from all over the world [Music] to host this competition here at Lincoln Electric for the first part of the first day I really wasn't allowed to be on the shop floor but rules are rules and they kind of relaxed them after the first day so I thought I would give you a little bird's eye view of their new training center from up above here and having been to the older Training Center I can tell you that this is a big Improvement lots more space lots more booths better lighting just a better facility phase one of this competition was test welds there were two open Root butt joints a couple of t-joints and a 6G four inch pipe TIG root stick fill all the joints get visually inspected and graded by a team of designated experts the butt weld plates and the pipe go to X-ray and the t-joints get a fillet weld brake test there's a restart that's required on the cap pass on some of these plates and if you didn't know that you'd hardly think there was a restart this is a 6G single pass 7018 cap pass these test welds get visually inspected and graded by a team of experts that get scored for minute things like bead width variation or just a tiny bit of undercut that might be acceptable with most coats but they inspect these tighter than most codes and then the x-ray images are viewed digitally on a monitor and again are reviewed by a group of experts so that they can all agree on any potential defects there were two Phillip weld t-joints required one was a 3F which was a hardwire Mig the t-joints were visually inspected also but then sent on to a Phillip weld brake test I don't know about you but when I was in welding school I wasn't producing anything like this these are multi-pass joints so the vertical uphill was a root pass and then a weave pass over top of that the other t-joint was a multi-pass dual Shield flux core both of them are subject to fill it well brake tests for this competition so all the t-joints were put on the bridge port and a Groove was scored down the middle of the well so that they would break like they're supposed to and then the route would be inspected to make sure they hit the root with complete penetration but then also since these were multi-pass welds they were inspected to make sure that there was complete Fusion in between passes you'll see that coming up here in just a second this is the 3F hardwire Mig this is a good one no problems here the guy hit the root no problems in between okay and you broke down the edge you see yeah that just broke down clearly fruit is okay but the second second okay one of the coolest things about attending an event like this or a Fabtech is the People You Meet it's creating new relationships meeting people from all over the world you come to realize that you know aside from politics aside from governments we're all just welders we're all just people trying to take it to the next level let's move on to phase two then that is the pressure vessel and this is one of the coolest parts of this competition they call it the pressure vessel because it's tested to a thousand PSI pressure this particular one was done by Ryan Fincher from Cedartown Georgia trained by none other than my friend Matt Hayden Cedartown High School Ryan placed fifth in the 2019 World skills this is a beauty right here remember this thing has to be welded in the position that you see it can't be flipped around where everything's in the flat position the competitors are supplied a drawing like this and each weld is specified what processes to be used the weld size things like that and if the competitor is accidentally making extra pass an extra bead on a weld that wasn't called for they can be disqualified So reading drawings is another part of this competition the parts need to be fit up as per the drawing the processes for each Weld and the weld size are stipulated and deviation from that is cause for a loss of points and for the most part the welders are permitted to use the machine the welding machine within each process to its fullest capability so that means a welder could choose to use short circuit Mig or pull spray Mig or straight current tag or pulse Tig and so what that does is it compels the welder the competitor to know the features of a machine inside and out and know how to get the most out of a machine to know what pulse background is what Peak pulse is to know polarities to no Arc Force to know a machine inside and out they practice similar pressure vessels before they come to this competition but they don't know exactly what the pressure vessel is going to be there can be last minute changes just to keep everybody on their toes there's a wide variety of joints there's butt joints there's outside corner joints pipe joints TIG Mig stick dual Shield flux core all done with a time limit all visually inspected and graded for bead width variation to really tight criteria and all tested to a thousand PSI when the pressure vessels start rolling out of the booths and stacked on a pallet right away as soon as they cool off they start being visually inspected the competitors have moved on to the next phase they're already prepping their next project which will be Aluminum and Stainless TIG projects but the team of experts will hover around these things with flashlights fill it weld gauges dial calipers to measure bead width variations and then they'll Pump It Up with a hydro test to a thousand PSI gradually and inspect for leaks a leak is a rather large Point deduction at this level that the competition is so close so tight that any leak could knock you out of the first five places whenever a vessel passed everybody cheered for everybody that's one thing I thought was really cool everybody knew the sense of relief that the competitor felt when his vessel past the leak check from competitor to expert to educator everybody puts so much effort into this that everyone is so so relieved and celebrates when that leak check is finally done foreign the last phase are the Aluminum and Stainless TIG projects and they have a combination of full penetration butt welds along with some outside corner joints and Phillip welds on round and flat these projects get visually inspected actually scrutinized and graded for bead width variation and things like that they must have adequate size fillet welds wherever those are called out these projects are definitely an exercise in heat management and time management especially on the stainless project where heat could build up on you that one they saved till last some of the competitors were extremely creative in how they positioned the piece to comply with the requirement of welding the piece while it was in position but also get the best access to it and just get the best job done I remember back in the day when I could be this close to a weld and still see it us welders have a sickness and that's we have to inspect every weld everywhere we go on handrails on tanker trucks you name it but a competition like this takes that to the next level these Wells are not just glanced at they're just scrutinized with dial calipers fill it well gauges but everybody wants to look at every weld and I guess that's because as welders we know what goes into producing a product like this lots of practice lots of training lots of paying attention to detail we can appreciate it that's why we want to look at them just going to have a moment of silence for this beauty on the stainless projects saw a great deal of walking the cup on some of these joints but also quite a bit of pulse being used if I didn't say it before the competitors were allowed to use the machine within each process to the fullest capability of the machine a lot of the stainless projects didn't get put out on the table until just a few minutes before the buzzer for the deadline so these are still pretty warm heat can build up real quick on a small stainless project like this so they they wait as long as they can they use up all the time until the buzzer goes sometimes to get this well done so that they maintain that color we're about ready for the closing ceremonies but gotta just take another quick peek at a couple of these beauties the announcements over winners for skill 10. for bronze [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] we actually had two gold Place winners [Applause] all right brother [Music] congratulations to all the competitors as well as the experts and the Educators for helping them out to get to this place this event was almost canceled so big shout out big thanks to Lincoln Electric for hosting the event and making it happen this was just a peek behind the curtain a glimpse of what World skills welding competition is all about everyone was bowed up during the competition but man they let their hair down afterwards it was a good time everybody was chilled and relaxed I'm just taking videos so you guys smile now yeah all right come on you guys you gotta smile I'm taking a video my friend Andrew Carden competed in 2015 and placed fifth since then he's remained very active in skillsusa and World skills and has been a great Ambassador for the trade good and there's Chandler Vincent fifth place in 2017 also remains active this is Roy Connolly gold medalist from 1999 and now Chief expert I'm so happy I made the trip to attend this event it was very inspirational and I hope I gave you a glimpse of what World skills welding competition is all about there you go yeah

Channel: weldingtipsandtricks

Views: 1,705,851

Keywords: worldskills 2022, worldskills welding, skills usa, skills usa welding, welding, welding competition, worldskills special edition, world skills welding, jordan packer, andrew cardin, jody collier, welding tips and tricks, weldmonger

Id: uec-wsCZcwM

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 15 2022