I been working or in my case watching other aluminium welders carry out their jobs of work.
Having spent a couple of weeks in the welding school to pass two weld test pieces ( fillet and butt weld ). I was sent out into the factory to watch other welders go about their particular part of a bridge component.
WFEL builds a number of different military aluminium bridges. The oldest one which I’m familiar with as military combat engineer was the medium girder bridge the MGB. This bridge is built by sappers in the field by a section using their own physical strength to build the bridge were no mechanised equipment is required. I feel as an ex airborne combat engineer ( 9 Independent Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers) this is best military bridge available for combat troops, its simple to build with small team of motivated soldiers.
The next bride is a mechanised bridge the Dry support Bridge, DSB. This has a launching beam and is carried on Specialised military launch vehicle. If this vehicle is knocked out by artillery or a tank the bridge can’t be launched!
WFEL also have new range of bridges from its parent German company called the Gecko. This mounted on top of a armoured tank and launched from the mechanised vehicle. If the vehicles runs out of fuel or loses a track its inoperable and so is the bridge!
As a soldier and in life it’s about keeping things simple and soldier proof that’s why I feel the MGB is the best combat bridge in the field and if not the world.
In the Second World War they had the steel sectional Bailey bridge again simple launched physically by team of sapper combat engineers.
When I went out into the factory I realised very quickly there were issues over disparity in pay rates between welders. Evidently some welders were on a higher pay rate which caused consternation with equally experienced welders on working on other component parts. . Evidently the welders on higher pay were welding more highly stressed parts that required X-ray Non destructive examination for porosity or cracks.
I found the shadowing process as it was called very ad hoc and disjointed! Welders seem threaten to have another welder watching them and learning their particular job. Each particular welder has timed schedule on his specified allocated job.
However, welders are expected not only to weld but to fit parts in a fixture jig and pre clean each individual part that has to be welded. Aluminium has a tenacious surface oxide. Aluminium melts at about 650c and the surface oxide melts at 2000c.
The base metal has to be throughly wire brushed before welding. Welding of aluminium using GMAW (MIg) is carried out using special welding wire which is feed through a welding torch from a wire feeder and power source using an argon shielding gas to blanket the weld from oxygen in the atmosphere. Air contains 21 % oxygen.
As aluminium is such good conductor of heat the welding settings on the welding machine are critical. It’s a fast welding process and it takes some getting use to especially in tweaking the various welding controls and the actual manipulation of the weld pool and maintaining the correct welding gun angle to keep the weld clean of black soot!
After welding fettling and cleaning are required to reduce crater cracking and blend the weld to reduce stress cracking. These practical skills are new to non aluminium welders and the Fettling process using a mounted point or Miller attachment and various sanding discs is again critical. No parent metal defects are allowed. The fettling using a high speed rotating Mounted point takes some getting use to. It’s very easy for it to slip out of control and cut into the parent metal. I feel using the rotating mounted point on aluminium Is a skill in its own right!
I wasn’t happy with the way I was been shown and thought the new welders were expected to understand a very complicated jig weld sequence and cleaning process.
I complained to the Welding instructors basically I kicked up over a unprofessional way of introducing new welders into the production schedule. I felt it wasn’t carried out in a systematic and professional manner.
A number of new welders have left the company having been thrown into the deep end and their completed component welding and dressing having been rejected by visual non destructive testing inspection.
However having been a professional soldier, technical salesman and high integrity pressure welder, Scuba diver and lately an offshore sailor, I know instinctively how important training is to become proficient in your selected field of skill. I thought how unsatisfactory the WFEL shadowing process was and still is? Why? watching isn’t the same as doing? Welding and fettling is a practical skill!
At long last things I’ve started to see things slowly happen? I complained to my supervisor who admitted he wasn’t a welder and things slowly are being rectified. But I still feel even with a new welding technician who’s trying help address my concerns as well as the new chartered welding engineer. But I’m still not convinced over the companies way of integrating new welders into the work environment?
I feel the company hasn’t been pulling together as a unified team. Joining the company wasn’t a career move as my future plans are still in sailing.
I thought it would be nice to earn some extra money over the winter months and to learn a new welding skill in aluminium welding. What this has shown to me is good management is really important!
Management have to understand that skill training is equally important as part of the production process. If new welder makes a mistake on the job the part has to be rectified or even scraped which is time consuming and expensive! Management have to build up team and a company ethos in how things should be done from top down and bottom up.
Management must be available and be seen to be available and constantly be in contact with the work force. Management is about good communication not them and us approach and everyone on the company should be able to speak candidly about how things are going or not in the case of my experience!
Saying that I have knuckled down with the mind set of taking the opportunity to learn how to aluminium MIG weld and the use of the dressing tools. Maybe for some reason I will be involved in Aluminum welding but certainly not with WFEL? Possibly building a aluminium Sail boat? Who knows? My life has gone off in many completely different directions so far. I feel it’s as if the universe has some hidden roles for me?
So I shell go with the flow with my life never knowing where I’ll be one year from the next? But it will always be on or near the sea! Basically I want the rest of my life to be an adventure and a cascade of life experiences?
Hence my love of long distance sailing. The oceans challenge you because you’re dealing with such dynamic interactive environment. For me it’s the ultimate challenge and makes me excited about my next encounter with the sea.
Where will it take me I ask with anticipation? This is what makes my life so interesting. But I will say it’s not psychologically easy.? It’s having the guts to go out there and just say to hell with it I’m going for it what ever! But finally the most challenging aspect of life is my fellow humans! No question about that!