Welding and Fabrication Technician

In the first year of your welding diploma, you’ll get hands-on training in shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and flux-cored arc welding (FCAW). In second year, you’ll learn advanced techniques including flat, horizontal, vertical and overhead welding. This diploma prepares you for structural and pipe/pressure vessel applications.

Experience hours of hands-on learning in labs that mirror the professional welding workplace. You’ll learn from the most highly certified welding faculty of any college in the Greater Toronto Area. Sheridan instructors bring decades of industry experience into their teaching. Small class sizes mean you’ll get one-on-one mentorship with these instructors to help you succeed in class and at work.

When you graduate, you’ll have the skills and knowledge necessary to begin an apprenticeship. You’ll be able to apprentice as a welder, boilermaker, pipefitter, steamfitter, millwright or sheet-metal mechanic. Sheridan’s welding program has such a strong reputation that employers may decide you’ve fulfilled the requirements of a first-year apprentice and allow you to begin as a second-year apprentice instead.

What You’ll Learn

• Use safe practices in the welding environment related to personal conduct, use of tools and equipment and exposure to hazardous materials and conditions in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations for industrial establishments.
• Utilize blueprints and shop drawings to achieve specified weldment configurations.
• Apply trade-related math skills to welding and fabrication including geometry, algebra, trigonometry, area, volume and ratio as well as calculations involving weights, loads and lifts.
• Use the main thermal cutting, beveling, piercing and gouging processes common to the welding/fabrication environment to complete practical projects.
• Perform hands-on, all position surface fillet and groove welds with backing using oxy-fuel (OFW), shielded metal arc (SMAW), gas metal arc (GMAW), flux core arc (FCAW) and gas tungsten (GTAW) welding processes and appropriate consumables and common materials of structural shapes and composition.
• Perform open root welding on plate and pipe in all positions using SMAW and GTAW processes.
• Correct weld discontinuities and fit errors, applying knowledge of metals, their properties and the impact of various processes on them.
• Solve problems related to materials, tools, equipment and processes used in the welding/fabrication environment to acceptable industry standards.
• Adhere to codes, standards and specifications relevant to each specific fabrication activity.
• Apply appropriate distortion control and correction techniques to expansion and contraction forces when required in a given welding process.
• Use the appropriate lifting, hoisting and rigging devices safely in welding and fabrication and according to weight calculations and configurations.
• Prepare accurate estimates of time and costs using Word and Excel for a given welding/fabrication project.
• Apply welding and fabrication industry knowledge and skills to meet expectations of Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) practical testing.
• Perform preventative maintenance related to welding materials, tools and equipment.
• Fabricate an item from initial sketches to completion and inspection according to given standards and tolerances.