2005 PROFESSIONAL WELDERS COMPETITION

This year’s competition took place November 14-16, 2005, during the FABTECH International & AWS Welding Show in Chicago, Illinois.  Welders from all across the U.S.A participated in this year’s competition.

Who Won? - $2,500 was awarded to Scott Braun of Two Rivers, WI who was the competitions grand prize winner, $1,000 second prize went to Troy Jaeger also from Two Rivers, WI, and $500 third prize was awarded to Anh H. Nguyen of Louisville, KY.  Each of the top 12 competitors won an AWS duffel bag and all participants received a competition T-shirt.

Top 12 Competitors

1.   Scott Braun, Two Rivers, WI
2.   Troy Jaeger, Two Rivers, WI
3.   Anh H. Nguyen, Louisville, KY
4.   Jared Spalding, Bardstown, KY
5.   Jay Blom, Oskaloosa, IA
6.   Dave Lynnes, West Fargo, ND

7.   Jack A. Bailey, Gillette, WY
8.   Jason Nichols, Walcoft, IA
9.   Tony Pipkin, Muscatine, IA
10.  Jamie Clifton, Oswego, IL
11.  Miles Tilley, Monroe, MI
12.  Troy Kock, Letts, IA

The Welding Procedure - This timed competition involved welding one side of the web and flanges of a 1/4-inch-thick W8X13 I-beam to a 1/4-inch-thick vertical plate, simulating a beam-to-column weld.  Before welding, the competitor set their own voltage and wire-feed speed. They had five minutes to create a single-pass multi-position 5/16-inch fillet weld using gas-shielded flux cored arc welding (FCAW-G) with 0.045-inch wire and a 75Ar-25CO₂mixture on low-carbon steel.

The Judges - A team of AWS Certified Welding Inspectors judged the competition using the criteria for size and appearance of the fillet weld as stated in AWS D1.1/D1.1M:2004, Structural Welding Code—Steel. The judges’ results were then verified using automated inspection equipment.