According to people in this career, the main tasks are...
| Task | Importance |
|---|---|
| Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits. | 92% |
| Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications. | 85% |
| Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments. | 83% |
| Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions. | 83% |
| Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors. | 82% |
| 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. | 81% |
| Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals. | 81% |
| Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required. | 81% |
| Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques. | 81% |
| Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter. | 81% |
| Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises. | 81% |
| Melt and apply solder to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products, using soldering equipment. | 80% |
| Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained. | 80% |
| Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools. | 79% |
| Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment. | 79% |
| Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material. | 78% |
| Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools. | 77% |
| Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits. | 77% |
| Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys. | 75% |
| Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment. | 75% |
| Guide and direct flames or electrodes on or across workpieces to straighten, bend, melt, or build up metal. | 74% |
| Use fire suppression methods in industrial emergencies. | 74% |
| Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information. | 73% |
| Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools. | 71% |
| Preheat workpieces prior to welding or bending, using torches or heating furnaces. | 70% |
| Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths. | 69% |
| Set up and use ladders and scaffolding as necessary to complete work. | 69% |
| Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces. | 67% |
| Operate metal shaping, straightening, and bending machines, such as brakes and shears. | 65% |
