COLLEGE APPRECIATES QUALITY AND VERSATILITY OF TIG WELDING MACHINES

Process: TIG
Product : Transtig AC/DC 203i

To keep abreast of the ever-changing technology in industry and to offer students the latest state-of-the-art facilities, Chesterfield College has purchased five Murex AC/DC 203i TIG welding machines for use on its welding/fabricating courses and specialist welding courses.

Around 100 students use the five machines every week, ranging from school leavers to retired people wishing to learn welding skills. Fabrications and test pieces are manufactured at the facility mainly in low carbon steel or stainless steel. Dissimilar metals are welded as well.

Because the Murex 203i machine can be used for both MMA and TIG welding, the College can use the one machine to supply the wide range of settings necessary to accommodate all of the welding and fabricating courses provided. Having microprocessor control means that the unit may be programmed to suit the needs of specialised short course work when required, thanks to welding frequencies being variable and the incorporation of a pulse facility.

Working to City & Guilds and NVQ programmes, students at the College are required to produce various test pieces to demonstrate their welding proficiency in the flat, vertical, and overhead positions, including the manufacture of square boxes, cones and transformer pieces for joining square to round sections. Full-time first-year students who attain NVQ level 2 are assisted by the college to gain employment and then return to the college on a day-release basis to complete NVQ level 3 or follow a City & Guilds programme.

Senior Fabrication and Welding Technician at Chesterfield College, Stuart Stevenson, speaking about the advantages gained by having the five new machines said: "The new Murex machines are a lot more versatile and give us many advantages. We can do MMA and tungsten arc with the same machine, which we couldn't do before. We can also programme the machines to suit any special short courses that we need to run. Having stepless adjustment of the welding current gives us a lot more control over the settings than we ever had."

Chesterfield College had no hesitation in selecting the Murex 203i welding sets, as Mr Stevenson explains: "Having had old Murex machines for many years, we knew how dependable the brand was. When we looked around at the competition, we realised that the 203i machines had more facilities than comparable machines from other manufacturers for a similar price."