Kemppi Welding System Helps In Uk Skills Welder Squad Selection

Squad UK covering all skills is being formally announced on 17th November 2011 at the AoC Conference in Birmingham.

The four Apprentice Welders Danny Broadbent from Alstom, Rugby, Jake Rambaldini from Doosan Babcock, Tipton, Thomas Rennie from BIFAB, Glenrothes and Russell Phipps from BAE Systems, Govan were able to put all their welding abilities and skills to test welding a number of test pieces including a carbon steel pressure vessel and a stainless steel fabrication using the very latest Kemppi MasterTig MLS AC/DC and FastMIG Synergic MIG/MAG welding systems.

The Three-phase MasterTig MLS™ 3000 ACDC welding systems for TIG and MMA welding featured MicroTack™ welding, which resembles spot welding in that it uses a high current pulse to create a low heat input to weld thin sheet materials and thin sheet to thicker sheet materials without deformation.

The three-phase FastMig™ Synergic MIG/MAG welding systems comprised an energy saving KMS 400 power source with an MXF 65 wire feed unit and SF53W control panel producing a 0-25m/min wire feed speed for solid and cored wires, allowing the apprentices to weld from the root to the top.

David Cleghorn, UK Skills Training Manager said: “UK Skills is a very prestigious competition therefore the selection and judging process is very strict and precise with each apprentice required to weld projects in aluminium, stainless steel and carbon steel pieces to ascertain his welding skills using MMA. MAG, TIG and flux cored wire welding. We are very grateful to Kemppi for loaning their very latest TIG, MMA and MIG/MAG systems. I know that some of the apprentices already use Kemppi equipment in their training facilities, so before the selection process took place they were all allowed to practice using the new equipment and from the feed back I have received they are all more than happy with the equipment. The Kemppi equipment is renowned for its technology and reliability, which I believed enabled a little pressure to be taken off each apprentice. The competition was so close that all FOUR competitors will go to the next selection event. Danny Broadbent from Alstom will represent the UK at Euroskills”

Mike Pixley, Managing Director at Kemppi UK Ltd said: “We were happy to loan the equipment for this UK Skills selection process to help the UK welders of the future. For the first time, the UK is entering a UK welder in EuroSkills 2010, which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal from 5-9 December 2010, where welders from throughout Europe will be competing against each other, using Kemppi welding equipment.”