Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter Fabricate, position, align, and fit parts of structural metal products.
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter is Also Know as
In different settings, Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter is titled as
- Fabricator
- Fitter
- Layout Man
- Mill Beam Fitter
- Ship Fitter
- Structural Steel Fitter
- Tack Welder
- Weld Technician
Education and Training of Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
- Bachelor in Machine Shop Technology/Assistant
- Associate Degree Courses in Machine Shop Technology/Assistant
- Masters Degree Courses in Machine Shop Technology/Assistant
- Bachelor in Metal Fabricator
- Associate Degree Courses in Metal Fabricator
- Masters Degree Courses in Metal Fabricator
Training Required for Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter in different industries are
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Sheet Metal Workers
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
- Millwrights
- Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers
- Boilermakers
- Carpenters
- Engine and Other Machine Assemblers
- Tool and Die Makers
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
- Model Makers, Metal and Plastic
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
- Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assemblers
- Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics
What Do Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter do?
- Position, align, fit, and weld parts to form complete units or subunits, following blueprints and layout specifications, and using jigs, welding torches, and hand tools.
- Verify conformance of workpieces to specifications, using squares, rulers, and measuring tapes.
- Tack-weld fitted parts together.
- Lay out and examine metal stock or workpieces to be processed to ensure that specifications are met.
- Align and fit parts according to specifications, using jacks, turnbuckles, wedges, drift pins, pry bars, and hammers.
- Locate and mark workpiece bending and cutting lines, allowing for stock thickness, machine and welding shrinkage, and other component specifications.
- Position or tighten braces, jacks, clamps, ropes, or bolt straps, or bolt parts in position for welding or riveting.
- Study engineering drawings and blueprints to determine materials requirements and task sequences.
- Move parts into position, manually or with hoists or cranes.
- Set up and operate fabricating machines, such as brakes, rolls, shears, flame cutters, grinders, and drill presses, to bend, cut, form, punch, drill, or otherwise form and assemble metal components.
- Hammer, chip, and grind workpieces to cut, bend, and straighten metal.
- Smooth workpiece edges and fix taps, tubes, and valves.
- Design and construct templates and fixtures, using hand tools.
- Straighten warped or bent parts, using sledges, hand torches, straightening presses, or bulldozers.
- Mark reference points onto floors or face blocks and transpose them to workpieces, using measuring devices, squares, chalk, and soapstone.
- Set up face blocks, jigs, and fixtures.
- Remove high spots and cut bevels, using hand files, portable grinders, and cutting torches.
- Direct welders to build up low spots or short pieces with weld.
- Lift or move materials and finished products, using large cranes.
- Heat-treat parts, using acetylene torches.
- Preheat workpieces to make them malleable, using hand torches or furnaces.
- Install boilers, containers, and other structures.
- Erect ladders and scaffolding to fit together large assemblies.
Qualities of Good Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Tools Used by Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
- Adjustable wrenches
- Belt sanders
- Bench vises
- Beverly shears
- Brakes
- Center punches
- Chipping tools
- Circular saws
- Claw hammers
- Computerized numerical control CNC metal-cutting machines
- Computerized numerical control CNC press brakes
- Cutoff saws
- Desktop computers
- Dial indicators
- Dividers
- Drift pins
- Drill presses
- Edge planers
- End milling machines
- Flame cutters
- Forklifts
- Hand clamps
- Hand shears
- Hand torch welders
- Hand torches
- Heating furnaces
- Jacks
- Ladders
- Lathes
- Layout squares
- Locking pliers
- Magnetic drill presses
- Measuring tapes
- Metal cutting taps
- Metal inert gas MIG welders
- Micrometers
- Milling machines
- Overhead cranes
- Paint spray guns
- Personal computers
- Plasma cutters
- Positioning jigs
- Power chippers
- Power grinders
- Power hacksaws
- Power hoists
- Precision files
- Protractors
- Pry bars
- Punches
- Radial arm saws
- Radial drills
- Reamers
- Rivet guns
- Roll benders
- Scaffolding
- Scribers
- Sine bars
- Sledgehammers
- Steel rules
- Straight screwdrivers
- Straightening presses
- Surface gauges
- Tack welding equipment
- Tracked bulldozers
- Transit levels
- Tungsten inert gas TIG welding equipment
- Turnbuckles
- Unishears
- Vernier height gauges
- Wedges
- Welding torches
Technology Skills required for Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitter
- Computer aided design and drafting CADD software
- Dassault Systemes CATIA
- Enterprise resource planning ERP software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft Word
- Spreadsheet software
- Tekla software
- Three-dimensional modeling software