Welding IV (Plasma Cut Welding and Introduction to MIG) and Lab

Course Description

Welding IV (Plasma Cut Welding and Introduction to MIG) and Lab builds on students' welding and cutting skills, introducing them to specialty cuts and GMAW (MIG) welding. Students must pass the course with a C or better to continue in the programme.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, PMT is the Precision Metals prefix, and the 0000-level number marks this as PSAV clock-hour instruction. Daytona State publishes it at 90 clock hours with a $392.32 lab fee, offered fall, spring and summer, with PMT0106C as corequisite. ⚠ It carries no college credit.

Gas metal arc welding is the process most production welding actually uses, because it is fast, easy to learn to an acceptable standard, and readily automated. That accessibility is also its trap: MIG will lay down a bead that looks excellent and has no fusion to the base metal at all, which stick welding largely will not. Learning to set it correctly and to recognise cold lap is the substance of this course.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Apply welding and cutting safety practice throughout.
• Set up and operate plasma arc cutting equipment.
• Perform straight, bevel, and specialty cuts with plasma.
• Select and maintain plasma consumables and describe their wear.
• Compare plasma, oxyfuel, and mechanical cutting and select appropriately.
• Perform gouging and weld removal operations.
• Describe the gas metal arc welding process and its variants.
• Set up GMAW equipment, including wire, gas, and drive components.
• Select shielding gas appropriate to the material and transfer mode.
• Describe transfer modes and select parameters for each.
• Set voltage, wire feed speed, and stickout correctly.
• Recognise and correct symptoms of incorrect parameters.
• Run GMAW beads with correct gun angle and travel speed.
• Weld fillet and groove joints in multiple positions using GMAW.
• Weld sheet metal without burn-through.
• Describe and avoid lack of fusion and cold lap in GMAW.
• Troubleshoot wire feed problems and gas coverage problems.
• Perform maintenance on GMAW equipment and consumables.
• Read fabrication drawings and produce work to specification.
• Fit up and tack assemblies accurately.
• Control distortion during welding.
• Inspect welds visually and identify discontinuities.
• Clean, finish, and present completed work.
• Work productively and safely alongside others in a shop.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe flux-cored arc welding and its applications.
• Describe pulsed and advanced GMAW modes.
• Weld aluminium using GMAW and describe its particular difficulties.
• Describe robotic and automated welding.
• Describe weld cost estimation and productivity.
• Prepare for a GMAW qualification test.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Welding and cutting safety
• Plasma cutting setup and operation
• Straight, bevel, and specialty cuts
• Plasma consumables and wear
• Comparing cutting processes
• Gouging and weld removal
• The GMAW process and variants
• GMAW equipment setup
• Shielding gas selection
• Transfer modes
• Voltage, wire feed speed, and stickout
• Recognising incorrect parameters
• GMAW bead technique
• Multi-position GMAW
• Sheet metal welding
• Lack of fusion and cold lap
• Wire feed and gas troubleshooting
• Equipment maintenance
• Fabrication drawings
• Fit-up and tacking
• Distortion control
• Visual inspection
• Cleaning and finishing
• Shop working practice

Optional Topics

• Flux-cored arc welding
• Pulsed and advanced GMAW
• Aluminium GMAW
• Robotic and automated welding
• Weld cost and productivity
• GMAW qualification preparation

Resources & Tools

• The programme's shop, machines, and open lab hours — the reason to take this in person, and the single highest-return resource here. These are motor skills; hours on the machine are what build them.
• American Welding Society (aws.org) — codes, certification information, and student membership; the authority for anything in this guide about welder qualification.
• NIMS (nims-skills.org) — free credential standards and performance test specifications; read the standard before you sit the test.
• Machinery's Handbook — the machinist's reference, and worth owning even at its price; speeds, feeds, threads, tolerances, and materials.
• Welding Principles and Applications (Jeffus) — the standard welding text.
• Technology of Machine Tools (Krar) and Machine Shop Practice — the standard machining references.
• GD&T references based on ASME Y14.5 — geometric dimensioning and tolerancing is the language of engineering drawings and it is examinable.
• Manufacturer machine and control manuals — Haas, Fanuc, Mazak and others publish extensive free operator and programming documentation.
• Fusion 360 or Mastercam — Fusion 360 has free personal and educational licensing and is widely used for CAD/CAM; practise toolpaths outside lab hours.
• OSHA machine guarding and welding standards (osha.gov) — free, and directly relevant to the safety content of every course here.
• Your own measuring tools — a decent micrometer, calipers, and a dial indicator. Cheap measuring tools produce confident wrong numbers.
• A welding helmet you can actually see through — an auto-darkening helmet with a good lens is the best money a welding student spends.

Career Pathways

• Welder, cutter, solderer, or brazer — SOC 51-4121.
• Machinist — SOC 51-4041.
• Computer numerically controlled tool operator — SOC 51-9161; CNC tool programmer — SOC 51-9162, the better-paid of the two.
• Structural and construction welding — steel erection and fabrication.
• Pipe welding — process plants, utilities, and shutdown work; among the best-paid work in the trade, and 6G qualification is the gateway.
• Marine and shipyard welding and fabrication — a large Florida sector.
• Aerospace machining and welding — precision work to demanding standards, frequently with certification and clearance requirements.
• Job shop and contract machining — where most newly certified machinists start.
• Tool and die making, and mould making — a highly skilled speciality with long training and strong earnings.
• Quality inspection and metrology — CMM operation and first-article inspection; a route off the machines that uses the same knowledge.
• CNC programming and CAD/CAM — the natural progression from operating, and where the pay increases.
• Maintenance and millwright work in manufacturing, utilities, and theme parks — frequently salaried with benefits.
• Welding inspection — the AWS Certified Welding Inspector credential requires documented experience and is a well-paid career step off the tools.
• Mobile welding and self-employment — real in this trade, and a business as much as a craft.

Special Information

⚠⚠ MIG's danger is that a bad weld looks good

• Cold lap — lack of fusion — is the characteristic GMAW defect, and it produces a bead that is smooth, evenly rippled, and structurally worthless because the filler sat on the base metal without melting it.
• This is why MIG welds fail in service when the welder was confident and the weld looked better than a stick weld that would have held.
• Insufficient heat is the usual cause — voltage too low, wire feed too high, travel too fast, or the gun angle pushing filler ahead of the arc.
• Keep the arc on the leading edge of the puddle, not on the filler already deposited.
• Learn to set the machine by sound. A correctly set short-circuit transfer has a steady even crackle; hissing, popping, or stuttering all mean something specific and correctable.
• Break your practice coupons. This is the only way to learn what your good-looking welds are actually doing, and it is uncomfortable and necessary.
• Check gas coverage. Porosity usually means a draught, a blocked nozzle, a leaking hose, or too much stickout — and a fan or an open shop door will ruin a weld.
• Clean the base metal. MIG tolerates less contamination than stick, and mill scale, paint, rust and oil all cause defects.
• Maintain the consumables. A worn contact tip, a clogged liner, or worn drive rolls cause feed problems that look like technique problems.

⚠⚠ The roman numerals in these titles do not track the sequence — use the prerequisites

Daytona State's welding course titles are numbered I, II, IV, VI, VIII, but the enrolment requirements do not follow that order:

"Welding IV" is taken alongside "Introduction to Welding I", and both come before "Introduction to Welding II". Whatever the titles suggest, the prerequisite and corequisite chain is the authoritative statement of the sequence. Confirm your term-by-term plan with the programme rather than inferring it from the numerals.

⚠⚠ Welding hazards — the ones that injure you now and the ones that injure you later

• Arc flash burns your eyes. The ultraviolet from an arc causes photokeratitis — "arc eye" — and the pain arrives hours later, which is why people learn this the hard way. Correct shade lens every time, including for a tack. Screens protect everyone else in the shop.
• Ultraviolet burns skin like severe sunburn. Cover arms and neck; a leather jacket is not optional in summer.
• ⚠⚠ Welding fume is the hazard that harms you over years, and it is the one students ignore. Manganese exposure is associated with neurological effects, and welding or cutting stainless steel produces hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen. Use local exhaust ventilation, position your head out of the plume, and never weld coated or galvanised metal without proper ventilation — galvanised coating produces zinc fume causing metal fume fever.
• Never weld or cut on a container that held anything flammable, even one that appears empty and clean. Residual vapour explodes and this has killed people repeatedly.
• Hot work needs a fire watch. Sparks travel far, fall through gaps, and smoulder for a long time — the fire frequently starts after the welder has gone home. Clear combustibles, use a permit system where one exists, and watch afterwards.
• Compressed gas cylinders are pressure vessels. Secure them upright, cap them when moved, keep oil and grease away from oxygen fittings, and never exceed 15 psi on acetylene — above that it becomes unstable.
• Electric shock is a real risk, especially in damp conditions or confined spaces. Keep gloves and clothing dry, insulate yourself from the work and ground, and never change electrodes bare-handed.
• Confined spaces concentrate fume and displace oxygen, and shielding gas will do it silently. Permits, ventilation, and an attendant.
• Hot metal looks exactly like cold metal. Assume everything is hot, and never handle work without gloves and pliers.
• Grinding throws sparks and fragments — face shield over safety glasses, correct wheel for the material, and check the wheel for damage before mounting.

⚠⚠ Welder certification is per-process, per-position, per-material — and it lapses

• A welder is not certified in general. Qualification is tied to a specific process (SMAW, GMAW, GTAW, FCAW), a position (flat, horizontal, vertical, overhead; 1G through 6G on pipe), a material and thickness range, and a welding procedure specification. Passing one test does not qualify you for another.
• ⚠ Certification lapses if the process is not used. Codes typically require that a qualified welder has used the process within a defined recent period — commonly cited as six months — or requalify. A welder who has been off the tools can find their qualification no longer valid.
• Qualification is generally employer-held and code-specific. Moving to a new employer or a different code frequently means testing again, and that is normal rather than a reflection on you.
• The codes that matter include AWS D1.1 for structural steel and the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code for pressure work; API standards govern pipeline welding. Which code applies is determined by the work, not by the welder.
• 6G pipe is the qualification that opens doors — a 6G test covers a wide range of positions and is the credential pipe welders are hired on.
• Weld tests are destructively examined — bend tests, and radiography or ultrasonic inspection on higher-value work. A weld that looks perfect can fail a bend test, which is why practice under test conditions matters.
• Practise in position. Overhead and vertical-up are difficult and they are what tests examine; running beautiful flat beads does not prepare you.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies. Code editions, qualification periods, and test requirements change — verify with AWS, the applicable code, and the employer rather than relying on a course guide.

⚠ A grade of C or better is a progression gate, not a target

• Daytona State states in these course descriptions that a grade of C or better is required to continue in the programme — and in the final courses, to graduate from it.
• This is a cohort programme. Falling below the gate does not merely cost a grade; it can remove you from the sequence until the course is offered again, which may be a full year.
• Ask early what happens if you fall short — repeat policy, how many attempts are permitted, and whether financial aid covers a repeat.
• Practical skill assessments are frequently pass-or-repeat rather than graded on a percentage, and a failed weld test or setup check is exactly the kind of thing that stalls progression.
• Attendance directly affects the outcome in a clock-hour programme where the skill is built by hours on the machine.
• Ask for help before you are behind, not after. Instructors in trade programmes have far more options at week three than at week twelve.
• Use open lab time. The students who pass practical assessments first are almost always the ones putting in unscheduled hours.

⚠⚠ Budget for the laboratory fees and the tools

• Daytona State publishes a laboratory fee for every course in this programme, and in the welding sequence they are substantial — from roughly $390 to $463 per course. The machining courses run lower, roughly $76 to $190.
• PSAV programmes advertise low tuition; the fees and tools are where the real cost sits. Ask the programme for a complete cost sheet before you enrol — tuition, every course fee, tools, textbooks, certification test fees, and personal protective equipment.
• The fees cover genuinely expensive consumables — filler metal, electrodes, shielding gas, plate and pipe stock, cutting tools and inserts, and wear on machines.
• You will need your own personal protective equipment and hand tools. Get the programme's required list early and buy over time. For welding that means a good helmet, jacket, gloves, and safety boots; for machining, measuring tools you will use daily.
• Buy quality where it protects you or determines accuracy. An auto-darkening helmet with a proper shade range, and a decent micrometer and dial indicator, are worth the money; most other things are not.
• Certification test fees are usually separate — NIMS credentials and welder qualification tests both cost extra.
• Ask about workforce funding. Trade programmes frequently have funding routes degree students do not, including employer sponsorship, apprenticeship arrangements, and Florida workforce grants.

⚠⚠ This is a PSAV clock-hour course — it carries no college credit

• The leading zero in the course number is the signal. Under the Florida Statewide Course Numbering System, a 0000-level number denotes postsecondary adult vocational (PSAV) instruction, measured in clock hours rather than semester credit hours. These courses carry zero college credit.
• ⚠ A catalog may display the clock-hour figure under a heading that reads "credit hours." It is not credits. A 0000-level course showing 280 is 280 hours of instruction, not 280 semester credits.
• PSAV hours do not transfer as college credit to an associate or bachelor's degree, and they do not satisfy general education requirements.
• What they produce is a workforce credential — a career certificate plus, in this programme, industry certifications employers ask for by name. For a skilled trade that is frequently exactly the right outcome, reached far faster and more cheaply than a degree.
• Some institutions offer articulation from a PSAV certificate into a related associate degree. ⚠ These are institution-specific and they change. If you intend to continue to a degree, get the articulation in writing from the receiving institution before you enrol.
• Financial aid rules differ for clock-hour programmes — ask the financial aid office specifically about clock-hour programmes.
• Attendance is the currency. Clock-hour programmes track attendance directly and missed hours generally must be made up.

Why metalworking is durable employment in Florida

• Shipbuilding and marine repair — Jacksonville, Tampa, and Port Everglades all support substantial marine fabrication and repair, and marine welding is skilled, well-paid work.
• Aerospace and space — the Space Coast and the wider aerospace supply chain need precision machining and certified welding, frequently to demanding standards.
• Defence contracting across Florida, ⚠ much of which requires U.S. citizenship and sometimes a security clearance.
• Construction and structural steel — sustained Florida construction activity plus storm repair.
• Manufacturing and job shops — general machining work for local industry, and the sector most likely to hire a newly certified machinist.
• Power generation, utilities, and process plants — pipe welding and maintenance, and among the best-paid work in the trade.
• Theme park and attraction fabrication and maintenance — a distinctively Central Florida employer with year-round demand.
• Mobile and rig welding — higher earnings for those who invest in a truck and equipment, though it is a business as much as a trade.
• The workforce is ageing and replacement demand is real — skilled welders and machinists are genuinely scarce, and employers say so.
• Travel and shutdown work pays a substantial premium for those willing to take it.

PMT0154C is 90 clock hours with a $392.32 lab fee, offered fall, spring and summer, with PMT0106C as corequisite. ⚠ Clock hours carry no college credit, and a C or better is required to continue.

⚠ Despite being titled "Welding IV", this course is taken alongside "Introduction to Welding I" and before "Introduction to Welding II" — see the sequence table above.