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Welding students at Lincoln Trail College have a new tool that will help them learn how to weld. LTC added Lincoln Electric鈥檚 VRTEX 360 virtual welding trainer to the program. The simulator aims to make welding training smarter, faster, and more efficient.
The simulator includes a variety of welding tools, an adjustable welding pole, and a touchscreen monitor. Students wear virtual reality goggles to use the simulator. It allows students to practice different kinds of welds and gives the students instant feedback and scoring of key welding parameters.
鈥淭hey get a score and it gives you areas they may need to work on,鈥 said Welding Specialist Jackson Hemrich. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important because it actually lets us see every aspect that we usually want to work on with somebody. We see one aspect that we鈥檙e watching for and now we can go through step-by-step to fix it.鈥
Gracie Groves is a student in LTC鈥檚 welding program. She says while there are some differences between welding virtually and welding for real, the simulation still feels very real.
鈥淚t鈥檚 honestly such a cool experience that the school even had the opportunity to get this. I feel like it鈥檚 a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I鈥檓 not going to go out in the world and get a VR set just for welding, so to have this is a huge opportunity for us.
Hemrich says the VRTEX 360 offers several benefits to the program. 鈥淥ne of the big advantages is saving the cost of materials like rods and other consumables. There鈥檚 also the safety aspect where a student can try something without having to worry about something happening.鈥
Hemrich and Groves both agree that the unit could also help the program grow.
鈥淚 feel like it would make students more excited to try the program,鈥 said Groves. 鈥淓verything in our life right now is on our phones, on a screen, and having this, I feel like it would just have everyone more willing to do it.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檒l definitely help,鈥 said Hemrich. 鈥淚t鈥檒l draw a whole lot of kids in to try it and it鈥檚 a little bit easier to talk about because somebody will come up to you. With welding you have the stuff to show them, but without actually doing it, it鈥檚 hard to explain the true process and this will help with that.鈥
Overall, Hemrich is excited about the VRTEX 360 because he believes it will be a great teaching tool and help students improve their welding skills.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to watch every aspect while a student is trying something for the first time. You don鈥檛 have all of the smoke and the sparks and you can closely follow the student鈥檚 progress. You don鈥檛 have to worry about paying attention to all of the other stuff and it makes it a lot easier to help the student improve.鈥
Mar 04, 2024