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Spot Welding & How It Works

Feb 20, 2023 ·

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Welding can be a fantastic career, and spot welding is no exception!

It’s a technique often used in the manufacturing of automobiles and electronics. Spot-welded metalwork is also used in construction equipment, machinery and building materials to complete building projects. This welding method also helps create medical devices and tools, making spot welding critical in manufacturing health care technology.

These are only a few of many industries that need spot welding. Here are some stats on welding careers:

  • 47,000+ estimated average annual welding job openings in the U.S.42
  • Total welder employment is expected to exceed 434,000 by 203150

But if you don't know what spot welding is, you probably don't know if it's the right career for you.

Get ready to read! We'll explain spot welding, including how it works, why it's important and how you can train for a spot welding career at Universal Technical Institute.

What Is Spot Welding?

Welding refers to the process of transforming and joining metals using high heat and pressure. Spot welding — also known as resistance spot welding — joins metal surface points together using electrically produced high heat and pressure. This welding method is known as spot welding because it leaves a tiny spot where the metal sheet materials are joined.

Read more: What Is Electric Welding?

How Spot Welding Works

How does a spot welder work? Let’s dig into what happens during a spot weld.

  1. Copper alloy electrodes carry an electrical current through metal points being welded together. An electric current then generates pressure and heat.
  2. Pressure and heat successfully join metals. The electric current is then turned off.
  3. Resulting lack of pressure and heat allow the welded point to harden and create that joined “spot.”

Spot welders, for the most part, need only sheet metal and a piece of spot welding technology, like a handheld spot welding gun or a large spot weld machine. In some cases, they may need the resources of an entire spot welding technology facility.

Then there are copper alloy electrodes and metal materials commonly used for spot welding, such as sheets of steel, stainless steel, titanium and nickel alloys. Many modern facilities will also need spot welding technicians to use digital software to help with their jobs, especially if the process is automated.

Read more: Welding Blueprint Symbols: What Are They, and How Do You Read Them?

Spot Welding Uses

Spot-welded metalwork is everywhere.

If you drive a vehicle, you likely operate machinery made with spot welding. Have you been indoors today, including at home? Well, some of the materials used to create the buildings surrounding you were most likely spot welded.

Buildings, machinery, electronics, appliances and other assets and goods almost always require some welding, and large welding projects almost always include spot welding tasks. That is why spot welding projects are so versatile and why welding technicians can pursue different types of spot welding careers.

Benefits of Spot Welding

Spot welding has distinct advantages that set it apart from other welding methods.

Learnability

Once you understand the fundamentals of welding and have practiced using these skills, learning to spot weld isn’t too hard. In fact, it’s seen as one of the easier welding techniques to pick up, especially once welders adequately learn how to use a spot welder. This process can even be automated with machinery, although it still needs to be supervised by a trained spot welding technician.

Of course, to learn these fundamentals, you need the right instruction. A program like UTI's 36-week Welding Technology program can provide education and hands-on training on four major welding processes. Opportunities like these can get you in front of that spot welder as soon as possible!

Cost Efficiency

Spot welding metal materials are thin and lightweight. That also means they're less expensive and can be welded much faster, allowing welders to complete more revenue-generating projects more quickly. Aside from the spot welding technology and the metal materials used, there aren’t usually any other materials to add to the final cost.

Versatility

Welding different metals is typically difficult since all metals react differently to pressure and heat — a problem that gets even more challenging the thicker the metal materials are. On the other hand, metal sheets used for spot welding are thin enough to weld with relative ease. This increases the method's versatility and the projects it’s used for.

Minimal Damage to Thin Metal Sheets

Because spot welding is specifically done on thinner metal sheets, it’s uniquely ideal for manufacturing processes that need parts made of these materials. Other welding techniques could easily apply too much pressure and heat, damaging them. They could also clumsily weld the joint spots, resulting in metalwork with poor structural integrity.

Welding Training at UTI

UTI's Welding Technology training program teaches students these essential welding skills in less than a year:

These skills are taught in our state-of-the-industry labs, with all the necessary equipment and tools students need to train. If you take welding courses, you can use these resources yourself, which will teach you how to use the same or similar resources that welding facilities use. This will help make it easier to complete spot welding tasks and adjust to the workload if hired as an entry-level welder.

Students who complete our program also receive a diploma! Our program was developed in collaboration with Lincoln Electric, a relationship that helps ensure the curriculum matches industry needs.

Read more: How to Become a Certified Welding Inspector

Build Skills at UTI to Prepare for a Spot Welding Career!

Enroll with us today if you're ready to take the first crucial step toward a spot welding career! UTI’s 36-week Welding Technology program teaches students essential welding skills to prepare them to become entry-level spot welders. UTI's brand relationships can also help graduates when they pursue jobs where they can put these valuable skills to use.

We have campuses nationwide that host our Welding program. When you’re ready to start learning, apply to our welding school!

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1) UTI is an educational institution and cannot guarantee employment or salary.

2) For program outcome information and other disclosures, visit www.uti.edu/disclosures.

42) For Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an annual average of 47,600 job openings between 2021 and 2031. Job openings include openings due to net employment changes and net replacements. See Table 1.10 Occupational separations and openings, projected 2021-31, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, viewed October 13, 2022. UTI is an educational institution and cannot guarantee employment or salary.

50) The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that total national employment for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers will be 434,900 by 2031. See Table 1.2 Employment by detailed occupation, 2021 and projected 2031, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, viewed October 13, 2022. UTI is an educational institution and cannot guarantee employment or salary.

Universal Technical Institute of Illinois, Inc. is approved by the Division of Private Business and Vocational Schools of the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

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