Skills Foundation Certificate (Engineering Skills 3528)

Syllabus 1 (Practical Competencies)

Main Frame

1.       carry safe working practices and procedures to ensure the safety of themselves, other personnel and members of the public

2.       identify metals and compare their properties

3.       use hand tools and sheet metal cutting and folding equipment

4.       use the off-hand grinding machine and the fixed drilling machine

5.       select and use temporary and permanent methods of joining materials

6.       Carry-out oxy-acetylene gas cutting.

7.       The use of national/local regulations and working practices must be included in all practical competences.

Practical competences

The candidate must be able to do and understand the following:

Health and Safety

·         Select protective clothing and equipment use and return to store.

·         Carry out safe working practices when using non-portable powered machinery in accordance with national/local standards.

·         Carry out manual handling operations.

·         Carry out the safe movement of materials and components, observing safe working loads, using mechanical lifting and ancillary equipment.

·         Identify faults in lifting aids and equipment.

·         Use and transport ladders safely.

·         Use electrical equipment in accordance with national/local standards.

·         Carry out the correct procedure to isolate a person in contact with a simulated live single phase electrical supply.

·         Carry out resuscitation treatment.

·         Observe safe working practices to reduce health hazards when in contact with toxic materials, liquids, dust or fumes

·         Select correct equipment and carry out basic fire fighting techniques in simulated conditions.

·         Apply good housekeeping practices at all times.

Practices: clean tidy work areas, removal/disposal of waste products, no overhanging sharp edges, no unmarked hot objects left on bench, walk ways free from obstructions.

·         Participate in emergency procedures.

Procedures: raising alarm, alarm types

·         Participate in safe/efficient evacuation.

Evacuation: means of escape, assembly points, emergencies, fire drill, bomb warning

Materials

·         Compare the mechanical properties of metals by twisting, repeated bending,hammering, rolling of strip, hollowing of a cup, filing.

·         Identify metals by colour, weight, filing and using a magnet.

Hand and Machine Tools

·         Select, use, clean and store basic hand tools.

·         Select, use, clean and store drills, reamers, taps and dies.

·         Select, use, clean and store stud extractors.

·         Select, use, clean and store portable electric and pneumatic powered hand tools.

·         Measure the wedge angles of tools.

·         Use a fixed drilling machine to carry out drilling, countersinking, counter boring, spot facing and reaming: investigate the effects of different drill point angles and unequal lip lengths.

·         Use the single or double ended off hand grinding machine; grind work to a prescribed accuracy; sharpen hand tools: centre punch, scriber, flat chisel, twist drill.

·         Fold sheet metal to an angle using a sheet metal folding machine.

·         Cut sheet metal to size using hand shears and bench shears/guillotine.

Fastening and Joining

·         Select, use, clean and store personal protective equipment.

·         Select, use, clean and store mechanical fastening devices.

·         Examine a range of thread types and mechanical fastening devices.

·         Select, use, clean and store spanners and torque wrenches.

·         Calculate allowances for and form self secured sheet metal joints.

·         Select, use, clean and store soft soldering equipment and consumables.

·         Weld simple butt joints using oxy-acetylene welding equipment (leftward technique only).

·         Weld simple butt joints using manual metal arc welding equipment.

·         Use manual oxy-fuel gas cutting equipment to cut low carbon steel.

Underpinning knowledge

·         Oral questioning to provide evidence of the candidate’s knowledge of:

Health and Safety

·          Human and environmental conditions leading to accidents in the workplace and the means of controlling them.

Conditions: human causes of accidents (ie carelessness; improper behavior and dress, lack of training, supervision and experience, fatigue, drug taking and drinking), environmental causes of accidents (ie unguarded or faulty machinery and tools, inadequate ventilation, untidy, dirty, overcrowded or badly-lit work places)

·         Protective clothing and equipment suitable for given situations.

Protective clothing and equipment: overalls, footwear, snood/cap, helmets, aprons, eye and face protection, ear defenders, dust masks, gloves, special equipment eg respirators

·         Dangerous items of clothing.

Dangerous clothing: ties, long sleeves, torn clothing, and long hair near moving parts of machinery

·         Protective equipment for non- portable powered machinery.

Protective equipment: machine guards, screens, fences, warning notices, stop buttons/isolation devices

·         Safe working practices to be observed when carrying out manual handling operations.

Safe practices: correct posture when lifting and carrying, use of crowbars, levers and rollers

·         Types and applications of lifting aids and accessories.

Lifting aids: block and tackle, pull lifts, rope, wire and chain slings, lifting clamps and dogs, eyebolts and shackles, jacks, trestles and stands

·         Dangers of using faulty/misusing lifting aids and techniques.

Dangers: knots in slings, damaged slings, loads with sharp corners, loose and swinging loads, wrapped and greased loads, handling materials under adverse conditions

·         Precautions to be taken when transporting/using ladders.

·         Dangers associated with the use of electrical equipment.

Dangers: electric shock, fire, damaged equipment, explosion

·         How the human body can become part of an electrical circuit.

·         Procedure to be adopted when a person is in contact with a live single phase electrical supply.

Types and applications of firefighting equipment.

Firefighting equipment: extinguishers (ie water, powder, foam, gas, vaporizing liquid),

sand/water bucket, fire blanket, water hose

·         Purpose of evacuation procedures.

Procedures: fire drills, escape routes, assembly points

Materials

·         Basic properties of engineering materials.

Properties: ductility, malleability, strength (ie compression, tension, shear), elasticity, toughness, brittleness, hardness, electrical and heat conductivity, machinability

Materials: carbon steels, cast irons, aluminium, copper, brass, austenitic stainless steel

Hand and Machine Tools

·         Basic hand tools and their use.

Hand tools: vices, files, hammers, chisels, screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, punches, drifts

·         Defects in the hand tools mentioned in 1.15 and methods of rectification.

·         Effects of pitch and set of hacksaw blade teeth and the point angle of chisels.

·         Angles of wedge-shaped cutting tools, their terminology and meaning.

·         Drill types and their applications.

Drill types: parallel shank (ie jobber, long series, stub), morse taper shank, drills with more than two flutes, special purpose drills (ie countersinking, counter boring, taper drilling, drills with integral lubricant/cooling feeds)

·         Working principles of drills.

·         Types of reamers and their applications.

·         Process of reaming a hole using vertical spindle machines.

·         Methods of cutting internal and external screw threads.

·         Methods of removing broken studs and taps.

·         Operation of sheet metal folding machines.

·         Operation of bench shears for hand cutting operations.

·         Lubricating and cooling effects of cutting fluids.

·         Types of drilling machine, their main construction features and applications.

·         Tool-holding devices for drilling: the principles of restraint.

·         Work holding and work holding devices for drilling operations.

·         Operations, which can be carried out on a fixed drilling machine.

·         Safety precautions specific to drilling operations.

·         Types of portable, electric and pneumatic powered hand tools,

·         Single/double ended off hand grinding machine.

·         Purposes of safety guards.

·         Safety precautions to be observed when grinding.

Fastening and Joining

·         Types and applications of mechanical fastening devices.

Fastening devices: nuts (ie wing, lock, castle, hexagonal, castellated, slotted, split, fibre insert), bolts (ie black, turned barrel [fitted], high strength friction grip, stud), washers (ie flat, taper, spring, serrated, tab, high strength friction grip), screws (ie cheese, countersunk, slotted, socket, cross), rivets (ie solid:

snap or round, flat: tubular, ‘pop’)

·         Types and applications of screw threads.

Screw threads: vee (ie ISO metric, BSW, BSF, BA, BSP, UNF, UNC), modified (ie. acme, buttress, square)

·         Types and applications of spanners and torque wrenches.

Spanners and torque wrenches: spanners (ie open jawed, ring, socket, box, strap, splined, adjustable), torque wrenches (ie breakback, dial reading, torque setting)

·         Riveted and bolted joints.

Joints: lap, single and double cover plate butt joints

·         Defects in riveted and bolted joints.

Defects: bolted (ie lack of flat or taper washer, incorrect bolt/thread length, hole diameter too large), riveted (ie rivet length short or excessive, sheets not close together, rivet head off centre)

·         Self secured sheet metal joints and their applications.

Sheet metal joints: grooved, knocked up

·         Equipment and consumables used for soft soldering.

Soft soldering: surface cleaning materials, soldering irons (ie electric, gas), flux (ie active, passive), solders

·         Basic principles of soft soldering sheet metal and wire joints.

Principles: joint types, joint structure, capillary action, process, applications, safety precautions

·         Equipment and consumables used for brazing.

Equipment for brazing: surface cleaning materials, blowpipe/torch, fluxes, spelter  filler metal

·         Basic principles of brazing.

Principles of brazing: joint types, joint structure, capillary action, process, applications, safety precautions and equipment

·         Equipment and consumables used for oxy-fuel gas welding.

Equipment for oxy-fuel welding: cylinders (ie oxygen, acetylene), torch, regulators, hose, filler wire

·         Basic principles of oxy-fuel gas welding.

Principles of oxy-fuel welding: joint types (ie butt, corner, fillet and lap), process, applications, safety precautions and equipment

·         Flame settings; oxidising, carburising, neutral.

·         Equipment and consumables used for manual metal arc welding.

Equipment for metal arc welding: regulator, transformer/rectifier, cables, electrode holder

·         Basic principles of manual metal arc welding.

Principles of metal arc welding: joint types (i.e. butt, corner, fillet and lap), process, applications, safety precautions and equipment

·         Manual oxy-fuel gas cutting equipment.

Equipment for oxy-fuel cutting: cylinders, regulators, hoses, cutting torches, safety precautions and equipment

·         Gases used for manual oxy-fuel gas cutting.