A professional who tends machine that coats wire with flux and marks and cuts wire into specified lengths to produce welding electrodes. Respnsibilities include:

• Starts machine and observes as cores are automatically conveyed through wire feeder, coating nozzle in extrusion head, and past abrasive brushes, cutters, and marking wheels.
• Examines welding rods for cracks, voids, scores, or scuffs.
• Presses buttons to alter pressure of ram in feeding cylinder or speed of wire feeder to correct defects in formation of rods.
• May measure welding rods with fixed gauge and turn screws to adjust coating nozzle to obtain specified diameter and concentricity of rod.
• May adjust abrasive brushes that remove flux from ends and center of coated rod at cutting point.
• May adjust controls to maintain specified temperature when extruding carbon rods.