COLLEGE OFFERS COURSE IN SPACE-AGE WELDING.

Byline: Jason Takenouchi Staff Writer

As his students edged closer to the intense heat of the school's new orbital welding torch, College of the Canyons teacher Jack Compton admonished them to get their faces, and eyes, even closer to the 20,000-degree Fahrenheit electrical arc.

``I want you guys not to be afraid of this,'' he said. ``You've got to get close to it.''

With the donation this year of the cutting-edge torch and related equipment - valued at about $300,000 - the Santa Clarita institution is now one of the only schools in the country with a vocational course on orbital welding, a procedure used to make ultra-precise welds along the circumference of a pipe connection.

There is one downfall to getting state-of-the-art equipment, though.

Compton said the equipment is so unusual and specialized that it has been difficult to drum up interest in the college's 17-week orbital welding course.

Despite excellent job prospects and cheap training, Compton said many welders or prospective welders are intimidated by the complex equipment, including a remote control pad that is foreign to hands-on welding.

Exposure also has been a problem.

``People who really could use it or who might want it don't really know about it,'' Compton said.

Twelve students have signed up for the college's first full-semester class so far, and the class has room for eight or nine more. Students can sign up as late as today if they receive special permission to register from Compton.

Orbital welding student Robert Derry, 23, who has been welding since age 10, admitted he was intimidated by the equipment at first, especially the control pad that directs the machine.

But Derry said he is encouraged by the prospects for a high-tech welding job if he completes the class and gets certified.

``I want to move into the aerospace field,'' he said, ``and they use a lot of orbital welding in aerospace.''

Compton said people already in the industry also shy away from orbital welding training despite the huge demand for workers in the field. Among the fields that rely on orbital welding are the petrochemical industry, semiconductor and nuclear power plant construction, and aerospace manufacturing.

But that may change with the help of welding industry insider and Santa Clarita resident John DiGiacomo, whose work led to the $300,000 orbital welding donation by PCI Energy Services of Chicago. DiGiacomo and Compton met at an American Welding Society function.

There are no strings attached to the donation, but DiGiacomo - a former PCI employee and now co-instructor for the class - said PCI hopes the college will supply welders who can pass the company's certification tests.

``It's a way for industry to support the school, and a way for the school to support industry,'' he said.

``If one of these students goes out and launches a career in automatic welding, that's good for PCI'' DiGiacomo said.

``They'll potentially be an employee, and they'll say they learned on PCI equipment.''