Following is an abstract accepted for the 7th International Conference on Education in Welding ICEW-7. This conference will be from May 10th to May 13th 2011 in Helsingør – (Elsinore) –Denmark.

Educating welding engineers, technologists and practitioners involves practical training of MIG/MAG, TIG and MMA. Demonstrations and video presentations of less common welding processes are also required. Such practical training typically involves students gathered around an instructor’s workbench, which limits class size compared to class-room based instruction. We propose an affordable camera system capable of imaging a range of welding processes as an effective method to both 1) increase class size and provide optimal and magnified views of the melt-pool for all observers and 2) facilitate analysis of difficulties and typical defects via discussion of recorded footage. Furthermore, an on-site camera system enables an institution to develop a rich video library, improving the quality of students’ education and saving the institution material and time. We also propose the sharing of such libraries via a web-based community (i.e. Web 2.0).