Will “Lamination Operator” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Mix catalysts into resins, and saturate cloth and mats with mixtures, using brushes.

• Inspect, clean, and assemble molds before beginning work.

• Cure materials by letting them set at room temperature, placing them under heat lamps, or baking them in ovens.

• Apply layers of plastic resin to mold surfaces prior to placement of fiberglass mats, repeating layers until products have the desired thicknesses and plastics have jelled.

• Release air bubbles and smooth seams, using rollers.

• Repair or modify damaged or defective glass-fiber parts, checking thicknesses, densities, and contours to ensure a close fit after repair.

• Mask off mold areas not to be laminated, using cellophane, wax paper, masking tape, or special sprays containing mold-release substances.

• Apply lacquers and waxes to mold surfaces to facilitate assembly and removal of laminated parts.

• Spray chopped fiberglass, resins, and catalysts onto prepared molds or dies using pneumatic spray guns with chopper attachments.

• Select precut fiberglass mats, cloth, and wood-bracing materials as required by projects being assembled.

• Pat or press layers of saturated mat or cloth into place on molds, using brushes or hands, and smooth out wrinkles and air bubbles with hands or squeegees.

• Trim excess materials from molds, using hand shears or trimming knives.

• Trim cured materials by sawing them with diamond-impregnated cutoff wheels.

• Bond wood reinforcing strips to decks and cabin structures of watercraft, using resin-saturated fiberglass.

• Check all dies, templates, and cutout patterns to be used in the manufacturing process to ensure that they conform to dimensional data, photographs, blueprints, samples, or customer specifications.

• Check completed products for conformance to specifications and for defects by measuring with rulers or micrometers, by checking them visually, or by tapping them to detect bubbles or dead spots.