Welding observations that I have made....

[ckessel]

This week has been TIG welding. Holy crap! This sure is a clean and quiet method. Hardly any noise at all, the welds lay a lot flatter to the point where I question the amount of penetration I'm getting.
It is very frustrating though....You have to hold the torch one handed without support from your other had because the other had fees in the filler rod AND to make it even more complicated, the amperage is determined by a FOOT pedal. WOT is the full amperage that you set the machine, half pedal is somewhere between zero and full so at least it is linear.
If you have steady hands, you can do well with this. If you're a bit shaky, it will be hard to keep a straight line and consistent weld beads. GUESS which category that I fit into? I think that I could get better at this along with the stick welding.
Back to class tomorrow....
At the risk of looking like a guy that learns a little and suddenly thinks he can teach, I do have another observation....
This teacher is helpful when you can find him and ask for help but he isn't around the students during "Lab Time" in the shop. You have to go looking for him.
It would be a much better experience if the teacher were to stop in and watch each student as they are working to spot and correct any errors in their technique. This goes to the core reason that I took the class...I have been stumbling around for years with inconsistent results not knowing if my technique was bad, if the materials were wrong, if the tools were defective and if there was anything that I could do to improve. In wood framing, I was always looking for ways to do the job easier and faster and constantly learning from my mistakes. Maybe I was just a natural with that and not so much with welding. I could have watched YouTube videos to learn what I have picked up from this class. When I trained guys in construction, I did what I expected from the class here: I watched and made corrective suggestions to keep the apprentices on the right path. That seems like a better way.

Been there, done that. Our instructor was needed to be found too. Generally he was watching over someone else and we just had to nab him for help. Yeah, TIG is a different critter. Lots of coordination needed plus pay attention to the weld pool. Aluminum is easier for me than ferrous stuff. What was really irritating was seeing the welds the ffn kids were laying down, I was in my late 50's and they in their 20's. The welds looked robotic. I asked them if they slept with the damn TIG unit. And they had never welded before this class! Practice, practice, practice. Wait till you get to play with the A/C frequencies and wave forms, pulse operations for D/C. Big changes there. Do the MIG machines have the ability to go pulse/spray transfer as opposed to short circuit transfer? Huge differences there too. Thats one of the reasons I want to upgrade my two machines.

 

[Kern Dog]

Wait till you get to play with the A/C frequencies and wave forms, pulse operations for D/C. Big changes there.

It is doubtful that we will get that deep into it since this is an introductory class.

Do the MIG machines have the ability to go pulse/spray transfer as opposed to short circuit transfer? Huge differences there too. Thats one of the reasons I want to upgrade my two machines.

I've read those terms but we haven't deviated far from the basics. SMAW with 6010 and 7018, MIG with 75/25 and .023 wire and the TIG with 100% Argon welding on 14 gauge sheet metal. Next week is the last and there are only 2 classes per week so time is running out.

 

[F4R/T]

Imo DC reverse lays a better bead too.. I love the 6010 and 6011 then come back with the 7018. The one thing I wanted to learn to weld was cast iron. We never touched on it, pipe welding was the big one for us.

 

[Kern Dog]

Cast iron...Yeah, I would have liked to learn to weld that.
I am 50/50 on my view of whether it was worthwhile to take this class. I did get to see and try different things but not enough time and/or observation/instruction/correction on how to do it right.
It may be a sign of the times but it also feels like the teacher passes the buck by assigning us homework to watch Youtube videos. That does very little good to watch a video at home on the computer with no welding equipment to practice with. It is worse on a small screen on the phone before class.

 

[F4R/T]

I’ll admit you are correct on the welding of cast iron being a dated subject. I just think if you can fix it go for it. Cast aluminum would be interesting as well .

 

[ckessel]

Cast iron...Yeah, I would have liked to learn to weld that.
I am 50/50 on my view of whether it was worthwhile to take this class. I did get to see and try different things but not enough time and/or observation/instruction/correction on how to do it right.
It may be a sign of the times but it also feels like the teacher passes the buck by assigning us homework to watch Youtube videos. That does very little good to watch a video at home on the computer with no welding equipment to practice with. It is worse on a small screen on the phone before class.

Our instructor didn't do that. Maybe the next class will have a different instructor. Or hit another school. Thats just lazy!

 

[Krooser]

I spent my life as a Carpenter but have been a car guy even longer. Quite awhile ago I learned that you really limit yourself if you have to rely on others for welding things.
Old cars with crash damage or rust will need repair. You can get on the list and wait your turn or find a way to do it yourself. There are numerous times that having a welder here has saved me money. For almost 30 years, I’ve only done MIG welding. Most automotive stuff can be done with the MIG. I’m not a great welder but I do okay. This past month I started a welding class with another FABO member. This week we did some stick welding, a type that in my opinion, is obsolete for what kind of stuff that I do. I took the class to improve my MIG skills but this class is geared to exposing students to all the common welding techniques. SMAW, GMAW and even TIG. My skills at stick/arc welding are not good but improving. It was so frustrating , I would have quit but I heard that next week (week six of eight) we focus on MIG! The first four weeks were spent learning terminology, symbols, techniques and fabrication. They had us build mini-Hibachi grilles….

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They had “plans” we had to follow to cut and shape the sheet metal. The designs of the bases were up to each student to come up with.

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That was fun. The welding booths there were often busy so I MIG’d them together at home.
This week, all the work was done in the shop at the college, that brings me to the point…..
As we age, as our eyes age, first we need more light to see….then we need glasses, then thicker/stronger glasses.
I’ve found that even still with strong glasses, I often need more light than I did before. The booths at the college have a fluorescent lamp behind the work that barely lights up the stuff you’re working on. I struggled with the work today….

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We all struggled with the stick welding but for me, welding blind sure made it a pisser. The younger guys didn’t have a problem with the lighting.
I stopped at the local welding supply to see about a welding hood mounted light. They had nothing. At home, I made this:

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It is fairly simple. Back when I was still working in construction, we often started work before sunrise and needed light to see and work. We al started wearing those LED lights attached to an elastic band with power supplied by rechargeable batteries. I just cut the bands off and screwed it to the hood…

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Once welding starts, the lens darkens for protection but before and after, a dim area makes it hard to know where to get started.
Tomorrow I'll give it a try and report back....wish me luck!

The best welder I bought was an inverter style... makes anyone look like a pro.

I owned several Miller 35 and Lincoln welders over the years... those inverters out class them all.

Right now I have a small 220v Miller.

 

[Kern Dog]

The welding course ended today.
It was worth the effort but I'm not quite sure that I learned that much. This was an introductory course that covered Stick, MIG and TIG when all I cared to focus on was MIG.
In my opinion, STICK welding is of no use to me as a car guy. It holds zero advantage over MIG for doing what I like to do. I rarely weld anything over 1/4" thick and I'm not out on a rock crawling weekend where I need to repair broken suspension mounts.
TIG has it's uses but much like Stick, I don't think that I have much use for it. Maybe if I were skilled at it, I would feel different. I struggled the entire time with the balance of holding the TIG torch at the right angle and distance off the work, modulating current with the pedal and feeding the filler rod at the correct rate. I got to where it was so frustrating, I abandoned the project and just accepted the fact that I'll get zero points for that portion of the course. The critic/armchair quarterback in me thinks that the instructor could done a lot better job of assisting the students that had troubles. I'd ask for help, he would come over and quickly demonstrate the correct way, then disappear like he owed me money. What I needed was to have him watch me as I worked and to correct me while I worked. The teacher was a nice guy but an absentee landlord. He had to be tracked down most of the times that I needed help and since I don't have a TIG welder here, I lost interest and gave up on it.
What uses are there for TIG? I do body panels, frame connectors, axle housings, brackets, all sorts of stuff with MIG, even exhaust pipes. What can TIG do better? I'll admit this...it sure does look cleaner and neater than MIG does.

 

[HEMIB]

We used to R&D for the Japanese developing welders & teaching them how to Mig ,they don't Mig in Japan as MIG is too brittle & Pipelines develop cracks when there is an earth quake . We sent them a Mig they had it for 5 months & could not use it when they come to Australia they watched us unscrew the copper tip to feed the wire through out come the cameras they can been trying to feed the wire without taking the tip off the gun.

 

[ckessel]

Greg, see if you can continue with a different instructor and possibly at a different school. I use both MIG and TIG depending on what material is to be welded and location. Whenever I get to upgrade on my TIG, I'll be getting a finger control for the torch as there are times when I have to contort in a weird position and in no way can I do it with the foot pedal. TIG is better on sheetmetal as the weld itself is not as hard as MIG and you can control the heat being applied, unlike MIG which is on/off. Again, for me, weld position plays a part in that.

 

[eldubb440]

The welding course ended today.
It was worth the effort but I'm not quite sure that I learned that much. This was an introductory course that covered Stick, MIG and TIG when all I cared to focus on was MIG.
In my opinion, STICK welding is of no use to me as a car guy. It holds zero advantage over MIG for doing what I like to do. I rarely weld anything over 1/4" thick and I'm not out on a rock crawling weekend where I need to repair broken suspension mounts.
TIG has it's uses but much like Stick, I don't think that I have much use for it. Maybe if I were skilled at it, I would feel different. I struggled the entire time with the balance of holding the TIG torch at the right angle and distance off the work, modulating current with the pedal and feeding the filler rod at the correct rate. I got to where it was so frustrating, I abandoned the project and just accepted the fact that I'll get zero points for that portion of the course. The critic/armchair quarterback in me thinks that the instructor could done a lot better job of assisting the students that had troubles. I'd ask for help, he would come over and quickly demonstrate the correct way, then disappear like he owed me money. What I needed was to have him watch me as I worked and to correct me while I worked. The teacher was a nice guy but an absentee landlord. He had to be tracked down most of the times that I needed help and since I don't have a TIG welder here, I lost interest and gave up on it.
What uses are there for TIG? I do body panels, frame connectors, axle housings, brackets, all sorts of stuff with MIG, even exhaust pipes. What can TIG do better? I'll admit this...it sure does look cleaner and neater than MIG does.

having zero formal education on the subject; this post makes me feel totally vindicated in my hackery ........... thanks KD