So for the past few months I have been learning how to Weld. For those that don't know, I came into the Army as a 44E which used to be a Machinist, well a few years ago the Army decided to combine MOS' with 44E and 44B (Welder) to make 91E which is a Allied Trades Specialist . Almost everyone in my Platoon is a 91E and came into the Army after they combined them so I am one of two Original 44E's and right now I am the only one that does any Machining. After the Army combined our MOS' they didn't send anyone off to train for Welding or any Machining and my last Duty Station I didn't even work in a Shop so I haven't had the opportunity to learn how to Weld since 2009 when I was Stationed at Fort Leonard Wood (my first duty station).

Now here I am today which my job requires me to Weld since we don't get too many Machining jobs and I don't like sitting around. So I have been pushing the issue for someone to teach me to Weld and I want to learn all types (Arc, MIG, and TIG) and become pretty proficient as well. A couple of months ago I was placed on a job that requires Vertical Arc (Stick) Welding, so I began learning that. What a tough thing to learn. My friend has been teaching me. We started with 7018 rods, it took me a few beads to get the concept down. Now I can Weld (to me) a pretty mean 7018 Bead. The stuff we are Welding uses 1/4 steel patches that vary in a few inches to a few feet and have to be completely air tight. I have also been learning how to stick Weld with 6010 rods, 6010 rods took me quite awhile to get the technique down just right so they wouldn't crack or look like crap. I have improved with 6010 Welds, but I am not where I want to be yet. With the holidays and everything else me and the team haven't been out to the job site in a week. But I have found that I do enjoy Welding even Stick Welding, its fun and rewarding to me. I have been doing some MIG Welding, that seem to come pretty easy to me after learning how to Arc Weld.

Then Last Wednesday I finally got to learn how to TIG. Our TIG Welder has been broken, turns out a contact in the pedal just needed to be Soldered back on and it works good now. TIG Welding T-308 Stainless is a beast, especially the thin stuff. I picked up TIG Welding Aluminium fairly easy, I just need to work on my appearance of my welds. Steel isn't too bad either. But TIG Welding isn't too bad, it is alot harder than MIG or Arc. But if I can get good at it, I will have some really nice Welds and I can be the go to guy for TIG Welding since no one else will touch the TIG Welder.

Since I am getting out of the Army in a few years. I have decided I want to pursue being a Police Officer in Texas. But I want to become good at Welding so I can do it myself when I need to and it can be something to fall back on along with my Machining/Mechanics Experience if the Police Officer thing falls through for some reason.

Thoughts, Suggestions?

Just practice, practice, practice. You did it the way my Dad told me and the way the Weld shop Forman at the machine shop I worked at both said to learn. "Learn to arc weld first. I can teach a monkey to mig.". Tig is more like oxy acetylene welding than arc or mig, so maybe learning that might help? I don't know I've never used the tig, but you use the electrode to create the heat and hand feed your rod into the arc melting and joining it. Oxy/act is the same kind of deal, you use the torch to get the metal hot enough to hand feed in the rod and melt the 2 pieces of metal together. Anyways, I was always told that if I learned to arc then mig would be a cake walk, so my Dad taught me to arc first.

Don't have time to answer now, got to go water animals, again, to cold. but the above answer looks about like what I would say from just a glance.

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by Khw: Just practice, practice, practice. You did it the way my Dad told me and the way the Weld shop Forman at the machine shop I worked at both said to learn. "Learn to arc weld first. I can teach a monkey to mig.". Tig is more like oxy acetylene welding than arc or mig, so maybe learning that might help? I don't know I've never used the tig, but you use the electrode to create the heat and hand feed your rod into the arc melting and joining it. Oxy/act is the same kind of deal, you use the torch to get the metal hot enough to hand feed in the rod and melt the 2 pieces of metal together. Anyways, I was always told that if I learned to arc then mig would be a cake walk, so my Dad taught me to arc first.

I haven't done any Oxy acetylene welding yet. We don't do much of it but I will try it at some point. My brother is a Welder at his work. I asked him when did he learn to Weld he said he's been doing it for a while then I asked him what kind of Welding he does and he said MIG. He told me that MIG is just as good as Arc. I was like What?! LOL!

I am glad I learned how to Weld Arc First, it seems that Stick Welding is a dying skill. I have gotten Compliments from Inspectors on my 7018 Welds, my co-workers are the only ones that see my 6010 welds (because thats my root pass) which are slowly improving. TIG Welding I can apply my Speeds and Feeds concept from Machining by the Speed of movement of the Electrode and Feed of your Material. Using the Pedal to maintain the proper heat with Stainless is very tricky without burning through, steel and aluminium is more forgiving.

My Dad started me on 6013 rod then moved me on to 6010 then onto 7010. 6013 is still my favorite rod to use, but I can use them all. Arc is fun, mig is easy. For all the tractor implements I weld on out at the job sites, mig is the easiest to setup and use as I don't have to keep switching out rods. So mig is probably the most used form of welding, but it's still good to learn to arc. You never know when you will need to. It was actually rather funny when I first started working at the machine shop. I had to do some welding on one of our metal stock racks and I broke out the arc and started welding on it. The weld shop Forman was impressed because he didn't know I could use a arc welder.

quote Originally posted by Khw: My Dad started me on 6013 rod then moved me on to 6010 then onto 7010. 6013 is still my favorite rod to use, but I can use them all. Arc is fun, mig is easy. For all the tractor implements I weld on out at the job sites, mig is the easiest to setup and use as I don't have to keep switching out rods. So mig is probably the most used form of welding, but it's still good to learn to arc. You never know when you will need to. It was actually rather funny when I first started working at the machine shop. I had to do some welding on one of our metal stock racks and I broke out the arc and started welding on it. The weld shop Forman was impressed because he didn't know I could use a arc welder.

I haven't used 6013 Rod yet. Do you drag it or same technique as 6010 rod?

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: I haven't used 6013 Rod yet. Do you drag it or same technique as 6010 rod?

Pretty much the same. My Dad taught me more of a in and out than a drag.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 11-30-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Khw: Pretty much the same. My Dad taught me more of a in and out than a drag.

Cool. 6010 was difficult for me to pick up. You gotta get a pool going then long arc your rod, watch the weld cool and then come back and weld some more. So it looks like a row of dimes on their backs. I am working on making mine tighter, I tend to have each Weld spaced out and inconsistent. But every once in a while I get a really nice root pass with the 6010 so its coming.

Anyone here Certified Welder Arc, MIG and TIG? I see alot of jobs in Texas asking for Certified Welders in those Types.

I learned to gas(oxy-acet) weld in high school, and thought it was pretty awesome. Very similar to TIG iirc. Kinda sucks if the "cone" in the flame isnt adjusted properly, too cold and it doesnt penetrate far enough, too hot and the steel pops. Wish I could afford a nice tig

I learned gas first, then went on to arc. But once I used my first MIG I never went back. Anything under quarter inch, which is 99.9% of what I weld is fine with a MIG. Over quarter inch stick can do better.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: Cool. 6010 was difficult for me to pick up. You gotta get a pool going then long arc your rod, watch the weld cool and then come back and weld some more. So it looks like a row of dimes on their backs. I am working on making mine tighter, I tend to have each Weld spaced out and inconsistent. But every once in a while I get a really nice root pass with the 6010 so its coming. Anyone here Certified Welder Arc, MIG and TIG? I see alot of jobs in Texas asking for Certified Welders in those Types.

Khw has it right, learn arc, wind affects it very little, then you can mig just about anything with just a little practice, practice makes perfect, in all positions because they are all just a little bit different and they all need a little practice to perfect. then change rods. did I screw you up yet? each rod has its own characteristics. Then get ahold of a torch, and that is also different, think different gasses, materials and more. there is a lot more to learning how to weld than a lot of people give it credit for. go from steel to aluminum and tell me I am wrong. Mig is the industry standard in a fab shop, now co to construction and its a entire new world, did I screw you up again? I hope so because it is different and requires again, practice, practice, practice in all different positions because they all have different problems in all the different materials and positions.

did I mess with your mind enough yet? Wait!

if you want to learn how to tig start with the torch and remember there are different kinds of gasses involved with torch welding as well, think oxy/acetylene and oxy/map gas and I could go on but that's enough to confuse you for today, now once you perfect that after learning how to do all positions you can go to TIG welding and don't even think that's going to be easy because you learned to use a torch, because the different materials will act differently. did I mess with your head yet?

that's enough for today, when you perfect one of those give us a call and well will critique those welds and go on to the next one. but don't forget you must learn each type of welding in each position before going on to the next.

Practice, practice, practice all of the different positions before going onto the next. anyone who tells you that you can learn to weld in a day or two is full of it and a fkn idiot,

And oh ya I have more certs than Carter has liver pills but with my back, I couldn't do any of that on a jobsite anymore. just ain't going to move ever again for any amount of money, because I just can't do it for a job anymore. I can do that and more, only cert I haven't gotten is Pipe and underwater and have no intention of ever getting them, I never went without a job unless I wanted to when I was working with just the certs I have. sure I weld now for friends and occasionally for a few bucks on the side, but you have to remember I now take 3 to 4 times as long to do any welding because of my back. So working for a living is out of the question for me anyway. But it was fun while I did it, "the money was good, the scenery always was changing and every once in a while they let me use explosives."

Oh ya, one more thing I forgot, I very rarely use my hood anymore mig welding, I can tell by the sound and don't need it for the mig. they would all pass any X ray or any other kind of test. 20+ years behind the mask, welding mask that is.

Steve

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 11-30-2013).]

You know why they call it stick welding yet?

quote Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: You know why they call it stick welding yet?

oh wait you were asking him sorry, never mind I will send this to you in a PM

Steve

I've seen Steve's welds, they look like hen **** on a pump handle.

Try and get as much experience as you can, practice makes all the difference! If there's any one welding skill out there that's in demand, it would be for a good TIG welder. As you said, it's the hardest one to learn ,but also the most versatile, and produces the best results with a skilled welder.

You can get a used arc welder box cheap, they're not even that bad new. Practising at home in your spare time can also be fun and rewarding. Overhead welding is especially difficult.

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: I've seen Steve's welds, they look like hen **** on a pump handle. Try and get as much experience as you can, practice makes all the difference! If there's any one welding skill out there that's in demand, it would be for a good TIG welder. As you said, it's the hardest one to learn ,but also the most versatile, and produces the best results with a skilled welder. You can get a used arc welder box cheap, they're not even that bad new. Practising at home in your spare time can also be fun and rewarding. Overhead welding is especially difficult.

Honestly I found that overhead welding was easier than vertical.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: Since I am getting out of the Army in a few years. I have decided I want to pursue being a Police Officer in Texas. But I want to become good at Welding so I can do it myself when I need to and it can be something to fall back on along with my Machining/Mechanics Experience if the Police Officer thing falls through for some reason.

At 44 years old, I went back to college to learn welding. I will receive my Associates of Applied Science in Welding and Metal Fabrication in May 2014. I started last January so the process will have just taken over a year. I already had a bunch of my math and humanities stuff already done from way back so I got to pretty much jump in with the welding stuff. I have A's in all my classes so far. I guess I must be doing something right because my instructor told me to apply to be an assistant instructor as soon as I graduated.

There are excellent welding opportunities in Texas (from what I hear). A welder can easily make $20 an hour from day one on the job. If I were you, I'd look at welding as a first choice career and let law enforcement be your fall back. Maybe weld and work part time as a security guard?

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Jonathan

'68-69 GTO Nose - The Project has Begun!
My '85 L67 Build Thread

quote Originally posted by Khw: ...I can teach a monkey to mig...

Judging by the welds I was laying down today, I may want to borrow that monkey you've got trained...

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: At 44 years old, I went back to college to learn welding. I will receive my Associates of Applied Science in Welding and Metal Fabrication in May 2014. I started last January so the process will have just taken over a year. I already had a bunch of my math and humanities stuff already done from way back so I got to pretty much jump in with the welding stuff. I have A's in all my classes so far. I guess I must be doing something right because my instructor told me to apply to be an assistant instructor as soon as I graduated. There are excellent welding opportunities in Texas (from what I hear). A welder can easily make $20 an hour from day one on the job. If I were you, I'd look at welding as a first choice career and let law enforcement be your fall back. Maybe weld and work part time as a security guard?

Congrats! You can only go up from here.

There are alot of vast opportunities in Texas. But I have always wanted to be a Police Officer so I am going to pursue a career in that, then in 23 years I will be able to retire and then do something else. But there are alot of Welding Opportunities in Texas, especially in the Oil Fields.

Thanks for the advice Steve (84fiero123). Alot of the Welding I will be doing, especially since I am the small guy (66 inches, 130lbs) I will be getting most of the stupid tight, close quarters welding jobs on boats/ships. I will have to try out oxy/acetylene welding, seems interesting. I will take some pictures of my welds when I get back to the job we are working on (all vertical welds with some radius')

quote Originally posted by Neils88: Judging by the welds I was laying down today, I may want to borrow that monkey you've got trained...

The joys of mig. You've got to get that temp range and wirespeed set and then it's alot easier. The fun part is getting that wirespeed right because you've got to look at the wire as it burns. Both having the wire speed to fast or to slow causes a sputtering weld. To fast and the wire doesn't burn fast enough causing the gun to sputter as the wire pushes against the material. To slow and the wire burns faster than it reaches the material causing the weld to sputter and the tip to dip towards the material giving you a similar feeling to to fast a wire speed. You can usually tell the difference between a push back and a fall in, but if your in doubt, look at the wire as it burns, You can see the wire not burn fully or the arc come back towards the tip, then you know whether you need to increase or decrease the speed. I usually weld on a higher amp setting with the feed on my unit around the 5 to 6 mark, but units vary and I'm mostly welding on 1/4"ish material. I find most people have the wire feeding to fast because they get a sputtering weld and think they aren't feeding fast enough so they turn up the speed, when they really needed to dial it back a little.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 11-30-2013).]

quote Originally posted by RWDPLZ: I've seen Steve's welds, they look like hen **** on a pump handle.

Really when?
Did I work with you on some job?
Steve

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-01-2013).]

An old MIG welder once told me that when the feed speed is set right it sounds like frying bacon. And after awhile playing with it I found out he was right. Nice solid sizzle=nice weld.

quote Originally posted by tebailey: An old MIG welder once told me that when the feed speed is set right it sounds like frying bacon. And after awhile playing with it I found out he was right. Nice solid sizzle=nice weld.

Correct and you tune your ear to listen for that, you cover the main flash with the nozzle end from your direct vision, watch the bead as it comes out from the back of the nozzle and it should always be a good bead.

Steve

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: So for the past few months I have been learning how to Weld.

Cool, congrats, good luck. Not to diminish your endeavors but you actually are learning how to join two pieces of metal together. Learning how to weld is much more than that. You are getting a good start it sounds like. I think you are doing much better than me actually.
I bought my own welding machine, a Bobcat 250, a truck or trailer mounted machine.

I bought it because, from working as a roughneck in the the oil fields and using welders/welding services so many times and seeing their work, I was impressed by what they can do. Miracle workers if need be. Steve won't admit it but they have engineering blood running through their bodies, . Eh, I also wanted the welding machine to double as a generator, .
I have not tried to learn how to weld. Oh, I have played around, even built a custom receiver tow hitch for my riding mower. It turned out good but my mobile home frame turned to boat dock, not so good. Good enough but not so good.
What are you using for education ? Apprenticeship ? A very good start. I have some good online resources if you want them.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: Anyone here Certified Welder Arc, MIG and TIG? I see alot of jobs in Texas asking for Certified Welders in those Types.

Eh, a certified welder is like a master plumber. One can work under the certifications of one certified. Some specific work will require the actual welding dude to have the certs.

quote Originally posted by Boostdreamer: There are excellent welding opportunities in Texas (from what I hear). A welder can easily make $20 an hour from day one on the job. If I were you, I'd look at welding as a first choice career and let law enforcement be your fall back (which really doesn't seem feasible).

A non certified welder can make the $20.00 per hour. A non certified welder, with his own equipment can double that or better. Contract work, working for himself. Even if he is contracting or employed by a welding company (whose owner is usually certified). A welder can set his own wages within the parameters of what other welders might undercut your prices. Just as hair stylists have clientele, so can welders. The clientele are not the same as regular customers. Think of them more as CEO's. A good welding clientele will bring along his trusted help to bigger and better things, earning more money. I know of some welders getting $78.00 per hour. Yeah, great, right. There is always a catch. They travel and have expenses, but if you are smart ...
Cool that you want to be a police officer. I guess your supervisor can drag/help you up to be an FBI agent just as welder's opportunities always grow. I gotta say though that cop wages suck. People have to wanna be a cop, which leads to a lot of wanna be cops. I believe you would be a good cop. I would be proud to be pulled over by you, .
Welders, just like peace officers, earn different wages.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Steve won't admit it but they have engineering blood running through their bodies,

http://youtu.be/Qw9oX-kZ_9k



Steve

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123:

Steve Steve Steve Steve, I have seen many a welder out engineer an engineer when needs be. Then again, the engineers I have worked with will listen, explain, and discuss.

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Steve Steve Steve Steve, I have seen many a welder out engineer an engineer when needs be. Then again, the engineers I have worked with will listen, explain, and discuss.

Some engineers do Cliff, I loved working with those, I never have said none listen, just that some are so arrogant that they think they are never wrong, even a couple of the older ones I have worked with were than way, but when you find one like you say who will listen, explain and discus, as well as admit they screwed up you found a keeper. and a Good Engineer.

Steve

quote Originally posted by cliffw: Cool, congrats, good luck. Not to diminish your endeavors but you actually are learning how to join two pieces of metal together. Learning how to weld is much more than that. You are getting a good start it sounds like. I think you are doing much better than me actually. I bought my own welding machine, a Bobcat 250, a truck or trailer mounted machine. I bought it because, from working as a roughneck in the the oil fields and using welders/welding services so many times and seeing their work, I was impressed by what they can do. Miracle workers if need be. Steve won't admit it but they have engineering blood running through their bodies, . Eh, I also wanted the welding machine to double as a generator, . I have not tried to learn how to weld. Oh, I have played around, even built a custom receiver tow hitch for my riding mower. It turned out good but my mobile home frame turned to boat dock, not so good. Good enough but not so good. What are you using for education ? Apprenticeship ? A very good start. I have some good online resources if you want them.

I am still in the Army, Active Duty. So pretty much all of my education will be through my co-workers. Most of them are Certified Welders. We are using a Welder similar to the one in your picture. Its a Trailer Mounted Welder/Generation that runs on Diesel/JP-8. The big job we are working on right now is strictly outdoors.

Cliff, you are right about joining two pieces of metal together when it comes to my TIG Welding, but as far as my Arc Welding and MIG Welding goes, I can completely fuse the pieces together to form a very strong, deep weld and a air proof weld. They do get tested by some civilians to certify that it can go back into the water. But you are right, there is alot to Welding, much more than I thought there was.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: But you are right, there is alot to Welding, much more than I thought there was.

Don't tell that to Toddster, he knows everything and is certified, for structural welding so now he thinks he can do it all.
Don't forget pressure tank cert as well, that is one of those high paying ones as well, there are so many different kinds of welding and certs it amazes me even sometimes. one job they wanted me to pass a Lloyd's certs. when I heard them say that I said WTF is that? Some guy name Lloyd checks my welds? You know, one eye, missing fingers on both hands, walks with a limp, permanent burn marks all over his body?

Ask your fellow certified welders if they are Lloyds certified?

then I will tell you what it is. I had never heard of it before that but those guys may have.

Steve

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: Don't tell that to Toddster, he knows everything and is certified, for structural welding so now he thinks he can do it all. Don't forget pressure tank cert as well, that is one of those high paying ones as well, there are so many different kinds of welding and certs it amazes me even sometimes. one job they wanted me to pass a Lloyd's certs. when I heard them say that I said WTF is that? Some guy name Lloyd checks my welds? You know, one eye, missing fingers on both hands, walks with a limp, permanent burn marks all over his body? Ask your fellow certified welders if they are Lloyds certified? then I will tell you what it is. I had never heard of it before that but those guys may have. Steve

I will ask them in the morning. The pieces we are welding are 40'x10' and 80'x10', they are pressure tested with 5psi. They take forever to get 5psi in those things. I have had a few welds leak, so we ground down the weld and run it again. I noticed there are alot of Certifications out there for Welding, if I do end up getting a job as a Welder, I will probably pursue as many as I can. Like my Grandfather says "Jack of all trades, master of none." LOL! I plan on mastering some before I kick the bucket.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: I will ask them in the morning. The pieces we are welding are 40'x10' and 80'x10', they are pressure tested with 5psi. They take forever to get 5psi in those things. I have had a few welds leak, so we ground down the weld and run it again. I noticed there are alot of Certifications out there for Welding, if I do end up getting a job as a Welder, I will probably pursue as many as I can. Like my Grandfather says "Jack of all trades, master of none." LOL! I plan on mastering some before I kick the bucket.

These guys Navy or Army? if they are Navy they Might know, not sure if the US uses that cert but the job I was on was for a Australian company that wanted that cert. But those certs will only be of any use to you if you work for yourself, any company I ever worked for made me test for what ever cert they wanted for the particular job they were doing. Unless I had worked for them in the last year and had passed their tests. I used to get the state tests until I found out it costs me 200 bucks per cert for the test and the companies will test you when you apply before they will even consider hiring you. But it may be different for with military certs, don't know. but they are not forever and I said and others practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. my high school welding instructor, Christ back in 69 had me welding scrap peace's onto other scrap of the sides over head and the rest. getting used to all the different positions. then changed the rod and messed me all up.

what are you running for rod?

6010 is 60 PSI
7011 is 70 PSI

I ask because of what you said about 5 PSI, is that something else? water pressure against the hull. are they X-raying the welds as well?

Enjoy and have fun and Practice, practice and practice some more. when I wasn't working and didn't have my own equipment I used to take a local adult ed. course at the high school just to keep my hand in because you can forget if you aren't doing it every day. when I worked at GM as a welder we had to get our certs on silicon bronze and steel just to weld on the line, if you were repair the dam test were so many it would take an entire day just to do them and it was tested by destruction.

oh ya and don't forget, everything you weld is hot, even today I will forget and pick something up thinking it has cooled, sometimes I am wrong and I have been behind the mask for over 20 years.

Steve

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: These guys Navy or Army? if they are Navy they Might know, not sure if the US uses that cert but the job I was on was for a Australian company that wanted that cert. But those certs will only be of any use to you if you work for yourself, any company I ever worked for made me test for what ever cert they wanted for the particular job they were doing. Unless I had worked for them in the last year and had passed their tests. I used to get the state tests until I found out it costs me 200 bucks per cert for the test and the companies will test you when you apply before they will even consider hiring you. But it may be different for with military certs, don't know. but they are not forever and I said and others practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. my high school welding instructor, Christ back in 69 had me welding scrap peace's onto other scrap of the sides over head and the rest. getting used to all the different positions. then changed the rod and messed me all up. what are you running for rod? 6010 is 60 PSI 7011 is 70 PSI I ask because of what you said about 5 PSI, is that something else? water pressure against the hull. are they X-raying the welds as well? Enjoy and have fun and Practice, practice and practice some more. when I wasn't working and didn't have my own equipment I used to take a local adult ed. course at the high school just to keep my hand in because you can forget if you aren't doing it every day. when I worked at GM as a welder we had to get our certs on silicon bronze and steel just to weld on the line, if you were repair the dam test were so many it would take an entire day just to do them and it was tested by destruction. oh ya and don't forget, everything you weld is hot, even today I will forget and pick something up thinking it has cooled, sometimes I am wrong and I have been behind the mask for over 20 years. Steve

The Certifications I have been seeing for jobs are Civilian Jobs. I have been looking around online to see what is out there and various requirements from various companies. We have been using 6010 rods for our root pass and then a series of 7018 beads to finish, I think the rods are 3/32 rods in size. The 5psi is for testing to ensure these things are sealed. The pieces we are welding have a port that they hook up to an air compressor and they pump air into it til it reaches 5psi and then they squirt some soapy water on the welds and look for bubbles. Once it passes that then they get xray'd to ensure the weld is solid and penetrated enough. The pieces we are welding do float and get banged around ALOT. The Military will send us to get a AWS Cert but you have to pretty much beg or be higher ranking.

Here are some pictures of my Arc Welding today. This is a Zulu Weld with 7018 Rods. I still need work on my restarts when I use new rod.

Between the red lines is where I first started welding then my friend stopped me and told me I needed to make the weld tighter, so thats what I did between the blue lines. I think that tool me 3 rods of 7018.




Between the green lines is where I welded in the above picture. The rest of the welding was done by my co-workers about a week ago. That patch is a smaller patch from the rest of the stuff we have done.

Sorry I don't see lines, but I can tell where they finish and you started, are they setting up the welder for you?

if so then you are having a hard time starting, obviously from the visible air bubbles and I think you are running to slow or the heat is to low, are they watching you weld or leaving you on your own? because just a few min watching you could help you immensely because they are way to thick. but that's just a guess and I am tired and not feeling real well going to bed. I will look at them again in the morning and give you a better opinion of them.

Did you ever ask them about Lloyd?

Steve

Ok did you say how thick this is earlier that you are welding? Because depending on the steels temp you may need to preheat,, the guys will have crayons for that.
your beads are not the worst I have seen, hell they are better than most others on here have posted and proud of for engine mounts, those have scared the hell out of me. Some of those truly did look like hen sh!t on a pump handle and should have been ground down and redone.
I worked at a place that we were making steel pallets that were riding on air for a newspaper inserts for your Sunday paper those welds had to almost perfectly flat. yours would not have passed that, but don't feel bad I have worked with some welders who couldn't read a dam tape measurer, WTF really.

back to your weld for some reason last night I couldn't see those marks you said were there, that and the way I felt told me I needed to go to bed. now I see them, some of their welds aren't that good ether. none would have been good enough for that air ride pallet system I worked on but probably good enough for what you guys are doing. I see these are cover welds from the looks of them in the first picture and some of them are using a weave technic and others are not, are those by different guys?
It looks like the guy on the top was using like 4 rows of welds from your picture for his cover pass and you and some of the others are using the weave style.
I have to go get a truck inspected this morning and a few other things but will be back around noon, keep practicing.
Steve

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-03-2013).]

I've been watchink this guy's YouTube channel for a while now. He is verry good and his videos are fun to watch. I learned lots from him.

http://www.youtube.com/chan...FY2kKKb5sg79yld7T3hA

Cheers!

Thanks for your input Steve. All of the welding we are doing is vertical welding, I had to stand on a block of wood to weld the part I welded. As far as the different techniques we are using for our welds is a standard for the job we are doing. So we were told the horizontal welds had to be 6010 root passes with a 7018 cover pass and 3-4 7018 welds across that interlock. The Vertical Welds have to be 6010 root passes and a 7018 cover pass and then 1-2 Zulu Welds (Z Weave Welds). They want our Z Weaves to be extremely tight so that they look like a big weld. My Z Weaves are kind of fat because I go too slow when I go across, I usually count to 3 and then across but I still go too slow so my welds look fat. I also have so undercut on my welds but that will get better with some practice.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: . . . now once you perfect that after learning how to do all positions . . . Practice, practice, practice all of the different positions before going onto the next. Steve

There is a Kama Sutra for welders? I bet that is a hot book. Pictures or drawings?

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: Thanks for your input Steve. All of the welding we are doing is vertical welding, I had to stand on a block of wood to weld the part I welded. As far as the different techniques we are using for our welds is a standard for the job we are doing. So we were told the horizontal welds had to be 6010 root passes with a 7018 cover pass and 3-4 7018 welds across that interlock. The Vertical Welds have to be 6010 root passes and a 7018 cover pass and then 1-2 Zulu Welds (Z Weave Welds). They want our Z Weaves to be extremely tight so that they look like a big weld. My Z Weaves are kind of fat because I go too slow when I go across, I usually count to 3 and then across but I still go too slow so my welds look fat. I also have so undercut on my welds but that will get better with some practice.

When I need a tip or to refresh my memory I go here,

http://www.millerwelds.com/...urces/tech_tips.html

Hey like I said if you ain't doing it Everyday you can forget, when its something I have done before I just think to myself, "textbook, think textbook Steve". angles are in that link I posted if you go into the tip section as to what angles to use for what position you are welding. vertical think 80 to 110 degrees as your starting point for the angle you are holding the rod. I usually use a 2 hand method, one on the stinger and the other on the rod. feeding the rod threw my left hand, I am right handed. A good thick pair of welding gloves is a must for this technique. or even using a Mig. with a Mig. I will rest the nozzle on my left hand, always use a 2 handed hold on Mig. and Stick welding, Tig. is a little different as you are feeding your filler rod with one hand and holding your torch with the other, but that's down the road for you so don't worry about that.
I hope that helps some.

quote Originally posted by heybjorn: There is a Kama Sutra for welders? I bet that is a hot book. Pictures or drawings?

When I started, back in the stone age when we used lightning there were no books, they were stone tablets, and most of them are broken now, but many have been written since then and with the idiotnet there are so many videos available just one book is hard to say what would be the best now. you can tell a good weld usually just by looking at it, if the videos welds look like your, don't watch them, a good weld should look like a roll of dimes laid down. watch videos that have welds that end up looking like that.

Steve

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 12-03-2013).]

quote . . . you can tell a good weld . . .

Don't weld. Firm believer in modern adhesives. I have friend who is a surgeon who lets me glue in the operating room so the temperature, cleanliness and humidity are controlled. No welding, no torque wrench. Next panel that comes off or wheel or stud that breaks will be the first.