Never too old to learn

[skyhightree1]

I paid my $$$ and will now be going to school for welding. I am taking the American Welding Society D1.1 certification test for structural welding upon 80 hrs completion of the course. I can weld well with a mig welder but stick not so much hopefully this helps me.

 

[TCRanch]

Good for you, Sky! I know the welders around here aren't cheap so you'll make up that tuition $$$ in no time.

 

[TexasBred]

I paid my $$$ and will now be going to school for welding. I am taking the American Welding Society D1.1 certification test for structural welding upon 80 hrs completion of the course. I can weld well with a mig welder but stick not so much hopefully this helps me.

Way to go big boy. Betcha make your money back the first week after you finish just on things you can now do yourself.

 

[wacocowboy]

Have fun burning those rods.

 

[wbvs58]

I am basically self taught but about 15 years ago I did a short adult education course on stick, mig and tig welding. I picked up a lot of usefull tips. I would say the most usefull has been to how to get the right settings for what I am doing.

Ken

 

[Caustic Burno]

I paid my $$$ and will now be going to school for welding. I am taking the American Welding Society D1.1 certification test for structural welding upon 80 hrs completion of the course. I can weld well with a mig welder but stick not so much hopefully this helps me.

Good for you always a good thing to have another skill. I did virtually the same thing in the early 70's when economic times where pretty rough.
Got certified and passed all my welding test. Never used it except around the farm and for neighbors but I had it.

 

[dun]

Kind of funny that the older folks that started welding at a younger age learned stick and have had to learn MIG (if possible). While you youngsters learned MIG and are now trying to learn stick. Friend of mine in his middle years (some time ago) learned gas welding but never learned stick or MIG. I can MIG(barely) but it's a slow messy process, but stick I can get a lot more done in the same amount of time.

 

[callmefence]

If you never take a paying welding job. You will get you money back many times on repairs and fabs you can do for yourself.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Dun I had to gas weld a whole lot in Wyoming back in the day. The welders there couldn't gas weld. After I got the bead bonded, they'd go back and overlay the weld with 7018. Muffler installation is great practice for such things.

I certified stick in '78 Went to after work programs everyday with Brown & Root. I never finished tho because I broke out as journeyman in Instrumentation. I had started tig and simply quit. The mechanics of Tig was similar to gas welding from a perspective.

I did weld as a fill in out in California in '85. The company was in a bind. I told them I could weld. They brought me a stinger and hood. I burned a couple of rods and the superintendent took me in to Long Beach and bought me a hood, gloves, and leathers. I spent the next 5 weeks on a fab table burning rods.

I have my own machines now. Miller Bobcat as well as a box. Do a lot of extras. Build tools and such. Love the ability to do my own thing. I have an expensive mig rig and have never used it. Bought it off of an estate for next to nothing. It sells new for around $4K. Several people have tried to buy it from me. "you don't use it". Some day I will learn mig.

 

[rla442]

Good for you and good luck on your welding school. I worked in a black iron fabrication shop for a good many of years until the steel mills started tanking again in the late 90's early 2000"s. I had all my certs for overhead, horizontal/vertical welding. I prided myself in being able to burn stick. Anyone can mig weld with practice but welding with a stick will keep you employed. I was a journeyman lay out guy and we had lower paid labor as the welders, but when a job called for stick welding there was only a handful of us that could burn rod. Most important thing in welding with rod is reading your slag puddle.

For welding, get a good auto darkening hood with adjustable lens shades. Then a good set of leather sleeves that go over your shoulder for any overhead/vertical welding. With a your certs, you don't want to stop a weld bead because you got a blob of metal/slag burning a hole in your arm. Next, wear safety glasses when chipping hot flux/slag off your weld. That slag has a habit of finding your face and searing into your skin.

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks everyone.. My thoughts were instead of paying for all the welding I have done why not learn to effectively do it myself. I am good at mig welding but stick not so much and want to learn the proper way. I can stick weld something and make it stick but its not pretty. It is another tool in my belt for sure and out in the country everyone needs some welding done. I am not planning to go into business of welding but if someone brings me something or asks I wont shy away from making a few dollars. I am planning once I learn to make a few BBQ pig cookers just for practice and then moving up to making a few tractor implements like carryalls or boom poles and maybe 3 pt log splitter. I would like to learn welding stainless steel and aluminum though after this class and see how that goes. theres a few different classes you can take as well as fabrication so I may take every class within this year.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

 

[skyhightree1]

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

That's what I heard.. Can you weld aluminum ?

 

[True Grit Farms]

So you need to go to a welding school to learn how to build a BBQ grill and tractor implements? To me that's how you learn to weld is by practice. Everyone I know that's done any kind of farming or heavy equipment work knows how to stick weld. After all learning to weld is mandatory, it's called working from the bottom up.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

That's what I heard.. Can you weld aluminum ?

Don't tell anyone aluminum is easier to weld and work with than steel or SS.

 

[dun]

So you need to go to a welding school to learn how to build a BBQ grill and tractor implements? To me that's how you learn to weld is by practice. Everyone I know that's done any kind of farming or heavy equipment work knows how to stick weld. After all learning to weld is mandatory, it's called working from the bottom up.

You might be surprised at how many farmers can't weld. At least that's how it is around here. It was even worse in california
If I could handle the weight I would like to learn real blacksmithing.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

That's what I heard.. Can you weld aluminum ?

Passable but I don't like too lot of that has to do with old eyes two power lens in the hood and bifocals.

 

[True Grit Farms]

So you need to go to a welding school to learn how to build a BBQ grill and tractor implements? To me that's how you learn to weld is by practice. Everyone I know that's done any kind of farming or heavy equipment work knows how to stick weld. After all learning to weld is mandatory, it's called working from the bottom up.

You might be surprised at how many farmers can't weld. At least that's how it is around here. It was even worse in california
If I could handle the weight I would like to learn real blacksmithing.

I can't imagine waiting for someone to show up to weld something for me. I'm slow getting started, but once I'm started I want to get finished. With the Internet and especially YouTube, a person can or should be able to figure out almost anything today.
Sky should have a good time and learn a lot, it's easy to learn when your interested in the subject.

 

[skyhightree1]

So you need to go to a welding school to learn how to build a BBQ grill and tractor implements? To me that's how you learn to weld is by practice. Everyone I know that's done any kind of farming or heavy equipment work knows how to stick weld. After all learning to weld is mandatory, it's called working from the bottom up.

No I am going to the school to learn to weld the right way and learn things I didn't know and techniques. Yea you do learn from practice but I am trying to learn the right way and practice the right way.

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

That's what I heard.. Can you weld aluminum ?

Don't tell anyone aluminum is easier to weld and work with than steel or SS.

I hope so so I can fix my dog boxes that the welds keep cracking

So you need to go to a welding school to learn how to build a BBQ grill and tractor implements? To me that's how you learn to weld is by practice. Everyone I know that's done any kind of farming or heavy equipment work knows how to stick weld. After all learning to weld is mandatory, it's called working from the bottom up.

You might be surprised at how many farmers can't weld. At least that's how it is around here. It was even worse in california
If I could handle the weight I would like to learn real blacksmithing.

Many Farmers here get this one local guy to weld " same guy we use" there stuff cause they don't want a piece of equipment that's important down long
They have a blacksmithing class as well but I am not sure I would take that but would be nice to make my own knives..

Aluminum doesn't play nice that's at art form some can learn few master IMO.

That's what I heard.. Can you weld aluminum ?

Passable but I don't like too lot of that has to do with old eyes two power lens in the hood and bifocals.

Here if you can do aluminum welding well you could easily have a 6 figure income as everyone looks for people to make them aluminum dog boxes but most are riveted not welded they want welded.

 

[skyhightree1]

[
Sky should have a good time and learn a lot, it's easy to learn when your interested in the subject.

Yea I hope so and that last part of your sentence is definitely the truth