In my shop or during breaks. Always running beads. Pitchers throw between starts, basketball players shoot a thousand jump shots a day. You don't stay sharp without practice.
Here is some welding I did with a MIG. Just picked up a TIG torch this summer but I don't have any pics yet... Some of you guys ROCK! Keep the pics coming!
did anyone answer this question? im curious myself. it doesnt look like aluminum but if it is ive never seen it before.
That particular blueish weld doesn't look like aluminum material to me... Happens on mild steel sometimes to me too. Must be something in the gas... Josh? edit: oh, I see it on the aluminum now. No idea.
different kind of welding from an old guy in colorado? more here: http://strikeanarc.com/Artistic_States_in_Steel.aspx
My *guess* is that it has something to do with gas coverage. Check torch angle or pre-flow maybe? Or maybe there is a coating/contaminate on the AL that doesn't burn off all the way right there, it just gets hot enough to react with atmosphere?
I think someone already posted that in this thread. Very cool though. Actually, YOU posted this already in this thread.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6621266&postcount=559
<object width="560" height="315">Here's how I clean the scale from seamless mechanical tubing for a nice clean tig weld. <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1Sh0GQK2Wuw?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="315"></object>
If that's mild steel or stainless it's the color of a weld that it the perfect temp. Not to hot or cold. At least that's what I was taught. You shouldn't have any color on aluminum. Im not sure about Ti or inconel.
A question for certified welders, What welding schools do you believe are the best? Or maybe a school isn't the best route? I've heard mixed things about Tulsa. I would prefer to work with TIG so a school that emphasizes on that would be great.
I'm not a certified welder but your local college will be a good starting point. I was going to go for a welding course at MATC (Madison, WI) but I moved abroad before I got the chance to go. I knew the teachers there and a few guys that graduated from teh program and they could take on the world with their skills. You learn the basics, practice practice practice, get your certification and go to work! Or if you wanna save a few bucks try to find someone that will take on an apprentice. More or less what I have done. It isn't the easiest rout, but then again if you dont have a job lined up where you need that cert, it's only as good as the paper it's printed on. About that aluminum weld of mine with the color at the start.... I thought it might be the pre flow on it as well and I've tried hitting the pedal prior to the weld to get some pre flow going and it still didn't help. I dont have a preflow adjustment on big bertha.... oldschool transformer syncrowave250 DX And that was a regular soft aluminum, nothing special. I've got some pictures I'll post pretty soon of some aluminum fillets. Just for an opinion as I was strugling with them and I dont have much experience with aluminum, I'm wondering if it's down to me or if I'm expecting too much out of the machine.
Yeah, your local CC is a great place to start. A good place to make connections for future employment as well. Syncrowaves are pretty bad ass, although on the 350 I learned on we'd have HF issues every now and then. Aluminum fillet welds can take a while to get right consistently. I was just interviewed by a pretty cool blog, Rusty Knuckles. Mostly about welding. Some of you guys might dig it: http://rustyknuckles.blogspot.com/2011/11/brown-dog-welding-interview.html
Certification is not a general title, but for a test for a specific process, application, position, etc. Some certs will cover a variety of positions, material thicknesses, etc. As for where to go, most community colleges have decent welding programs. The one I attend(ed) in Lake County IL offers a course specifically for certification. Basically you get to pick what cert you want, do the work, and they do the testing. If you pass, you get a certificate. But really, that only demonstrates a level of competence at a given point in time. For example, I have TiG and MiG certs for 3G up to 3/4" under AWS D1.1.1 (I think, too lazy to go look), but those are 5+ years old, and I don't weld on a daily basis. So I'm wouldn't go into some place and start running off that I'm a certified welder.
Ok thanks guys I was on the Community College route anyway. I was planning on finishing Actual College (business degree) and doing Community College welding classes over the summer until I got my Bachelor's, then go to a full time welding school. But if community college is good enough then that's fine with me, because there is a good welding program at the local CC. Now for the certification process it's like taking a drivers test for your license, it doesn't matter where you learn the info it just matters if you do a good job and pass the test? Thanks for the input and sorry if I'm going off topic for this thread
here's a quick pic of my wife's work. she's been a welder since she was a kid but has only been TIGing for about sex months. I think she does damned good for a newbie.
Wow that is pretty good, there are some damn good woman welders out there. Women have always had prettier handwriting than us, same principle could be applied in welding
FWIW, my hand writing sucks. ha! Certifications is a pretty big topic. Different sanctioning bodies, different procedures, different requirements per employer. A company might just want you to certify in a certain process on a certain material for a certain joint to certain standards once, and you're good. Other jobs you've got to pass the same test *ever day* before you can spark an arc. Some potential employers don't know what the heck they're looking at, they just want to see you have A certification....in any kind of welding. There are ASME standards, AWS standards, Milspec standards....some tests require x-ray, some are destructive tests, there's always visual inspection. Every position, material, joint, job, process you can come up with. You've always got a WPS you're tested to. A Welding Procedure Specification. A CWI will administer the test. They can be done anywhere....the school, a job site, whatever. I've run into so many guys that tell me "yeah, I'm a certified welder" ....oh yeah, what kind of certs do you have? "you know...welding"....riiiiight.
i've always used the analogy that when we were all kids boys generally used large muscles in our play, such as baseball/football etc. girls growing up used small muscles in play, such as dolls/sewing etc. i know it is a broad generalization but oh well later jim
Women are great at many things... as well as naggin Syncrowaves are nice machines for sure, A while back I got a chance tu use a inverter one and it was mint but it was on mild steel. The trouble I'm having with mine on aluminum is I cant get the arc concentrated enough on fillet and lap welds. Maybe I'm just complainging too much but I'm thinking an inverter can do much better for fillet welds... Heres the pictures.
It's definitely easier to keep a focused arc with an inverter machine(if for no other reason than you can keep the tungsten sharp).
Great post ,I weld a little have never had anything break.I will be working on my welds after checking this post.Great work
Are you trying to use a green tungsten with balled end? That doesn't work very well on an inverter. Try red tungsten with a point.
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