I graduated from welding school a few months back, but I live in a area of Upstate NY thst just doesn't have alot of work rn (especially going into fall/winter).

My dad, a 26 year UA Steamfitter, told me that I should just go hit up a fab shop in the area and ask if I can use their equipment to run a few passes, so as not to lose my skill. He eve said companies love that go-to attitude, and that they might take you on if you seem driven enough.

Is this something people do in the field? If this is a normal practice that I just never knew about, then I would totally do that, but If Im just goin to look like an ass thats trying to use a company's shop equipment for free, I obviously wouldn't bother and will just by a small machine that won't pop breakers in the garage for now.

So, I have been working in this shop for about 5 months doing tig/mig/fab making driveshafts for racecars 🏎️ and some other things. The first picture is an older shaft I did maybe a month ago, the others are my current skill. My boss has been helping me hone in my skills giving me tips as I go, we have a high standard for our welds in the shop and It has been difficult but very rewarding to get better, im happy they don’t allow shitty work and it’s hard to impress them lol. I used to just hammer the pedal down, and long arch it because I was scared of dipping the tungsten and also scared of making the weld too small, my welds weren’t always uniform as I struggled to go over my tacks because it feels completely different when I go over them. I would get so anxious before welding the shafts because it takes a lot of time to assemble, straighten, and tack them, all the while making sure it stays within tolerances with a dial indicator, under 5 thousandths around, and they arent cheap. I thought I would be stuck like that for a while, but as I started to mess with different things that he told me to do ive gotten pretty good at it now, my heat is good, i add/remove amps as I need and can read the puddle, keeping the tungsten at the right distance so the color doesn’t come out bland and shitty, and the biggest thing is my heart rate stays down as I go, each weld takes about 2 minutes and you cant stop once you start. So i thought i’d share! It feels badass, when i started in june I had no clue what I was doing lol, and now I can truly say I’m proud of my work, much more to learn and I’m excited for it. Post some pictures of your old work, and then your current stuff if youd like, im curious to see some progression.

So this was welded almost a year ago. I will be getting back into piping soon and wanted to ask about this nut i tried to crack before but couldn't.

I would use probably 130-140 amps on the cap here, with a 2.4mm wire.

The technique? Swing left - undercut forms , push the wire in to fight the undercut, swing to the opposite side and do the same. I would feed the wire a bit off centre on the side my torch is. Thats just what i managed to get to work for me

It does the job, but some skilled welders are able to get a really uniform, even cap.. when i try to do that I get slight undercut. I remember trying to use 3.2 wire in the middle and just running over it but i ended up sticking with 2.4 in the end.

The uneven fins really annoy me. But having to push the wire in on each side makes it not perfectly even. I hope im making sense lol

Not a welder, but I passed my 40’ shipping container full of junk and attached skid hanging off a 1” pin certification.

And yes the fitments a bit crude, but wanted the maximum amount of stick in the 3hrs before the sun went down.

What do you think my actual trade is?

28 days ago, I picked up a torch for the first time. 14 days ago, I was AWS certified in 1F-3F. One week ago, I landed my first job. It only pays 23.50/hr, and it’s M-Th from 5PM - 3:30 AM (which works well for my Circadian rhythm 😂). It’s also temporary but can become permanent based on performance. Before this, I was working in Non-Profit as an IT Administrator. Got sick of it. Got sick of office culture, undercover haters and pettiness. I did work at the airport maybe 7 or 8 years ago, so I’m used to grind-it-out, hard on the body work.

We will be MIG welding robotic parts for Amazon using 3G and a few tack welds. When I took the weld test I had never done a groove weld and still passed. It was my first weld test and I was super proud. I am concentrated on doing a good job so I can stay mid to long term, but I’m not super nervous about it. I’m a hard worker, but I’m also strategic with my energy and I pick things up quickly.

Any advice for me as I start my welding journey?

Hi: Weldit

I have a question. I’m a welder/welding supervisor. Today we did our biannual weld tests and four people failed out of nine which has never happened in our shop before but we have some new hires. But there’s more to it than that. Here’s the details.:

CWB 1GF S classification, carbon steel, 1/16” FCAW, 100% CO2. 

I did a 3-4 GF S classification, carbon steel, .045” FCAW 100% CO2 (standard CWB all position check test) and

1 GF S classification, stainless steel .045” 309L FCAW, 100% CO2

I’m not 100% sure of the class of plate but it wouldn’t be garbage. Most of what we buy is 44W/300W. The plates were plasma cut including the bevel but I ground the surfaces to be welded and ground the mill scale off the backing plate and the backs of the test plates, that was also likely 44W/300W. Clean bright metal all around.

Here’s where it got weird. After the tests were done and the coupons cooled with the assistance of a fan, we wrecked four band saw blades trying to cut the straps. Again, the plates were all hand cool. They would get 3/4 of the way through the 3/8” plate then just ripped teeth. We ended up having to cut them with a chop saw.

I did a stainless test as well using stainless plate (also plasma cut) and it passed the bend tests but again, wrecked a bandsaw blade.

One of the guys who failed, even had one strap not conform to the shape of the 1.5” round ram piece that pushed it through the testing jig. It actually looked the way a piece of angle iron does over a pipe. 

As far as the four who failed go, I did some digging and it seems to me at least like they all turned their wire down to get a prettier weld and it cost them in penetration. They were all around 25.5-26 volts and wire speed of 220-240ipm.  When I do a 1GF, I usually run around 27 volts and 275ipm. (1/16" wire)

I would think there was a defect in the plates if it weren’t for my stainless plates wrecking saw blades too. 

I would think the plasma cutting hardened the steel but typically that hardness doesn’t penetrate more than 1mm and I ground all the surfaces. We’ve been cutting our plates with plasma for some years and never had this problem before, but when we got a new table with a swiveling head in 2024, we started cutting the bevel with plasma too whereas with our old table we used to cut them square then mill the bevel on them.

Your feedback is welcome.

Take pictures of your brothers getting after it when they don't know and send it to them. An underrated brotherly gesture in my opinion. Work with a cool cat that took these of me and it really meant a lot so I want to pay it forward. Stay sharp bois🤘

Debating on letting this asshole win & quit rather than see him daily for the next few years…

I'm putting together a fire basket for a grill I'm building. The first picture is to give you an idea of how these pieces fit together, but my question is around the gap where all of these pieces fit together. Should my welds be able to fill that gap if I push it up against one side as I'm building the box? Or is it better to fill this gap with a piece of metal and weld the whole thing together that way?

Any thoughts?

• At home TIG welding setup
• Checked that I'm using pure argon gas
• ER70S-6 Copper-Coated filler
• Steel is very low-carbon mild steel

I'm building a welding desk out of some steel I bought, and this is occurring on the butt joints that I'm welding.

It mostly seems to happen on welds where I am a little slow, or do another pass (filler or not). First pass usually is fine?

I'm very much a beginner. I see that I'm probably using too much filler, maybe too high heat.

Some of the welds are.... questionable, but I'm thinking of later redoing them once I have more experience.

Shade 12. More like a 10-11. No scratches or chips. Throwing around the idea of selling it after seeing what they go for now.

I work with an agency supporting Bodor Laser, and I’d like to hear from people using handheld laser welders in production.

When you count fit-up, clamping, welding and finishing, are you spending less time on a repeat job than you did with MIG or TIG? I’m curious whether the reduction in grinding or straightening holds up once the prep is included.

An example of a part you make regularly would help put it in context.

Any suggestions or criticism?

Didn’t have much time, feels a lot easier than oxyacetylene, hopefully have some more time tomorrow to practice.

Any tips and criticisms are welcome and encouraged.

This Lincoln flextec 500 keeps jamming in exactly this way

What filter should i get for weldimg stick mig n tig ?

Also any other safety gear thats not commonly talked about but useful would be great to know

Hello,

I’m thinking about jumping ship from a railroad shop to a structural steel shop because I’ll learn more and it’s better paying, but they do blueprint reading and they really emphasize welding to size, like a 3/16 fillet weld, or a 1/8th weld.

My question is, at the railroad shop I’m at we literally don’t do any of that, I’ve never had to weld to size.

How do I even begin to do that? Like I don’t even know how to guesstimate how long to hold my puddle doing dual shield flux core for a 1/8th weld or a 3/16th weld.

Thank you for the help!

I’m just curious, has anyone started their classes late? I’ve started studying for structural welding in Indiana. I have MIG and TIG courses set up. I believe I missed the introduction class. The first day of my TIG class I didn’t know what I needed for the machine or if it was properly set up right yet or how to properly set up gas and parts. Could anyone give advice so I’m not getting bad grades on my welding assignments? I don’t want to be behind on my labs and assignments.

Am aware biw is good. Also heard portsmouth naval yard (nuclear subs) is good and am curious of comparison between the two. Is there really any other good option than these two though or is just them?

Hey guys,

So I am currently in welding school at my local community college and my instructor was saying that I have a talent for OA welding. I really enjoy it and just bought my own rig, however my local college does not offer any advanced instruction past the introductory course to welding.

I saw there was an online self guided course for OA welding

https://weldingonlineacademy.com/courses/oxy-acetylene-welding-online-course/

Is this the best source for additional OA instruction? Do you guys have anything to add? Thank you in advance.

Hey yall I'm practicing for my UA 67 test. This piece took me 2 hours and 50 minutes (I let it cool for 40 minutes before my cap) free hand the whole way and back fed root. the root's money its just a weird perspective. Any advice? Soft hands comments are appreciated.

I would really love to have my own specially customized helmet. I can't decide between a graphic or just a great color in a metal flake glitter finish.

Anybody know a guy?

For perspective, I use a Miller Digital Infinity.