So this is welding unrelated but what work boots do you guess wear?

Hello everyone

I am currently enrolled in college and I have been reflecting for the past couple months and found that I’m not good with academics, being pragmatic going into welding was my plan B since welding did always peep my intrest.

I come from a blue collar background so I am not a stranger to hard work, and to be frank for a few years I did do landscaping and found that I enjoyed working with my hands rather than sitting on a chair doing homework all day

I am aware that if I’m going into trades school there is gonna be bookwork and exams to which I don’t mind since if it’s something that I am intrested in tho I have never welded myself,

I am currently doing research on the trade and I’m looking to enroll in my local trades school.

To cut to the chase

What would you suggest to an aspiring welder?

What are the health risks?

Will I be ok if I will ware my safety gear?

For the more senior welder,how do you feel about the industry as a whole?

Thank you for reading my post I’ll looks forward to any input

Been welding gasless for a while now, looking for ways to improve technique/welds. Gal box section to non gal.

Purchased this welder from an auction got it home and I am not getting any power or weld. Where do I start or has anyone else worked on one of these?

I'm learning stick welding and started my practice on a pack of 6011 rods the guy I bought the welder from threw in for free. Unfortunately, the rods must have been old stock because it's virtually impossible to get a decent weld with them. After I switched to a fresh brand-new pack I was laying nice beads with relative ease. I was just about ready to toss them but then I thought I might as well ask Reddit: Is there any way to bring these rods back to life? Also, any tips on rod storage are welcome, thanks!

I'm putting together a simple intake manifold but it requires a tube to be permanently mated to a flange. The most cost-effective way I can produce this would be to slip a pipe into the flange, where the ID matches the pipe's OD, and lap weld them together on the outside of the pipe. I need the insides of the parts to be corrosion resistant, so 304 stainless steel, or aluminum is the material of choice. All I have access to is a flux core welder. I have no hope of welding aluminum with my equipment.

I have researched what flux core welding of stainless steel is like, and the info came across is that you *can* weld 304 together with mild steel flux core wire, but the welded portion will rust, due to the filler wire consisting of mild steel.

The other thing I found is that stainless steel flux core wire exists, but the wire is expensive, hard to use, and likely to produce a poor weld with weak penetration when using a low-power hobbyist machine like my flux core welder.

Given this information, I plan to use regular mild steel wire to weld my 304 parts together, and simply use a corrosion-resistant treatment on the weld to prevent it from rusting. My main concern is strength and durability. These parts will not be exposed to temperatures greater than 200F. The pipe/weld will hardly be supporting any additional weight when everything is fully assembled. Would you expect this flux core weld to crack, even with good penetration? Any other concerns about this kind of weld I should know about?

Hey! Just for some background, I am 21F and I live near Raleigh, N.C. I tried going to Wake Tech for 3 semesters (not for welding) and it didn’t go too well. I also worked as a tattoo artist for a little over a year. (Did an apprenticeship and was licensed and working in a shop)

Welding has always been a career option in the back of my mind, but I was quite intimidated by it, so I tried regular college and tattooing first. Even though they didn’t work out, I did learn a lot about myself during the process, and at least from what I know about welding, I think it would be a good career for me. I am a very hands on learner, and I thrive when I can visually see my improvement with a skill. I also thrive with a lot of structure (this is exactly why tattooing didn’t work out, there was no structure whatsoever). I also think that some of the skills I learned from tattooing would translate over to welding quite well. I have an extremely steady hand, and I’m also very used to making sure every variable is correct for the job (idk how else to word this but I mean keeping track of machine voltage, needle depth, hand speed, etc). There’s a whole bunch of other factors but they’re less important.

Anywho, I really want to make sure I’m going to a good school that will teach me all the different kinds of welding so I can figure out what I’m the best at, and also just so I know how to do all of them to expand my career options. So far I’ve been looking at Wake Tech’s welding program and Miller-Mote’s welding program.

If any of y’all are from my area and have advice on what school is good, and if you think welding would be a good career for me please comment!

Been thinking about getting a style of hood I like but none have auto darkening, would putting a flashlight on the hood help me out in any meaningful way?

Hi, start off by saying I've never done any metal type of welding before, but because of my current job I feel I've become proficient in poly welding. If something needs doing, I get it done. However, I'm not sure how transferable the two skills are. This job does want to train someone, but I don't want to walk in looking like I haven't tried gaining an understanding. Like one thing is a tack weld. A tack weld in poly welding means you can bend and play with it due to the heat and how plastic works. But I imagine that a tack weld with metal means that's it, if you're not happy with it then you grind it off and start again. Another thing is, I guess the freedom with arm movement with poly welds. I feel like an artist with having something on my workbench, using my freehand to move it around as I weld it around. Can't imagine it would be anywhere close when given the actions needed with heavier material, but there's definitely going to be an art.

But based on what I've talked about, is there any advice you could share?

I have been working on a welding inspections app. ( with a partner ) for pipeline wi. https://inspectcollect-ic.com check out the app if its the one you need and feel free to give me a feedback, released for android for now.

So I found a 4k watt generator for $200 and the guy said he’d take $100 will this be able to run a 110v stick welder at around 115 amps without tripping? Thanks

Hey everyone, I’m looking to upgrade my hood, and something panoramic caught my eye. I looked around on Google and found some conflicting things on the Eastwood panoramic view welding hood. If anyone has experience with/ thoughts on it I’d be happy to hear them. Thank you!

My college professor has me practicing taking a 1G Stainless 5/32 Stainless Stick 3/8th plate test and I was curious as to the practical application of a legitimate certification test. When and where would such a test come into play if ever? On another note, where would you use stainless stick over tig or mig? I will probably end up posting the outcome of the test (root and face bends) next week when I have class again.

I'm currently in a welding program long term so ive learned a lot from mig, tig (not too good at that one), stick, and dual shield. I'm in a work base learning program at the moment mig job at a fab shop im most proficent in stick welding i'm certified up to 4G 1" currently working on osha 30 and going to get into pipe soon. how else should i prep

So yeah I'm asking, I don't want a political war in the comments lmao but fuck if I cause one.

I'm asking just for you guys to enlighten me, I don't watch politics neither did I vote, I simply don't have time nor do I care, seen enough friendships end because of politics. I've heard a lot and I haven't researched anything about it, but I've seen Trump is anti-union, how hes against overtime. How true is this? Was it really beneficial for a union member to vote for him when his against your job?

I mean how was work under his term 4 years ago? AGAIN I know nothing about this I'm just asking because I want to join the union as a ironworker but this topic has been going around recently.

What can I improve?

There was a comment in here that I honestly haven't been able to get out of my head. Someone made a joke about blowjobs, and the comments started going on about one of the "benefits of being union" being a "cute" apprentice who will give you head and be a friend with benefits. I'm a girl who needs a career and welding is something that has really struck a cord with me and being in a union is something I would be extremely proud of.

I need people to comprehend that women enter the work force to establish a life for themselves, not to be a pursuit for you. That person is an apprentice, someone almost completely dependent on you for information and stability to succeed after putting in the effort to go through school or qualify for an apprenticeship. The ethics of someone in a position of authority and knowledge coming onto their dependent sucks. I've been sexually harassed at almost every job I've worked at because of people who lack self control and lack the ability to see the women around them as coworkers. Not potential conquests. I get people are cute. Thats awesome. You want to get topped off. Thats awesome. Go for someone who isn't looking to you to teach them and build the foundation for their career. If this gets folks angry thats out of my control, love this sub and I'm going to continue with this because I really enjoy it.

Hey all. I'm having a heck of a time with my (first) welder. Its not keeping an arc very well, and sputters and dies. It feels like I have to keep the arc length suuuper short. The only exceptions being when i really keep the tip burried and when the rod(6011 3/32) gets literally smoked/turns black it becomes a little more consistent. I have 240V set up in my garrage. 15 foot lead, 8 feet from the plug. It is a bit of a run from the plug to the basement switch box. Ltec 302i

I recently bought a new Miller Diversion Tig Welder. It comes with an A-150 Torch. I'm trying to find an accessory kit as I need a few different size collets. I can't seem to find any kits for this torch for some reason. I can find one for $500 if I google the miller version. I'm not trying to drop that much just yet. Are these kits somewhat interchangeable?

This is what I'm looking for. Are these kits somewhat universal?
https://www.amazon.com/ARCCAPTAIN-Accessories-71-Pcs-consumables/dp/B0CLRPJVG7/ref=sxin_16_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?content-id=amzn1.sym.76d54fcc-2362-404d-ab9b-b0653e2b2239%3Aamzn1.sym.76d54fcc-2362-404d-ab9b-b0653e2b2239&crid=P5I115PPWSTB&cv_ct_cx=Miller%2BA-150%2Btorch%2Baccessories&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nmb1_TJVqnnS2kAZBBSt-Vt0UqXUh-_1opDULyV9QESVIc4c2MT7lfjC6sAYDr7sPI-9640k1piwQIOsIIg0tA.T2oLWhel_B2MpMM8rts-K03Jv5ncz3i7hO3G5uPWCic&dib_tag=se&keywords=Miller%2BA-150%2Btorch%2Baccessories&pd_rd_i=B0CLRPJVG7&pd_rd_r=51e31fd6-440a-42a4-8b15-9d6d7a0d665c&pd_rd_w=aIMzC&pd_rd_wg=AhEgE&pf_rd_p=76d54fcc-2362-404d-ab9b-b0653e2b2239&pf_rd_r=JVHZVK33WYET9DYGYY21&qid=1731108985&s=hi&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=miller%2Ba-150%2Btorch%2Baccessories%2Ctools%2C138&sr=1-4-6024b2a3-78e4-4fed-8fed-e1613be3bcce-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

I can’t figure out what fitting this argon hose has. Any help you all can provide would be appreciated.