40 mm thick and 2600 mm long

Hey all, as the title says I’m completely new to welding. I got myself what I heard was a good beginner welder a, Chicago Electric 125 Flux Core, from HF.

I got some of the accessories I would need, a good mask, magnetic right and 45 degree angle clamps and a solid table. But I would like to hear from those experienced in the trade to give some tips to be before I start.

TIA

i just wanna know if there’s any advice for someone who wants to become a welder?

Hello , Does anyone have any recommendations about getting into aerospace welding ? I really fancy the idea of welding things such as aeroplanes , Helicopters and of course Rocket ships. is a general engineering back round needed? currently 6 months into a 12 month welding school so i understand it would not be something i can get into for a good while but if anyone knows the direction I should go.

Cheers .

So I don't think it's unsafe to say that 80% of people on this forum use an auto lens. They are quite literally state of the art, there's no doubting that.

I might be biased, as I've been using a fixed shade for most of my career, however, I have used multiple (3) auto hoods, and here's my experience.

Before I lambast autos with a bunch of bullet points, let me explain my job, and what I do, and have done in the past.

I did heavy equipment and farm implement repair for several years, for a while as a one man band, and for a while under a rental equipment company. All of that was mostly stick welding. I currently work at a structural shop doing mostly 29v 1/16'' wire spray transfer MIG and occasionally 28v .052 solid/flux core and .035 wire of varying settings, All with 90/10 gas.

I do, and have done arc gouging regularly for my entire career as a welder. I swear to god I cannot get away from that shit. All over 200a, and shade 12 minimum.

I do not do TIG, at all actually. I've never even used the TIG process.

Here's the downsides I've seen from auto hoods:

• Their "light" state is always quite dark. Under a piece of equipment or in a shadow, you can't quite see what you're doing all the time. This is for obvious reasons unsafe when using a grinder. This can be solved by a light. Fixed shades don't have this problem, especially with a flip front hood, where you're only looking through a single clear lens which doubles as a grinding shield.
• Arc sensors really don't like clear lenses after about 8 hours of welding. No matter what hood I've used, if that hood gets a little bit of smoke or spatter on it, it starts to flash me because the arc sensors can't see even when I can. Whereas with a fixed shade, it doesn't matter how scratched up and dirty the two lenses sandwiching your shade lens are. In fact, you probably won't notice a very big difference between dirty and clean lenses when using a fixed lens. I usually go a up to 8 weeks between swapping my clear lenses depending on what process I'm using.
• Truth is that the $4 fixed lens will beat a $150 Miller Classic any day of the week. I also find that on most autos, going up in shade reduces the clarity. #13 on my Miller classic and digital infinity is noticeably muddier than my #13 Phillips fixed shade. My Lincoln 2450 did not have this issue.
• After I started at my current shop, I noticed that after about an hour of welding, my hoods would start acting funny. Turning off randomly in the middle of a bead, staying dark for 30 seconds at a time well after the weld puddle had cooled, etc. I eventually put 2 and 2 together and arrived at the conclusion that the auto cassettes were overheating, and this was causing issues. Evidently, even being multiple feet away from that ~350a spray arc will put enough heat into a hood to make it start messing with you. Fixed shades obviously don't have this issue.
• Even though that thing has a solar panel on it, I've got to change the battery. Usually at the most annoying time possible.
• Clear lenses are helmet specific with most autos. 99% of fixed shades are either 2 x 4.25 or 4.5 x 5.25, and the clears are dirt cheap. If your employer buys them for you, there's no problem there, but if you're a one man band, ehhhh.
• Arc gouging is a light show that is pretty straining on the eyes, especially if you're running a shitty company provided machine that can't maintain an arc to save it's fucking life. That constant shade on/off even with the sensitivity extremely high and the delay turned up gives me a headache. The lack of clarity at higher shades comes into play when you're trying to see where you're going with that 1/4'' carbon that will cause 40 minutes of extra work in about half a second.
• For outdoor use, there is no perfect sensitivity, namely when you're looking up slightly trying to weld something. Most of the time the sensor thinks you're looking at an arc or flashes in and out.
• When I dropped my $35 Hobart flipper off of scaffolding to the ground 40ft below for the 2nd time, I shrugged, and replaced the $4 green lens I had in it because the edge was chipped. When I dropped my $500+ digital infinity off of a sawhorse 4ft to the ground, I wanted to cry and instantly checked if it still worked.

Now I will admit that sometimes the fixed shade gets in the way, but I find that most of the time it's just for tacking something, or trying to shove my face in a fucked up position that would probably cover the arc sensors of an auto anyways.

Right now I'm using a Phillips #12 gold coated green lens. I also have a regular green #14 I picked up somewhere I use for gouging and any time I've got a lot of arc time ahead of me. I use a Forney #10 for sub 100a stick work, which is pretty much the same quality as the Phillips #10 I had before I murdered it by dropping my hood.

Overall, I think it's mostly personal preference, however there are times when I'm using one and for sure wish I had the other. I think most of my issues are stemmed from my specific job.

Quick note: You can totally shove PAPR headgear into most hoods, fixed shades included. My Hobart version of the Tigerhood Futura has Miller PAPR headgear in it, to go along with the PAPR belt my work provides for free.

What's your use case and what do you use? Why do you use the hood you use now?

Currently have the Vulcan 13.5sqft lense hood form harbor freight. I really like this hood. The problem is harbor freight is an hour drive and they don’t carry lenses for this hood in stock. Every time I’ve went to order lenses for this hood I have to wait a month to get them. I have a few other hoods but still have to order lenses which I find extremely aggravating. The closest store to me that sales hoods is tsc and they always have lenses for their hoods. Are these a decent hood or should I just stick to dealing with the aggravation.

I have 2 bosses, one is a good welder(the son in law to the other boss), the other one can’t weld to save his life(my other boss’s father in law).

This is for the boss(the father in law) who can’t weld.

And yes it is glued in there, $23 for both well spent on Amazon lol.

Does a short bed does good than a long bed because I'm getting a truck with a short bed?

So I'm about to be out of high school and TIG welding really catches my eye, I was wonder what the salary I can make is and what jobs TIG welders do.

Hello! I’ve been commissioned to make an art piece and one of the parts is frankly out of my expertise, which brings me here. I’m looking to fuse together two iPad at a 90 degree angle 📐

While I haven’t seen any threads or videos on someone doing exactly this, I have learned that iPads are mostly aluminum. And that by heating the tip of an aluminum rod and using it almost like a pen, I could connect two aluminum pieces. Do we think this is “good enough?” Specifically, it will need to be able to firmly maintain the iPads at that angle even under pressure? Imagine a few of them stacked. Important to note, the iPads don’t need to work after the project is done. I think it would be best to remove the battery and other electronic parts before starting.

Thanks in advance! As I am a total novice please recommend how you’d approach this project from a process and tools-needed perspective!

Videos I’ve watched:

https://youtu.be/QLAjeSa6CqI?si=j1E1jT2ZCkkguA5P

https://youtu.be/p8766EWEd6k?si=Iv7ULG4JfhExf7Zk

I understand we implemented the NSFW tag to revolt against reddit and its API charges. But at this point, other subs have removed it and gone back to normal. I think it is time to open this sub back up and not automatically list every post as NSFW. I would love the opinions of fellow redditors in this group. Thank you all.

I’m in the design phase for a texturing table for my shop. The space I have for it is small, 24x30”.

I’d like to have a small space for plasma cutting with a funnel underneath to manage the detritus. I had originally thought I’d section off 6” on one end for this and replace the fixturing surface with some grate. However now I’m thinking about cutting a 10” square out of the center for the same purpose. Thoughts on this? The table isn’t big enough to be too far to reach to the center, and I usually only use plasma for cutting angle and tubing which requires a very small space.

Looking for advice, any help is appreciated.

Don’t second think going to the doctors. Im 20 years old and I just had surgery on my eye because of a spark that flew under my glasses and into my eye. I’ve had it happened before and it healed within a day so I didn’t think it was that serious. But the past few nights have been one of the worst pains I have ever experienced. I ended up going to the emergency room because the pain was so bad. When I got there they had to remove the piece with a small needle. I’m not a nervous person but when they told me that my hands started shaking. They ended up getting it out that night and I went back this morning to get the rust out that formed in my eye. I have a follow up in a few day to test my vision and I’m real worried. So please be careful welding and don’t put off those doctors appointments

I’m running jacketed pipe that will be x-rayed for a job and I seen in the route on one side that I had some suck back because it was my tight side but it looked like the walls were all broke down it just sucked back so I grinded it down pretty thin and ran a hot pass with a 3/32 at like 135-140 and and shoved that 3/32 I couldn’t see what it all looked like afterwards because it’s all fit up but do yall think that it will shoot or that it pushed that root enough.

This has been on my mind a lot the past few weeks and I haven’t really been able to ask anyone, so I figured I’d ask here. When I graduate my welding school the instructors pretty much told us all of us are guaranteed a job with a company they partner with. But my main concern is most of the companies are entry level jobs, mig, metalcore, etc. I was wondering if these would help open up a higher paying job opportunity in the future. For instance, I personally don’t like mig. Having to deal with the weight of the lead and gun, I would prefer having a stick welding job in the field. But if I take a production mig job, how would I be able to transition into a stick or tig welding career in the future if my experience is mainly wirefed applications?

General question but does anyone have recommendations for schools/training in Georgia?

I’m 19 and trying to get into welding but I’ve got no clue where to start. Was looking into the welding/joining degree at Gwinnett tech but I’d like feedback on potential better options/people’s experiences at Gwinnett tech before I sink any money/time into it.

Thanks!

I have experience working in refinery’s and plants I have a Twic . Experience as a bricklayer though . I got my stick 3g-4g cert through AWS I’m trying to find something I can take off with and leave bricklaying behind for something more consistent that brings in the same amount of money . I make 25-36 bricklaying in the plants now but it’s inconsistent

Thinking about a Christmas gift. Your thoughts on a welding setup for an 11yr old? I'm a carpenter but so far he shows more interest in fabricating metal and I wouldn't mind picking up a new skill myself.

Just need to know the simplest small setup to weld things as big as rebar to old propane tanks and as small as welding sculpting wire to metal scissors.

Could be attaching a metal fan blade to an old shovel. Things of that sort.

I plan on reading/watching/studying along with my experiments.

I just need to know what to buy to start up for this. I wont be needing to upgrade to anything heavier duty for quite some time.

Currently i have zero equipment relevant other than standard unrelated tools/power tools.

Links would be awesome but just brand names and equipment names or something could help me get started.

I want to ask 2 question.

1. Anyone know how to grind steel to become bevel for welding test (3g up)
2. Anyone known source or referency media (audio, video, document) that could help me welding fcaw 3g better!