Yes, I would do the same. Becoming a fabricator seems like it would be the natural progression. I’m sure it would turn into another expensive hobby and I’d have metal shit all over the house!
I thought when you learn to weld you become a weldor.
Welding advice
- Thread starter Chasitek
- Start date
I thought when you learn to weld you become a weldor.
You can. The offer is serious though. Not even the least bit of a problem. Don't buy stick welding gloves, you want heavy Mig gloves. Not enough dexterity with the stick gloves.
Against sound practices, you want to keep the puddle up on the heavy and just do a quick wash to lead it over to the edge of the thin stuff. It is going to want to do that anyway since it is a horizontal weld and if you aren't careful it will just wash over and down way past the top edge. If you are practiced, you would just do a straight horizontal weld and the normal tendency to flow down would handle the edge of the mount and you would control that by the position of the weld bead by watching it flow down and then move fast enough to keep that relationship consistent.
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When you break out into construction framing, you don't generally do that because you learned how to swing a hammer.Yes, I would do the same. Becoming a fabricator seems like it would be the natural progression. I’m sure it would turn into another expensive hobby and I’d have metal shit all over the house!
I thought when you learn to weld you become a weldor.
I agree that a cheater lens is probably a better way to go with a helmet. I'm kind of use to reading glasses though. I also use them under my welding goggles when O/A gas welding.
man, 50 hit and my eyes went to shit. i got 10 pair layin all over, and never 1 in reach when you need um.......probably 3 pair out in the jeep right now.
blaines spot on about muscle memory, if you do this crap enough you only need to see where to start and where to stop.
There are a few places under rigs where I have to weld behind something that blocks the clear view of the electrode. Just pull the trigger and let memory do the job. Listen for the spatter to let you know you are staying in the puddle too long and start moving. They turn out surprisingly good.
That sounds about right. I was roughly 50 too when I started to weld left when I should have gone right. I hit the $Store for cheap reading glasses and have them all over my shop and in my Jeeps too.
There may be hope for you though. I started wearing glasses for distance in my mid-20's. I couldn't drive without them. In my mid-60's I thought that my eyes were getting better. I saw my eye Doctor and they had improved to a few levels above the legal need for them. She filled out various forms, sent them to the MOT and I got a new licence in the mail about 3 weeks later. No glasses needed!
My eyes have decided they have one trait and that is to change. I used to be very far sighted and needed glasses for reading and watching something like TV but not driving. Then they changed to where I still needed glasses for reading and not for TV or driving. Then they changed again to where I don't need them for welding or reading but now I need them for TV and driving. The driving part is subjective since I screwed that up when I went to the DMV. I chose to get glasses for driving so I could read street signs at night. Stupidly when I went in for my license I read their dumb little chart with them on, they put driving glasses required, then I took them off and could still read the chart. Guessing you have to be nearly blind to fail that chart.
Eyesight definitely changes over time for a lot of people. I first realized I needed glasses when I was driving at night and the taillights of some of the cars ahead of me looked like one horizontal light. Signs were a big problem too. I was initially near sighted but I eventually needed bifocals.
I have no problems now (driving, signs, reading, TV, etc). I often use reading glasses for detailed maps, some wiring jobs and as mentioned welding. I won't enter my shop without safety glasses though. I've had a few close calls over the years and I don't want to go there again!
I have problems with seeing the area outside of the weld pool (can't see where I am going) and am looking to upgrade to a new helmet. I am looking at the Lincoln Viking 3350, anyone have any experience with this helmet? I have also been using reading glasses, but I am going to look into the cheater lens because I would prefer to have on safety glasses. Any other hood recommends?
Love my 3350 but I don’t weld as much as others on here nor have I tried them all.
Way better than what I grew up with and learned with.
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This is what I got so far. I probably will cut one open just to see how the penetration is. I don’t plan on welding anything that matters until I practice a hell of a lot more. Is the heat ring looking better? I will say i didn’t wait for anything to cool down. I just wanted to practice and my impatience got the best of me. I know blaine said to try and just run lines without e’s c’s o’s etc. i did a bunch of those before this these and these are a mix of trying to figure out which I like best.
I would practice on controlling your speed. I found learning how to push the puddle is easier, contrary to what is posted here. I have burned a lot of rod and wire over the past 35 years. It takes patience and practice. Try pushing your puddle and not dragging it and see how you like it. Easier to get penetration while pushing the weld as well.
.025? that's good for sheet metal work. you'll burn it up fast runnin welds on thicker material.
.030 will be fine for 16ga up to 7ga. slightly more power to run but less wire fed through the unit.
and .035 for 7ga to 3/8", but 110V kinda keeps you out of this realm. your machine might run the wire but lacks the power to penetrate deep enough to anchor a weld sized for that thick a material.
wire and gas are consumables and you wanna try and keep your cost to operate low.
so gas only needs to be just able to shield the weld, any more is a waste.
with wire, to small a diameter and your gonna burn right through it. if the material can take the heat it takes to use thicker wire, use it.
.030 will be fine for 16ga up to 7ga. slightly more power to run but less wire fed through the unit.
and .035 for 7ga to 3/8", but 110V kinda keeps you out of this realm. your machine might run the wire but lacks the power to penetrate deep enough to anchor a weld sized for that thick a material.
wire and gas are consumables and you wanna try and keep your cost to operate low.
so gas only needs to be just able to shield the weld, any more is a waste.
with wire, to small a diameter and your gonna burn right through it. if the material can take the heat it takes to use thicker wire, use it.