October 2nd is my first anniversary as a professional welder

[Chill Phil]

Originally Posted by uh-oh

props man

i gotta learn welding. im leaving a ton of money on the table since i can't weld at my job, and alot of the welding jobs are relatively simple, outside of like fabricating a piece for something you can't just buy. but the majority of the welding jobs are like a rocker panel, or a patch for a quarter panel or bedside of a truck for example. where i would just cut out the bad part, and then weld the good part on, grind it down etc.

they've offered me free hours to learn so i might start next week, my pops knows that shit so i can have him walk me through it. my boss, who is my age and knows literally nothing is fine with me just tinkering with the welder and shit unsupervised and im like, ehhh nah i'm good. im worried about catching shit on fire though.

not sure what your welding job is like but i'm assuming its factory type manufacturing welding? but when i do begin welding on actual cars and shit i gotta worry about a spark flying and catching the interior of something on fire, or when working on bedsides or quarters im right but the gastank/gas doors and shit. obviously we have blankets and shit you use to put inbetween stuff

but word i just have to get over my own fear of fucking up. because those welding jobs i have to pass over to the main body guy pay crazy hours and alot of the time are much quicker and simpler than fixing a mangled door or something.

i might have some QUESTIONS. once i begin tinkering with it for tips and shit. i think we just got a big mig welder i think? maybe tig i dont know one of those sounds right lol, but its just a cart that rolls around. i remember finding out that it actually has a wire and being like ohhh that makes sense. i used to think you just melted the metal that was already there, but its like a wire being fed out and melting to get the two metals to bond or whatever. thats how ignorant i am of the process

Yeah, I weld in a nice sized factory. Big ass "kits," come in and we put it all together, tack it, and then weld it. Right now I'm doing 18 foot dozer blades. Which takes two people that know what they're doing about 9 hours start to finish.

I would think Tig welding would be safer on cars, particularly near the gas tank. Tig is the only process where using filler metal or base metal can be optional.

I do mig welding at the shop. If I were to suggest a process I'd recommend fcaw (stick) welding. You can do that shit outside. That's where the serious money is. TIG can pay well too because they use that process for.aircraft...but the pressure is immense because if your weld breaks, shit rolls down hill. Instead.of the company taking the blame, they'll place that responsibility on the welder.

Do it uh-oh. If you have any inclination at all towards it...it pays big, and is relatively easy once you figure out technique

[uh-oh]

Originally Posted by Chill Phil

Yeah, I weld in a nice sized factory. Big ass "kits," come in and we put it all together, tack it, and then weld it. Right now I'm doing 18 foot dozer blades. Which takes two people that know what they're doing about 9 hours start to finish.

I would think Tig welding would be safer on cars, particularly near the gas tank. Tig is the only process where using filler metal or base metal can be optional.

I do mig welding at the shop. If I were to suggest a process I'd recommend fcaw (stick) welding. You can do that shit outside. That's where the serious money is. TIG can pay well too because they use that process for.aircraft...but the pressure is immense because if your weld breaks, shit rolls down hill. Instead.of the company taking the blame, they'll place that responsibility on the welder.

Do it uh-oh. If you have any inclination at all towards it...it pays big, and is relatively easy once you figure out technique

word i don't want to be an actual welder by profession, i'm content with doing body work honestly, i enjoy it. there are only two things i can't do, which is operate the frame rack/frame machine, (used for pulling dented frames and huge things you can't pull by hand), and welding. i really just need the basic skill of welding, and even alot of it is pretty simple because we can do alot of shit, somethings don't require a full weld, like i can cut out a piece, and have the new piece be slightly bigger, and just hammer the one down, so the new piece overlaps, so you don't need it super precise how you cut it or whatever, just put like 5 spot welds on something so its held together and then just seam seal/grind/put body filler and smooth it out

so i just need to start doing it. the frame machines a bit more difficult because we got an old school one that works off measurements and shit manually, where as if i end up going to a dealership or a shop thats up to date there frame machines got lasers and computer shit i've never messed with/learned.

but yea man im gonna get into it. next week i'll basically just be taking scrap metal that we got around the shop and welding shit together, getting a feel for the machine and temperatures and shit so im not melting through things etc.

i just gotta remind myself i knew nothing of the numerous things i already do, and i was shook to mess up when starting those so this should be no different.

except i can burn the shop down of course lol