I guess I'm going back to school

Kenbo

Kenbo

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Ken
For years, I have wanted to learn how to weld. The more work that I do on my Jeep with my off roading and off roading add ons, the more I want to learn how to weld. My local union has offered a welding course for years but I just haven't taken advantage of it. It's difficult to get a seat in the course as it fills up quickly. I don't know why I haven't tried to register as the course is free to me with my union membership as long as I am a journeyman. I finally bit the bullet and decided to try and get a seat and they accepted me today. So starting February 6th, I will begin the welding course for 6 weeks. Then after that, I will hopefully be attending the 7 week course for level 2 welding and my certification. I will find out in another week or so if I have managed to get my seat secured in that one. I'm looking forward to this. It's always good to learn new things.
 
That's awesome Ken! Welding is one of those things I've always wanted to learn but haven't gotten to it yet. Good luck! Tony
 
Awesome!! I learned to weld in the 90's at a Hollywood set shop. I loved it. I have thinking about getting back into it also....
Congratulations Ken!!!
 
Cool. I know how to turn on a welder and make inconsistent little molten globs that sometimes hold together and sometimes not. A structured class would be a huge improvement. Soak it in, good stuff to know. Just be careful who you tell. :punish:
 
I learned as a kid on the farm... Never had any formal classes, just burned a lot of rod and made it stick. Must do OK at it, about half the neighborhood brings stuff down here for me to weld up when it's broke. Probably because I have a press, and a torch, and a chop saw, and a MIG, and the baddest Stick Welder on the block.

When you get ready to buy a stick welder for your garage Ken, with all your newfound welding skills. Buy a good one! Don't run out and buy one of those damn dime a dozen red Lincoln buzz boxes. They weld, BUT..........

I don't know what the newer ones are like, but I swear by my old Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC. Yes, they do cost about 3 times what the basic Lincoln stick welder does, because it's about 3 times welder! Most of your cheaper buzz boxes jump 5 - 10 - 15 - 20 amps at a crack on the selector, the Thunderbolt you can dial in to the precise amperage you want. That's not always a big deal on flat work, but when you're doing vertical and overhead, it makes a HUGE difference!!

https://www.millerwelds.com/equipme...nderbolt-xl-225-150-ac-dc-stick-welder-m16100

I bought a used one years ago, blew something up in it, carried it down to have it repaired, they were supposed to call when it was ready; never did. Next time I got down there and checked on it, they'd gone out of business, doors were locked, shop was empty. I was NOT impressed. Got where I needed a stick welder again, and had a place to keep one, found another one on Craigslist. Guy listed it just before leaving town on business, reasonable price, I was sitting in his driveway when he got home. Nice little cart under it, hooks for the leads, casters, really nice LONG set of leads. (The leads alone were worth more than he was asking.) Said it had been parked in the closet in the garage, since they had moved in from the farm 9 years earlier, just decided to clean the closet out. Said if it didn't work he'd come get it and bring my money back to me. No way to go wrong on that deal!! I've never regretted it either!!
 
Good for you!!! I love having a little wire feed. my Miller 135 is a nice machine. can't go wrong with one of those.
 
That's great ..
I have a Cracker Jack welder 220v stick and a small wire feed ... self taught ...but I can get by .. if it's needs tacking or gorilla weld ... never very pretty but always good enough for what i need
 
I picked up welding several years ago to supplement my income. As I progressed in the business I added more and more equipment. I had had a Lincoln cracker box earlier in my adult life and lost it somewhere along the way. Never really did much with it then. A fellow minister had one he had used in a construction business and said I could have it if I could fix it. So I replaced the power cord and started welding. Next door neighbor gave me some tips and I just practiced a lot. I built a 16' lowboy trailer with it and I still use it today. (Been hauling logs with it lately). I soon purchased and SA-200 Lincoln gas driven machine that I had to spent 1400.00 getting it running again. And used it to make rig calls in the oilfield. During that time I bought a millermatic 210 mig welder. Miller 675 plasma. And other stuff to build the shop up. Then I bought a Lincoln Vantage 400 diesel driven machine. It is 500 amps 100% duty cycle. It'll run anything and everything including mig and tig. I've still got it all and still do a lot of welding, thought not as much as I was doing 10 years ago. Spending more time in the wood shop now and loving every minute of it. The trailer in this picture is the first trailer I ever built. It's probably got 500K miles on it as it has been pulled behind 3 of my own vehicles and been loaned out man times over the years. The heaviest thing I ever hauled on it was a 17K pound Case Backhoe.

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Sounds like we might need a welding forum. There's got to be a lot of potential woodworking connections. Chuck
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15
Thanks guys. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to learn a new skill and be able to apply it.
 
Nature Man said:
Sounds like we might need a welding forum. There's got to be a lot of potential woodworking connections. Chuck
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I've got a couple of friends who make live edge furniture, tables, etc and build their own metal stands to go with the tops. Very nice stuff. Your idea isn't a bad one. I've seen a lot of really nice projects that would have been a lot nicer had the welds on the metal pieces been of as high quality as the wood work. I've welded everything from pipe to drilling rigs to stuff around the house. So I've got a little experience in the field.
 
Don't worry about practice, once everyone figures out you have a welder and know how to use it, you'll get plenty!!

You are about to become everyone in the 4 wheelin club's best buddy!!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #19
Well, last night was my third class in the welding course and we finally got to some arcing and sparking. I've never done any kind of welding before and I have to say, that it takes a lot of concentration for me to lay a half decent bead. I didn't stick any rods to the base metal and I didn't burn myself so I guess it was a good start. I'm enjoying it though. I'd show my beads but I wouldn't want you guys to spill your drinks on your computers while laughing at them. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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