I welded something! Yay!

I welded something successfully for the first time earlier tonight. We have a bunch of fancy TIG machines just sitting around at work, because of all the fabrication that is involved in building a brand new brewery. So I fired one up, pulled some scrap stainless out of the junk bin, and tried my hand.

I finally got the hang of not blowing through stuff (turn the amp setting down, or work faster), and how to make the "puddle" follow the welding tip. After a few junk welds, I decided to make a tool for opening barrels of chemicals (the caps are insanely hard to get off, unless you buy the opener from the company, and apparently my employer is too cheap for that), and that worked out really well. And then I tried welding 2" tubing end-to-end...man that is hard.

Anyway, yay! I feel like a little kid for getting excited over something pretty silly, but oh well. Carry on.

Color me impressed....I have only tried TIG twice, and certainly did not make anything useful while doing it. If you are starting with TIG, any other welding should be easy.

If you can halfway weld decent with TIG, MIG would seem like childs play I bet. Of course this is from what I have been told, I don't know how to TIG yet, but pretty good with MIG. One of these days I will try and learn TIG.

Pretty useless without pics!

JoeyM wrote: Color me impressed....I have only tried TIG twice, and certainly did not make anything useful while doing it. If you are starting with TIG, any other welding should be easy.

If the point of TIG welding is to melt then breathe tungsten fume I am awesome at it.

Here's a picture of my very first Tungsten inclusion (no joke)

Oh don't get me wrong, the things I did weld look like ass. They are not pretty welds, and the tool I made, it's just a small piece of 1/4" thick sheet welded to a 12" long piece of 2"x2" square tube. The piece of sheet gets thinner as it approaches the weld, meaning I have no idea what I'm doing and heated it up too much haha. And the tubing I tried to weld...yea, burned right through it in several places, even with the current really low.

I'll snap a picture tonight (it's at work) and post it.

I have seen a guy weld two razor blades together. Two beer cans. OK, he worked for Miller, and was a rock star welder, but it can be done. To me, TIG is a Pagan Art. Many hours with MIG and gas, tried to TIG a few times, but mucho practice is needed. Miller has some how-to videos on line, take a look.

To be honest, I have spent way more time on TIG that MIG. I prefer it to MIG and I really want a TIG machine.

I find TIG easier than MIG

But it's harder to be a rockstar TIG welder than a rockstar MIG welder IMHO.

Stick+TIG for life.

Rock on! I took a welding class this quarter at the local community college to figure it out, so doing it on your own is epic to me!

About 6 months ago we reorganized the shop here at work. After doing so the MIG's no longer reached my layout table. Instead of bothering the other guys all the time I just left the TIG torch and pedal in my area as I was the only person who ever used them anyway. Last month I realized I hadn't touched a MIG for almost 4 months and my TIG skills went from "not too embarrasing" to "I want to take pictures of these and carry them in my wallet"

Stick welding? I think of it as a dead process. It is handy on 1/2" or thicker metals but in my line of work if you are using plate that thick you need to redesign your piece because you are doing it wrong. I work with a guy who is an ex roughneck and has built oil rigs in harsh environments all over the USA and even he hasn't touched a stick welder in 20 years.

I tried welding a door handle for my F150. The metal I used was too thin. I plan on a second trial.

Hey Twin Cam, you gonna send us free samplers when production kicks on?

Fellow GRMers are always entitled to free samples, as far as I'm concerned! Only problem is, you'll have to come to us, shipping beer through the mail is frowned upon If you do find yourself in the central PA area, be sure to contact me and I'll show you around the brewery and get you some free beer. That goes for anyone here.

Stick may be a dead art but it's not a dead process, in my non-professional opinion

Keep at it, welding will be a very valuable skill in a brewery as well as elsewhere.

I spent most of my time in welding and fabrication school on the TIG machine. At first I spent more time walking back and forth to the tungsten sharpening/grinding wheel than I did welding, but after a while it became second nature.

Stick is still a useful process on 1/4" plate and above, usually necessary for those thicknesses. It's even harder to do than TIG in my opinion. Doing uphill vertical groove or butt welds with certain electrode types (I think the 60XX series, but it's been a while) is one of the hardest things I've ever done with my hands. All my certifications are in stick welding, but I hope I never have to touch an electrode clamp ever again.

My instructor was a wizard... welded on stuff that is still orbiting Earth to this day. The beer can trick was his specialty.

Twin_Cam wrote: Fellow GRMers are always entitled to free samples, as far as I'm concerned! Only problem is, you'll have to come to us, shipping beer through the mail is frowned upon If you do find yourself in the central PA area, be sure to contact me and I'll show you around the brewery and get you some free beer. That goes for anyone here.

Hummmmm My son wants to go to steam town.. .. . . . . This would make for a really cool Dad & Son mini vacation!!!!!

Twin_Cam wrote: If you do find yourself in the central PA area, be sure to contact me and I'll show you around the brewery and get you some free beer. That goes for anyone here.

Honey! Put in ur gud teef, I hear dey got free beer!

Twin_Cam wrote: If you do find yourself in the central PA area, be sure to contact me and I'll show you around the brewery and get you some free beer. That goes for anyone here.

Don't bend over.

We do Hersheypark every year at the end of June - book me a time for the tour now!

I find TIG easier. If you weld too slowly, back off the pedal. Too fast, put your foot down. MIG means that you have to work with your settings.

But congratulations. It took me a year of welding to get decent at MIG and TIG. By no means a Fonzy welder lol.

Twin_Cam wrote: Fellow GRMers are always entitled to free samples, as far as I'm concerned! Only problem is, you'll have to come to us, shipping beer through the mail is frowned upon If you do find yourself in the central PA area, be sure to contact me and I'll show you around the brewery and get you some free beer. That goes for anyone here.

Worth the trip for Hopback!

1. Obviously, the free beer is within limits. I can get you discounted drafts at the bar and I can bring in a six-pack for you from my stash. We used to just be able to pour drafts for our friends...those days are long gone!
2. I by no means have mastered TIG. It looks like hell when I'm done still.
3. HopBack- bleh. Drink some Troegenator

Free fights as soon as Wifey is done training.