NEW TO WELDING!!!!

Date 04-30-2009 16:58

Welcome to the forums! My best advice to you right now is to keep your eyes and ears open, and read some of the many threads in this forum. And good luck!

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 05-01-2009 20:51

Exactly what Kahunna said. I'm learning Tig now at school at night but have been down the stick and mig road but by no means as good as guys on here. One thing I find that I repeat to other guys at school when they are fighting the stick is this. I always tell them you have to watch the pool but you also have to pay attention to what your hand is doing as far as movement, arc length, stick angle. One guy would start his vertical up and by the time he got to the top of the plate he must have had a 45 degree angle or more on it. He was not aware of it until I said, hey could be something behind the top of your weld looking like crap for that reason. He was not moving his had as he went up, started at the correct angle but kept his wrist fixed to the top.

For me it was really concentrating and paying attention to my movements. If you find you undercut on your vert up on the right side but left side was good, as I did, I watched what I was doing, found myself angled more to the left. Little things like that along with the pool control and so on. The best advise I have heard is just get out and burn rod, you can't get it from a book and the guy in the booth next to you may do it different and it may or may not work for you. A bunch of guys at school run their 7018 on the easy bake oven setting(hot 140's plus) for their vertical up. I ran mine around 120 as was my overhead. I had x-ray on both and no problems. Other guys run that low and they stick the rod. I run it hot and I suck. Everybody is different. Being on here though you can ask questions and get advise and try something that may work for you.

Good luck!

By Adamcahalan Date 05-03-2009 03:44

Thank you very much for the advice guys, i really really appreaciate it. is there any sites i should check out or anything i can do before job corps to kinda get ahead? i know it will take several years to develop even a modest name in the field but i really would like to learn as much as i can before i get to campus so i can have sort of a leg up... i have been studying websites, symbol sheets, you name it but i've always figured the best way to learn something is to pick the brains of the highly skilled haha.

Adam Cahalan

By 250-1500 (*)

Date 05-03-2009 13:35

hey adam, i am a job corps welding graduate. these other guys on the forum have told you some good advice about welding but if you are gonna make it through job corps you are probably gonna want some advice on center life. first and foremost before you even set foot in that job corps center you have got to make the decision that you are gonna be, MUST be successful. there are a lot of distractions at job corps, so stay focused on your goals. choose your friends wisely. you will hear this a million times and it is very true, ignore the drama! dont get caught up in all the BS and nonsense that other students get involved with. follow the rules, they may seem stupid, but the staff take it all seriously. if you get caught drinkin or smokin weed or shoplifting or anything illegal you will be on the bus goin home with absoulutely nothing to show for it. a lot of friends and people i knew got the boot, it was not cool to see them go. you are allowed 2 years at the center without an extension, take advantage of as much of that time as you can, get your GED and/or Diploma, get your drivers licence, learn how to make a good resume. you may go nuts living in a dorm with 50 other dudes, but if you can force yourself to stay and learn as much as possible you will be better off when you finally leave. if you push yourself you can get pretty good at welding in 2 years but also remember when you get on the job, you really dont know dick about the real world so stay humble even if your beads are bad ass. when you are in the shop, stay in your booth and weld dont be like those jakoffs that are always wandering around doin nothing. in my opinion, stick and tig are worth focusing on more than mig or fluxcore. wear your freakin safety glasses!

By Yung Buck (*)

Date 05-03-2009 14:21

Couldn't have said it better myself. I left Job Corp in January, graduated from there. And the center life drove me nuts. But, it really isn't a bad place to get the basics of welding down.

Adam, one thing to remember is their's a lot of students to each instructor. If you're having troubles with something, keep buggin the instructor until he goes and assists you. That alone can get frustrating at times, because they'll wonder off. And if that does happen, look for the person everyone else goes to for help. I went through the welding program in 8 months. (Well, 8 months on center total.) It's not too bad though. Stay away from the people that are determined to do wrong and you'll be just fine.

By weldhawk71 (**)

Date 05-05-2009 19:42

Stay under the helmet! If you have the eye hand coordination needed to weld, then the only way to get good is through good old practice! Best of luck!

By jsdwelder (***)

Date 05-05-2009 20:26

What you will find is welding is easy!! Just ask anyone. All ya do is melt the metal together. Yeah right. Being a great welder is a different story. As the others have said listen, learn and burn. Practice, practice and more practice. And when you think your good, practice some more. The best piece of advice I could give a newbee is to ALWAYS take pride in your work, from tack to cover pass. Your weld is your signature. The few minutes it might take to make a weld will be looked at forever!!

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 05-07-2009 21:33

jsdwelder said, "The few minutes it might take to make a weld will be looked at forever!!"

You pretty much said it all right there

By Adamcahalan Date 05-18-2009 05:35

Wow guys, i didn't expect this much feed back at all, thank you all so much, i think my best quality is im focused. I've known since i was a sophmore in highschool (i graduated this week) that i was going to job corps and i was going to weld. My main concern though is that employers will see job corps on a resume and look down at it, has this been a problem for anyone?

By Billyjoe (***)

Date 06-04-2009 05:17

The way the welding job are right now ,meaning there are none , you need to buy you a hot dog cart