My instructors have been very flexible about the labs. I found that once I got in good with them and showed them I was serious about learning they gave me a lot of leeway and support around pursuing any project and process. Give it a shot.

As we've mentioned a few times, depending on what position you're trying to weld in and what you're welding TIG can be a challenge so focus on MIG. I'm sure you'll learn a lot about welding with the MIG process and have fun too!

The comment the book is making around MIG welding and security of the weld is probably related to being able to make a nice looking bead that just lays on top of the metal. If the weld isn't penetrating into the base metal it just won't hold. It will look nice but if tested it will fall apart. When you start welding make sure you test some of your stuff until you get used to recognizing good penetration of your weld. One of the MIG classes I took was an ICAR certification training class. Although I'm just a hobby guy and I'm not going into auto body work I did learn a lot about welding sheet metal in all kinds of positions with all kinds of joints. Everything we submitted for review by the instructor needed to pass two tests. The first was a visual inspection to check the length, width, height, overall quality, etc. If we passed that test we had to do a physical destruction test to pull, twist, bend or otherwise test the weld to the failure point. Each type of weld and joint had to fail in a particular way that showed the base metal, and not the weld, was the cause of failure. I had many welds that passed the visual but failed the destructive test. Took a lot of practice to learn the right techniques during welding. Spent almost as much time breaking stuff as welding but sure learned how to do it.

And yup, looks like you're picking it all up.

Gary

I also think you should take the class. Don't worry about how fast it goes, high school kids are as impatient as anybody. Listen to the intro, it doesn't hurt, nor does it take too long and it's where safety gets covered. When they let you weld, do it until they turn out the lights and tell you to go home. Don't worry about what process it happens to be, you may find that you like things that are different than what you initially expected. Much of what you do in one process applies to others anyway. If you have questions ask them here in addition to there, sometimes a different telling is easier to understand.

When I get into certain positions my hands shake too. Usually it's possible to move into a more comfortable position and the problem goes away. If you can play video games I doubt that you will have much trouble.

The reason plumbing went better than electronics for you is that you had good technique for plumbing, poor technique for electronics. If you try to carry the solder on the iron tip the flux will evaporate and you will get a poor result. Better technique, The iron tip should be just wet with solder, heat the junction until it is hot enough for the solder to melt on it, touch it with the solder (a very little bit is enough), move away and let the joint cool without moving it.

You had caps lock on when you typed this.

Bill

Different processes have different applications. For building choppers, TIG or MIG can work just fine. Heck, both processes are used on 200 mph NASCAR racers.

A little shake in the hands shouldn't be a major problem. I worked with a kid who had a bit of a shake. It wasn't a problem most of the time. With MIG, a little movement shouldn't hurt at all. It should help tie the weld into the edges.

Lack of fusion (sometimes called cold lap) is more likely with MIG in short circuit mode (which is what you want to do) than with most other processes because of the relatively limited amount of heat it puts into the work. It is possible to get something that looks like a beautiful weld, but the weld bead is just sitting on top of the base metal and not fused to it. With a little instruction and practice, it shouldn't be a problem.