[77cruiser]

Just the guys that weld for themselves. How often do you weld to keep staying good or as good as you can be?
I find that if I haven't welded for a while it takes a couple pounds of rod to get decent again. Tig well I probably will never get like some of you.

[cj737]

Even when I weld daily, some days, you just ain’t got it, others you do. If I haven’t welded in a couple of weeks, it takes a few pieces to get my sh!t together. Any time I have to weld something that must be right, and pretty, I run practice beads to get dialed in. I’m just not good enough to do it out of the gate every time.

[Oscar]

Same here, I have to really hyper-focus the second the arc is struck if I want to maintain some kind of reasonableness to the weld bead. Not having a lot of projects due to work sucks, but oh well, you can't have both money and free time, lol.

[Poland308]

Amen! Weld at work and at home. But an off day is just normal. Gets worse if you keep switching process and metals. I sometimes need a good week straight to get back in a good groove.

[JayWal]

Same here. Thats why i hate 2 or 3 piece jobs, by the time you finally get a really nice weld the jobs done and you feel like grinding off the first couple welds

[Oscar]

just tell the customer, "these welds emit a lot of UV-A and UV-B rays long after the weld is finished, if I were you, I'd paint these right away, and never look at them again, for your safety."

[77cruiser]

Well I don't feel so bad then. But then again I haven't post many pics of my work.

[nomoreusmc]

Well I don't feel so bad then. [emoji38] But then again I haven't post many pics of my work.

Lol that's why I don't post pics of my wire. I know it sucks, I only do it 2 or 3 times a year, everything else gets tigged


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[nomoreusmc]

Lol that's why I don't post pics of my wire. I know it sucks, I only do it 2 or 3 times a year, everything else gets tigged.


Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

[bap_]

Just the guys that weld for themselves. How often do you weld to keep staying good or as good as you can be?
I find that if I haven't welded for a while it takes a couple pounds of rod to get decent again. Tig well I probably will never get like some of you.

I take a night class 1 day per week down at my local CC. I try to get out to the garage at least once a week in addition. I find the classes to be worth it big time. I've been doing it for a year and a half now and it is unlimited material and gas and about 4 hours of hood time with no prep work. I normally only go through about 3/4 rods of 308L and 3/4 rods of er70s-2 per session. At some point I will jump over to AL as well, but at the moment I am focused on steels.

I find that it normally takes me about an 30/45 mins to get warmed up, get my arc tight, get my head out of the puddle (lol). I'll run a great little 5 piece coupon that covers a good number of joints and try to run it in different positions. I posted a drawing here if interested: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13813

I'm probably not even "decent" compared to the folks around here, but I have a fantastic time while I am having a go and to me that is what its all about.

[77cruiser]

Since I'm not a pro I'll throw out a couple of half way decent looking bubble gum jobs.

[LtBadd]

Looks good, what machine are you using?

[77cruiser]

Looks good, what machine are you using?

Mid 80's Dialarc.

[Oscar]

Since I'm not a pro I'll throw out a couple of half way decent looking bubble gum jobs.

I knew it! You're from the future! Busted! Y'all time travelers messed up and now we know you're here in our time!

[burnttoast]

Do this as a hobby. when I mess up on a weld, I just grind it off and re-weld it until I'm satisfy. In fact, this gives me more practice. so far I've built a welding and torch cutting carts, and they haven't failed yet.