[delraydella]

Most of my greatest joys in welding come from filling in quarter and half dollar size holes blasted into thin sheet metals by someone who has never welded before and figures that if a dimwit like me can weld, surely they must be at least 500 times better at it than me.

I was working on a show some years ago, and a lot of it was railings made from thin wall conduit. I got pretty good at arc welding thin wall conduit! During the build,we also had to fabricate some fog machines from light weight 55 gallon drums and Unistrut. My "assistant", a young upstart (read as complete asshole) wanted my job and told my boss that all my welds were no good, would break off during the run of the show, that he was the only one who could weld and finish up the show. My boss came down and said that my assistant would take over the welding of the fog macines. I laughed and said okay, knowing that he had never before welded in his life. I handed him the leads and went home.

All he had to do was weld Unistrut to the barrels to hold the control panels. When I came in the next day, there were huge holes in the barrels where he tried to attach the Unistrut. His first words to me was that my arc welder was a p.o.s.( it was basically all my fault that he had burned through).


It didn't take too long for me to figure out what had happened. The barrels were roughly 16 gauge, the unistrut was probably 1/8th inch, both were powder coated finished. He never ground off the paint so when he tried to strike an arc nothing happened. Since the arc never struck, he figured that my thinwall settings must be wrong so he kept cranking it up. He finally did get an arc to strike.......at high output and 240 amps!


I filled in the holes, the machines held water, the welds held way past the run of the show, he never got my job , I still have that old buzzbox and he never once said thank you.

[weldin mike 27]

Hi,

Guys like that are the reason you should be able to smother people on the spot. No trial, just a pillow, nice and neat.

I mean how dumb can ya get. Talking yourself up when you have never even welded before. And bagging out a skilled welder. DUH!!!

Mick

[delraydella]

Mick,

"Guys like that are the reason you should be able to smother people on the spot. No trial, just a pillow, nice and neat."


That would be a nice option!

I figured my best plan of action back then was to keep my mouth shut and let him dig his own grave. It worked then, but he never gave up on the idea that he was a better welder than me. A few months after that incident, I got a better job and took my welder with me. Since it was the only one in that shop, he went out and bought a really nice Lincoln mig. Some friends who still worked there told me that his mig welds looked even worse than his arc welds and it drove him crazy because he couldn't figure out why they were so bad..............no one had ever told him that he needed shielding gas!


Steve

[Greg From K/W]

LOL Guess he needs to read up on this site. Don't tell him about it and see how long he is around. lol You may get a promotion in your near future.

[weldin mike 27]

Hi there,



"I figured my best plan of action back then was to keep my mouth shut and let him dig his own grave"

Thats usually the best idea. Make em look bad by clearing up their mess while keeping your mouth shut. You can never argue with an imbecile or an asshole. You will always lose whether you are right or wrong. If this guy mig welds with out shielding gas, just hand him the pillow and let him do it himself, cos there is a Darwin award coming up in his future.

Mick

[eliotmay]

What I like is going out to the shop ( my wife calls it the garage) and firing up the miller and making something artsy or functional or just trying something new. I don't like the day job interfering with my shop work and 2: not having a rediculus fab shop with all the trimmings! In due time amigos, in due time! Dream: fabricating tuna towers or roll cages or semi bumper guard dealios or some such things. I like making gates and fences and artsy stuff. Wish list includes miller 211 mig. Damn I like to mig! Surgery is great ( day job) but welding is a fun creative release!

[opiesvtx]

I really like the fact that if you do a really nice job it shows.

[Fluxedup]

I like that I'm the best!
I hate x-Ray day
Never failed one, but your always thinking..

[Otto Nobedder]

I bet you weld at nuke plants. That's the only place I've seen that attitude!

Most of us are striving to improve, That's pretty hard to do when you've decided you're the best.

Steve

[weldin mike 27]

Hi there,

Good point Otto, When you are the best its just further to fall.

What I tell everyone, Modesty and Humbleness will take you farther than pure skill by itself.

Merry Christmas to all.
Mick

[JoeSparks]

I like it when I'm lucky and I like it when I'm smart. Lucky as in welding a cracked cast iron exhaust manifold, preheating in a Webber grill and having it hold as good as new. Smart as in remembering some of the metallurgy I studied in school (40 years ago, Electrical Engineers in Pittsburgh had to take three courses in the metallurgy of steel) to help me keep hard stuff from going soft and soft stuff from going hard.

Pet peeve is having the spool of wire be about a foot short of what I need to complete the weld.