[Hacktacular]

Hello everyone!

I will be learning to TIG in my spare time. I am going to have to teach myself with your help!
I hope the videos and forums can get me started.

Here in Miami it is hard to find a good instructor. I am hoping to teach myself. I will be asking questions along the way.

For now I will be using the Alpha TIG 200. I have never welded anything so this will be fun...

I look forward to all of the positive feedback I will receive along the way!!

Thanks for having me!

[Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

[Braehill]

Hack,
Welcome to the forum.


Feel free to put out any question you have, we pride ourselves in answering questions without beating you over the head for not knowing. We have members with all levels of experience, from just learning, like yourself to folks with decades of welding all manner of things. You can ask anything from which end does the cement come out of this thing to how do I set up a back purge on duplex stainless and get the same level of respect in the answer, so ask away.

Len

[Hacktacular]

Hack,
Welcome to the forum.


Feel free to put out any question you have, we pride ourselves in answering questions without beating you over the head for not knowing. We have members with all levels of experience, from just learning, like yourself to folks with decades of welding all manner of things. You can ask anything from which end does the cement come out of this thing to how do I set up a back purge on duplex stainless and get the same level of respect in the answer, so ask away.

Len

Good stuff, thank for the warm welcome!!

I am not ready to try yet, have most of what I need but still need to rearrange the garage and get a screen to protect the little one when she decides to sneak up on me...lol

[Boomer63]

Welcome to the forum!
I am a welding instructor. Sadly, there are some pretty bad ones out there. On the other hand, no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Watching video is great, but as a noob, you figure out really quick that there is a huge difference between you and the guy in the video. And, a real pro like Jody MAKES it look easy!

Try to get a welding job somewhere, anywhere. Even if it is a notorious 'sweat shop'. You have to start somewhere, and you need as much practice as you can get. As you weld, don't worry about how much wire you can lay down, or how much rod you can burn. Concern yourself with always, always, always doing a quality work. Learn to self-correct. You have undercut? Usually that means your angle was wrong. Angles are very, very important (work angle, travel angle). Again, keep seeking information, learn the terminology; learn how welder talk. Get experience. Keep asking questions. Be adaptable!

Feel free to email me if you have questions!
Gary

[Hacktacular]

Welcome to the forum!
I am a welding instructor. Sadly, there are some pretty bad ones out there. On the other hand, no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Watching video is great, but as a noob, you figure out really quick that there is a huge difference between you and the guy in the video. And, a real pro like Jody MAKES it look easy!

Try to get a welding job somewhere, anywhere. Even if it is a notorious 'sweat shop'. You have to start somewhere, and you need as much practice as you can get. As you weld, don't worry about how much wire you can lay down, or how much rod you can burn. Concern yourself with always, always, always doing a quality work. Learn to self-correct. You have undercut? Usually that means your angle was wrong. Angles are very, very important (work angle, travel angle). Again, keep seeking information, learn the terminology; learn how welder talk. Get experience. Keep asking questions. Be adaptable!

Feel free to email me if you have questions!
Gary

Awesome advice! I am so damn anal I doubt Ill ever be happy with myself! HAHAHAHA. I wished there was an instructor near me that I could weld with while they critique me. I feel good about learning and teaching myself, its what I've done my entire life! NO FEAR! The truth of the matter is, I wont be teaching myself, ill be learning from you guys/girls!

[Boomer63]

@Hack - I have found from experience that a lot of the guys can identify discontinuity, but can't identify WHY they are seeing the bad result they are seeing. I think the ability to do that is important. Once you can run some good beads, try running two or three inches while knowingly having the rod at a bad angle, or travel speed to fast, travel speed to slow, or heat too high/low, etc. You see where I am going with this? Look at the result, and remember what you look at.

I do an exercise with the students, when they get to MIG, where I take them one at a time, and have someone in the shop turn off the gas on their machine and keep welding. Then I ask student to listen for anything that is out of the ordinary. After a minute or two, they can usually pick up on the machine with no gas. I can hear a machine operating with no gas from a long way off. I have the students practice for a few beads with the gas off, so they really, really understand what no gas looks like, sounds like and feels like when they weld. That way, they can instantly tell if their own machine has the gas off, or hear if some other welder has the machine with the gas off. I just put this example out there to demonstrate ways in which you can train yourself to not only identify what is right, but what is wrong and what to do about it.

[Hacktacular]

@Hack - I have found from experience that a lot of the guys can identify discontinuity, but can't identify WHY they are seeing the bad result they are seeing. I think the ability to do that is important. Once you can run some good beads, try running two or three inches while knowingly having the rod at a bad angle, or travel speed to fast, travel speed to slow, or heat too high/low, etc. You see where I am going with this? Look at the result, and remember what you look at.

I do an exercise with the students, when they get to MIG, where I take them one at a time, and have someone in the shop turn off the gas on their machine and keep welding. Then I ask student to listen for anything that is out of the ordinary. After a minute or two, they can usually pick up on the machine with no gas. I can hear a machine operating with no gas from a long way off. I have the students practice for a few beads with the gas off, so they really, really understand what no gas looks like, sounds like and feels like when they weld. That way, they can instantly tell if their own machine has the gas off, or hear if some other welder has the machine with the gas off. I just put this example out there to demonstrate ways in which you can train yourself to not only identify what is right, but what is wrong and what to do about it.

HA! A good teacher you are sir! We do that in the shop with automation. We will lock things on or change the logic to cause funky problems and stand back and watch them scramble. It is good training. One of the last things I need is a cylinder of argon and tungsten for the torch. I am not so sure the torch that came with this Alpha 200 is all that great but I want to try it out anyway, that way it will only get better when I upgrade it. I will be reaching out to you I am sure! Thanks again bud!!