Welding Tips and Tricks

hello i am from canada but currently taking some welding courses in new zealand... i am very interested in getting started in rope access welding.. from the research i have done and asking alot of questions to my teachers it would seem that stick/arc/mmaw welding would be the best suited for this line of work. can anyone confirm this and does anyone know any rope access welders? or have any experience with welding at heights... thank you

it took me sec to figure what the heck rope access welding was. welder's are a versatile bunch. from going underwater to working on ultra high radio towers and everything in between. the name is kinda confusing though maybe they should call it rappelding?? lol
i worked on lots of high-rise towers and a couple bridges. we used ladders, electric and hand cranked scaffolds and once or twice rope scaffolds plus bucket trucks and man-lifts and bosun's chairs. heights really weren't a concern for me but that was long ago. i'm not sure i could manage it today. several year's ago i heard someone was using climbing technique's for building and bridge inspection.

Jack welcome to the forum.

thank you very much gentlemen i am very excited to learn as much as possible and become a quality welder

so when you were working on the high rises and bridges did you do alot of stick welding??

jackpatterson wrote:so when you were working on the high rises and bridges did you do alot of stick welding??

yeah, lots of stick welding and dual shield mig also especially on the lower floors where the columns were about 4" thick and we had to splice them together. also besides the columns there were moment plates that were full penetration. these were anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 inches thick.

dual shield mig? is that like flux core mig?
and how would one go about getting a job on a bridge or highrise? welding on a bridge is mydream job

jackpatterson wrote:dual shield mig? is that like flux core mig?
and how would one go about getting a job on a bridge or highrise? welding on a bridge is mydream job

you may want to re-think that dream job cause working a few hundred feet in the air sitting on an upturned bucket (or hanging by your tail) for hours on end welding in the winter months is something less than a dream. but if you absolutely must do it get the proper certs and come to a larger city where there are some bridges then look for the equipment that's being used on the never ending repair projects get the co name and start from there.

thank you sir. that all sounds good compared to my last job and the pay will be better which is always a nice bonus

i am currently welding a 10mm plate downhand with 7018 rod. it is about 150mm long and the wps has me stop starting.... so at about the last 2 cm my arc goes all fubar most of the time and blows through as well as alot of flux falling of 1 side of the rod... i thought it was blowback and i changed the location of my ground clamp every once in a while but it still happens so i started cooling my piece of in water after every run (maybe the heat was just devestating my rod) ... and it still happens... so does anyone have any idea what a noob like me should do..

don't thank me yet. as my previous post suggested it's not all flat welding in a comfy shop. you're outside in all kinds of weather and accidents that maim or kill are very common despite safety precautions.