Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello there, i am relatively new to welding (i am currently a welding student in the Stick process, overhead position.) at our school we do Stick,flux,mig,tig, in that order. anyways, to get to the point, at my home i do not own a garage, so my only place to weld would be outside, And i had a few questions about it, i am planing on tig welding, i assume i should invest a few dollars in some welding curtains (not sure if its the right name, but see this link for what im talking about http://www.steelguardsafety.com/wp-cont ... 3x923.jpeg) in order to protect against wind, and neighbors hurting their eyes if they look over at me while im welding. so, would this be a good investment?

second,and final question, is welding outside in the winter with tig ok? (between -10 to -30 Degrees Celsius) dont worry, im aware its absolutely horrible for weld strenght. but i would be welding outside in the winder only to get some practice on some scrap pieces, stacking beads and all that good stuff just to get used to it. so im for sure not worried about the strenght of the weld, because it wont really matter to be honest, so i guess my question is will the weld look similar as it would welding in the spring or summer? i assume you would have to take your time to start so that you get a proper puddle to get going, but other than that, is the feedback you get from looking at your weld after you are done welding similar to what you would get in warm weather? because if it isnt, it might be more harmful than helpful to practice in the winter if ill pick up weird habbits from "bad feedback" that i would get from the bead afterwards.

i know its a very long post and apologies about it in advance, but i thank you for reading. any help is more than appreciated,

have a wonderful day!

regards
Noah/Least Honorable

Welcome to the forum.
I commend you for trying to get practice in adversity.
Welding curtains don't cost much and do well to keep wind off where you're welding and also afford eye protection as you envisage. You can always make the frames yourself to keep costs down if that is an issue.
As for welding outside in the freaking cold (good luck with that) you will need to store your coupons inside to keep them warm or you should preheat them prior to welding (propane torch, oven etc only nead to be above 0*C, 32*F). It may or may not be a problem welding them cold but the point is you want to replicate conditions in your school booth for consistency while you're learning.
What do you wear outside while welding to keep warm and is it flammable? Important consideration.
Cheers,
Vic.

Coldman wrote: What do you wear outside while welding to keep warm and is it flammable? Important consideration.
.

i usually wear either welding sleeves with a buttoned long sleeve shirt, or a leather jacket, depending on the process and the position.

i havent tried to weld outside in the winder, but i was thinking about wearing a few layers of some heavily insulated clothing under my leather jacket but now that im thinking about it more and more, it doesnt sound like such a good idea. if i cleared out my shed, and lets say rented storage in the winter to put all the crap in, would you think that welding in a shed would be a good idea? it would be "warmer" while still being pretty cold, but no wind factor,

thanks again for the help

regards
noah/Least honorable

Any shed is better than no shed, and you might be able to rig some kind of heater in there. Keep both you and the metal a bit warmer.

Vic's suggestion of above 32*F is valid, but I'll add my ASME qualification tests give a minimum temp of 50*F for 304 stainless, so if you have a procedure to practice for, it pays to know the details.

Harbor Freight has a non-contact (infrared) thermometer that measures 32 to 485* (if I recall... it's at work), that is great for making sure you have adequate preheat, and allows you to be sure not to exceed the maximum interpass temperature (350*F for the test I mentioned above). I got mine for about $20 U.S.

Steve S

Use caution if your useing the infrared temp gun to read a shiny surface. I.E. SS, copper, aluminum. It read's on the low side of actual temps. Sometimes as much as 50-70 deg f. I have one and use it regularly but if I need an accurate temp I have to use a thermocouple probe on a good meter. Not a big deal in this application but just a side note.

Alright, perfect, thanks for the help guys, regarding the preheat I might get a handheld propane torch to just warm up the piece. I think it will be adequate to get the job done

only concern is,would it be somewhat dangerous if argon was kept at a low temperature? like at -10 to -20 is there any dangers that can happen to the bottle?

Mine sits in my truck unheated in the Iowa winters. Not dangerous but if the tank is small and cold it can make it hard to get enough gas out of it to weld.

You could always move to sunny Queensland OZ. Ah Queensland, beautiful one day, perfect the next.

my entire country has 4 heavy seasons, sadly but idk if i will move somewhere else later in life where there is some nicer weather.

googled your location, came up from australia, fuck that, 2foot moths, boxing kangaroos, scary fucking spiders (i realize its extremly exaggerated) but still seems like a scary place to live when everything and their mother wants to murder you

I gotta say that if it comes to choosing between bitter cold and:

* Spiders
* Snakes
* Sharks
* Roos
* Cassowaries
* Scorpions
* Blue ringed octopus
* Dropbears...

...I'll take all the animal threats any time. I hate the cold, I simply couldn't live any place where it gets cold. Besides, I have a nest of redback spiders under my bandsaw at the moment and they are easy to get along with as long as you don't piss them off.

Sorry for threadjack...




Kym