First welding class tonight

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Well, technically, it was two weeks ago tonight, but that was just a safety orientation with films. Last Monday was a holiday so this is the first night of hands-on for us.

I have a good auto-darkening helmet, gloves, long sleeve cotton shirt, blue jeans and leather boots so I shouldn't burn myself too badly. I even got the official welders' silly hat to keep the sparks out of my hair and from rolling down the back of my collar.

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to accomplish tonight, but I'm kind of looking forward to it, nonetheless. I'd be a bit more enthused if it weren't still 92 degrees here at almost 5 PM, but such is life.

 

[looch]

I hope you had a good time, Gary. I know what you mean about the heat - it was 34 Celcius here today - unheard of.

I'm sure with this new skill and a modest machine you'll find plenty of projects to keep you busy.

 

[BigDave]

Gary,

I hope you had fun tonight. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif I took a course many years ago, mosty stick welding, but got to do some mig welding and even some stud welding. It was a blast, I couldn't believe someone was paying me to do that...kind of like being paid to play on the tractor. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I would highly recomend getting leather chaps for your arms; One piece of hot slag and you'll be a believer.

 

[Tractor_Barn]

Hey Gary.

I've got my first class tomorrow night. Been a long time since I've been in a classroom...even longer since that 10th grade shop class that included a few weeks of welding. I'm looking forward to it.

Vince

 

[gmason]

Gary, I've been in a stick class here for 4weeks now. First night(6-10pm) we just met the instructor and got a tour of the shop. Each student has their own little booth to play in. We have Miller and Lincoln welders(very nice ones too).
The first several classes were getting everyone up to speed on the set-up and operation of the welders, and using the cutting torch to cut our practice pieces up to size. We started out running beads with the 6011 and 6013 rods then graduated up to the 7014 rod(nice slag) Then we practiced splitting the bead.
Now were working with the 6010 rod in the horizontal mode, and next(tonight) is running a bead in the vertical position. I've gone through 6(6"x10") practice pieces so far using front and back.
I'll take some pics tonight and post them out here tomorrow...

good luck... OBTW get the sleaves, they will save your shirts.

gary

 

[mikim]

2 weeks for me --- 3 nights of just "burning rod" on those same practice pieces -- usually 2 1/2 plates per night - using 6010 only. They had a bumper crop of students sign up and are hoping for a 50% drop rate. Right now there are 2 instructors for 40 students and 20 of them are in advanced pipe which take up more of the instructors time. This school is geared to turn out production welders for the local plants. (lots of petro-chem plants that go through lots of welders) At the moment I am not impressed. They run the class like a production shop - sign in at 5 - whistle blows at 6:45 for 30 minute break then at 9:30 for cleanup. the rest of the time you're in the booth laying bead after bead with the instructor sticking his head in once sometime during the night. I have no idea what I'm doing - and my back sure talks to me after standing there in one spot for so many hours. Maybe I'll be part of their 50% drop. I think I need to find a class that is geared more to hobby users rather than production. The welders we use are mounted high on a wall and the full instruction on how to use them was " here's the switch, be sure it's off when you go to break" ..... In the meantime, over the weekend I worked on a lincoln buzzbox that I was given some years back - and it seems to work. I bought some 6013 rod and burned one for test - seemed easier than the 6010 --- or ac is easier than dc? ??? sure wish I could actually learn something about this stuff. I just may go buy a book and doit myself - I have lots of questions but can't even get them asked at class - let alone answered. hope y'all have better luck

 

[gmason]

the 6010 rod is used when you need your puddle to cool quickly, like for doing vertical welding. Plus you get deeper penitration of the base metal. It also doesn't leave much in way if metal material. The slag is a pain to get off too.

If you can try a 7014 for a very nice easy bead, with slag that literally peels off by itself.

gary

 

[mikim]

surely all this numbering isn't by chance?? 6010, 7014, 6013 ... what's the code??? what do the numbers all mean? which are used for ac? dc? both? lots of questions --- reason I took a class in the first place ...
mike

 

[Ozarker]

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/damonfg/rodnumber.html>Welding Rod Numbers Decoded</A>

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Mike it'll all come around. Just give it some time.

You'll find some rods that you'll get comfortable with and ya'll will develop yourselves a nice relationship.

Some of the rods develop a runny kind of puddle. So the flux designed for them skims over real quick. Sixty thirteen and seventy fourteen are some good examples of that. A lot of us refer to them as mud rod. That's a rod you can just drag and it will leave a bead that looks like it's machine made. And since the flux skims over so quick it comes off easy. In fact with either of those rods on a flat surface a little practice will have you laying a pass where the flux will be curling up behind you sorta like a cat you've just scratched right.

The down side of those rods in overhead and vertical positions is the upside of why they work so well on the flat. They're runny and it takes a bit for the puddle to harden.

If I'm using sixty thirteen and I want a beautiful downhill pass I crank up the machine ten amps beyond where sheer fear hides. I then start at the top and just drop the rod never seriously looking at the puddle. If you stop to look a the puddle you've done got something you don't want to let anyone besides your blind priest see.

I was taught this trick by an old welder that one day did the horrible thing to me of leaving some of his work out for my wife to see. Of course she took one look at his stuff and wanted to know why I didn't weld like that.

Ya'll are using red 6010. I wouldn't, well, I just gave away about three hundred pounds of the stuff to a union welder who might be a heckuva welder but, he uses the red rod.

I use Lincoln 5P+. That's the grey 6010. It cleans up with a fingernail or a hand brush. It's like using play doh coming out of straw but works like super glue. I have an upright freezer that's an oven for my rod at the shop. In it will find some mig wire, fluxed and bare, case hardening compound, stainless rod, 7018, 6013, 7014, and tons of 5P+. If it was a girl it'd have the body of Pamela too many tatoos and the attractiveness of Julia too sweet. 5P+ is like having a best friend that's cute enough to attract the ladies when your lady isn't around but not so cute as to make you wonder about what's happening when he's around your lady.