stupidest welding question you have heard

[deereman75]

I wonder if the guy that asked the question - kind of understood the concept of a mig welder and a plasma cutter, without knowing the real difference between them?

I have no idea, but the way he asked it, you kinda have to wonder if he ment hooking up argon or acetylene.:laughing:

 

[killdozerd11]

:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:

He is currently studying law politics and journalism

with honors at berkley

 

[whistlepig]

When I was training an a machinist fresh out of trade school I asked him to level up a part. He asked me why the level I gave him had a bubble in it.

 

[massey990]

Another stupid question I have heard is

The problemn with this thread is the wording of the topic.

There are few if any "stupid" questions, ignorance which is not offendable (being termed "stupid is) is something we are all guilty of depending on the topic.

 

[deereman75]

On the topic of stupid questions, there are also stupid answers. I was looking at the questions and answers on northern tools website on some welders, and some of the "expert" answers by northerns staff, are compleatly wrong. For example, one person asked if there was any way to convert an AC/DC hobart stick welder to a tig welder, and the staff answer was "there is no way to convert this to a tig welder". This is compleatly wrong, you can put a tig rig on ANY DC stick welder, and Shield Arc told me about someone who made one for the same hobart stick welder this question was asked about. There were many answers like this, and worse.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

I think that I may understand this one. The small transformer welders aren't recommended generally for tig by the welding companies producing them. They aren't typically as stable of an arc...possibly the voltage is geared a little high on the output as well. You can tig, but its likely it would be a hot and fast weld for sure. Low end amps aren't very good either.

 

[deereman75]

I think that I may understand this one. The small transformer welders aren't recommended generally for tig by the welding companies producing them. They aren't typically as stable of an arc...possibly the voltage is geared a little high on the output as well. You can tig, but its likely it would be a hot and fast weld for sure. Low end amps aren't very good either.

Hmm I can see how it might not work as well as a proper tig welder, but it will still work. This has been done with the hobart DC stickmate before, and it has worked well, but I see the problem with the high voltage, and the somewhat unstable arc.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

I am sure the Northern guy was repeating the recommendations from Hobart.

 

[Redneck in training]

I used to have a teacher who said, while introducing himself: "There is not such a thing as stupid question. There are only stupid answers. And I will give you a lot of opportunities to prove this point".

 

[Shield Arc]

I think that I may understand this one. The small transformer welders aren't recommended generally for tig by the welding companies producing them. They aren't typically as stable of an arc...possibly the voltage is geared a little high on the output as well. You can tig, but its likely it would be a hot and fast weld for sure. Low end amps aren't very good either.

Mark here is an old school trick for you. A lot of these little machines can't drop below 30 to 40-amps, this is where this trick helps. It won't help with arc stability tho. I've used a Tig rig on some pretty cheap machines, and never had a problem with arc stability, but maybe I wasn't paying any attention.:laughing:

I just copied and paste this, saves on typing.

Dropper resistor trick for CC constant current machines only!
To use that machine effectively then you need to use a dropper resistor made from a piece of 3/32" or 1/8" filler rod, depending on the amount of amps you want to drop.
Attach the 1/8" filler rod to the welding bench with a vise-grip and let it hang vertical then attach the ground clamp to the other end of the filler rod.
As the arc is established the filler rod (dropper resistor) will begin to heat thus lowering out-put amps at the torch.
CAUTION as the filler rod can become cherry red depending on the amount of amps being dropped.
To adjust for the correct amount of amps required of the weldment, one could trim the filler rod to different lengths or change the diameter although I've never found this to be necessary.