I will have to get a picture of the TIG weld that I did with my little Stickweld 250 and post it tomorrow.
Today we worked on scratch TIG, he got to reevaluate my Stickweld 250 which had been recently replaced as the previous unit had a problem from day one and it had deteriorated significantly. There is another thread on that topic that I need to update and hope to do that tomorrow as well. The stick positions we worked on were vertical up and overhead. My consistency is still erratic as I can get a nice looking weld and then I goober one up. Need more practice.
What an amazing opportunity I have to learn from someone like Shield Arc. He offered to help me learn how to use my Stickweld 250 last year after I got it. My previous experience was all O/A welding and I knew basically nothing about SMAW and even less about TIG. As a retired professional welder, Shield Arc has directed my learning a new skill, SMAW, with fantastic communication and guidance. He says that he is no teacher. I tell him that he is one amazing teacher! His ability to communicate the concept that he is imparting is outstanding. Yes I am getting one-on-one which can not be beat, but his knowledge and the way he imparts that is a great boon for me. If I am able to learn from him 1% of what he knows, I will count myself a very lucky person.
Today he also taught me how to sharpen drill bits, both dull, damaged, and even broken ones on a grinder. No fancy device like Drill Doctor just your hands, a grinder, and the drill bit. He made it seem simple and it really was not that hard. His teaching technique that I mentioned above in welding comes through and he taught me how to sharpen drill bits consistently in less than 30 minutes. When I got home I took my old drill bits that were chipped, dull and in some cases broken, and worked on them for a while in order to solidify the learning curve that I had started earlier in the day. Trust me if I can learn to sharpen drill bits by hand so can you. I just happen to be fortunate that I have Shield Arc to teach me how it is done.
