Welding related good news and a word of caution

[MortalWombat]

The good news: my son (21 years old) got his first 'real' non part time job, as a welder. He decided to go into welding after being exposed to it in metal shop class in high school, took some more welding in high school, then got an associates degree in welding technology at a local community college.

After working part time this past year at Home Depot and for his girlfriend's dad's shoe repair shop, he finally landed a full time welding job at a small fabrication and manufacturing company. They brought him in on Friday the 16th to test his welding skills and offered him the job right away and he started the following Monday. Even though he hadn't done any aluminum MIG welding before, he did well enough on the test to impress them. He does have experience with aluminum TIG and steel MIG though.

So far he likes it a lot, and he already finished the first 400 pieces he was assigned to weld in only 4 days. I told him that whenever he finishes a project, make sure to ask if there us anything else he can do or learn until the next project is ready.

Now the word of caution: when I was telling my co-workers about his new job, one of them told me about his brother, who works for a HVAC company. Apparently his brother's work truck broke down, so he transferred his welding equipment to his personal truck. One morning as he walked out of his house to go to work, he pressed the key fob to unlock the truck, and it exploded, knocking him out for a bit. Apparently one of the acetylene tanks had a leak, and the electric spark from the automatic door lock was enough to ignite it. Fortunately his injuries were minor, but it destroyed his truck and totaled the van next to it, as well as damaging his house and some neighbors' houses. Now he's fighting with his insurance company because they don't want to pay since he put his work stuff in his personal vehicle.

 

[Arc weld]

There was a plumbers B acetylene tank in the trunk of a car in BC that exploded the same way. Acetylene or any cylinders for that matter need to be in a well ventilated location.

Good on your son! The welding technology degree will be a huge plus for his future. One thing that is important for a first year welder(any tradesman really) is to worry more about quality than quantity. It's not a race and there are very few seasoned welders that can go blazing fast and produce the highest quality. If you do consistently good work that doesn't need repairs or a bunch of grinding to look good, the boss should be impressed. I was told in school in you need either get better or get faster. I think once you get good, the speed comes with experience.