Welding when you’re not 40 anymore…
At 18 years old took a 2 year course at Dunwoody Industrial Institute for Auto Body Repair and Painting.
First thing we did was go into the welding shop and do one month of Oxy-Acetylene gas welding.
This was after the classroom training explaining the theory of it all and how it worked.
Then next it was another month of Electric Arc Welding, stick welding.
Instructors would come into our shielded vented cubicles and show us how to exactly lay down a perfect bead, technique and all actually doing it. They would even reach around and help guide our hands as we were getting started to learn.
By far it was the "Slowed Down" version of the process of Gas Welding that laid the foundation for all future welding.
Heat, Angle, Distance, Speed.
Setting the right mix of Oxygen and Acetylene to achieve a Neutral Flame > Heat.
Creating a molten puddle with the right handed torch at the required Angle and Distance.
First ran Puddle beads with just the torch in sheet metal pieces running right to left. Then when we had that mastered then we added the filler rod to the same molten puddle. Warming the filler rod and dipping it into the puddle, coordinating not to freeze the puddle by introducing too much filler rod too fast.
Then after all this was achieved it went to Speed of Travel to keep from blowing holes in the work or ending up with too cold of a weld and no penetration.
Lots of aspects had to be coordinated here in the manual mode gas welding operation. This is where I aquired all the skills for all future welding. During that first month of Gas Welding exercises.
The Gas Welding really slowed down all the steps of welding so a person could get good at each step.
Then it was on to Stick Welding where everything speeded up by 10 times faster.
Then out into the trades working on aluminum truck bodies, learned the TIG welding operation from the talented people who worked there... my boss.
Tungsten Inert Gas Welding, even had an electric foot pedal to control the Heat output of the TIG welder, so that was one more coordinated aspect to work into the welding process.
Aluminum takes a lot of initial Heat to get the puddle flowing, then had to back off the heat and keep moving while adding the aluminum filler rod > being careful not to freeze the puddle in the process.
Then Wire Feed Welding came into play later on in the Auto Body Career, speeding up the whole operation once again with great, fast, slag free results.
Just to recap, it was learning how to Gas Weld where all the basic welding skills were aquired.
The future was pretty easy, having had learned the basics at first.
☆☆☆☆☆
At 18 years old took a 2 year course at Dunwoody Industrial Institute for Auto Body Repair and Painting.
First thing we did was go into the welding shop and do one month of Oxy-Acetylene gas welding.
This was after the classroom training explaining the theory of it all and how it worked.
Then next it was another month of Electric Arc Welding, stick welding.
Instructors would come into our shielded vented cubicles and show us how to exactly lay down a perfect bead, technique and all actually doing it. They would even reach around and help guide our hands as we were getting started to learn.
By far it was the "Slowed Down" version of the process of Gas Welding that laid the foundation for all future welding.
Heat, Angle, Distance, Speed.
Setting the right mix of Oxygen and Acetylene to achieve a Neutral Flame > Heat.
Creating a molten puddle with the right handed torch at the required Angle and Distance.
First ran Puddle beads with just the torch in sheet metal pieces running right to left. Then when we had that mastered then we added the filler rod to the same molten puddle. Warming the filler rod and dipping it into the puddle, coordinating not to freeze the puddle by introducing too much filler rod too fast.
Then after all this was achieved it went to Speed of Travel to keep from blowing holes in the work or ending up with too cold of a weld and no penetration.
Lots of aspects had to be coordinated here in the manual mode gas welding operation. This is where I aquired all the skills for all future welding. During that first month of Gas Welding exercises.
The Gas Welding really slowed down all the steps of welding so a person could get good at each step.
Then it was on to Stick Welding where everything speeded up by 10 times faster.
Then out into the trades working on aluminum truck bodies, learned the TIG welding operation from the talented people who worked there... my boss.
Tungsten Inert Gas Welding, even had an electric foot pedal to control the Heat output of the TIG welder, so that was one more coordinated aspect to work into the welding process.
Aluminum takes a lot of initial Heat to get the puddle flowing, then had to back off the heat and keep moving while adding the aluminum filler rod > being careful not to freeze the puddle in the process.
Then Wire Feed Welding came into play later on in the Auto Body Career, speeding up the whole operation once again with great, fast, slag free results.
Just to recap, it was learning how to Gas Weld where all the basic welding skills were aquired.
The future was pretty easy, having had learned the basics at first.
☆☆☆☆☆