cutting torch contest

[Drebs]

my high school had a torch cutting contest yesterday. it was so much fun! Tulsa welding school came down and gave us $500 for prizes. every one walked away with something, tools, welding supplies, and for the grand prize a little port-a-torch rig. 26 kids went head to head for 5 rounds. you had to light up, adjust to a neutral flame, and first one to make the metal fall under its own weight won. anything could happen in this contest, it was so easy to mess up, on adjusting, and cutting too fast/slow. the under dog won many times, you couldnt count anyone out. i think i got pretty lucky, i got to the 3rd round. i thought this was cool, just wanted to share it.

heres me in the first round. i went against an ffa skills team member. all he did all first semester is cut for his presentation. we were always neck and neck in practice.

next i went against my friend chris. again we were very evenly matched in practice.

lost the 3rd round cutting primed angle. kid told me he knew he was gonna lose to me. i told him we could only do are best and that anything could happen. THIS KID WAS THE FASTEST KID ON THE ANGLE, SERIOUSLY haha. no one els cut that fast. he whipped me haha. i looked at him and said "see i told u anything could happen" haha

i walked away with a tws goody bag and a really nice welding hood. it was so much fun and i cant wait for the next contest!

 

[gatorgrizz27]

Looks cool. On the angle why wouldn't you want to start cutting on one edge and just go across instead of starting in the middle and making 2 cuts?

 

[elevator joe]

Awesome, i bet it was a blast. Plus i'm sure you guys gained a ton of knowledge in your class.retain what youv'e learned,not everyone is proficient with a torch!! Good job.

 

[Drebs]

gator, i messed up. my plan was to flip it around and make 2 flat position cuts. everyone (including me) who tried starting on the edge couldnt make a good cut and the metal wouldnt fall, teacher had to hit it so it would. we didnt have any angle iron to practice on, but ill be ready next time

 

[mike13u]

Proud to see young Americans learning and doing this.

Great job too!

 

[sberry]

Yes but the focus should be on quality cut first then speed. The speed is a good contest though. A lot of the worlds metal fab is still done with a torch, contractors love a guy that can be proficient with one.
That is great for someone to sponsor that event.

 

[TAftw]

Yes but the focus should be on quality cut first then speed. The speed is a good contest though. A lot of the worlds metal fab is still done with a torch, contractors love a guy that can be proficient with one.
That is great for someone to sponsor that event.

Have those cuts been cleaned up at all? If not, then I have a LOT of practicing to do .

 

[twincam00]

Thats neat, wish my high school did that

 

[D KRAGER]

Looks cool. On the angle why wouldn't you want to start cutting on one edge and just go across instead of starting in the middle and making 2 cuts?

Depends on your position. The way it was laying in the video, you start in the middle like they did. If it was laying on one edge or the other, you start at the edge.

 

[240sxguy]

Have those cuts been cleaned up at all? If not, then I have a LOT of practicing to do .

No joke! I have never seen a torch cut like that.

 

[sberry]

The notches were cut out of some blanks by hand. . Not cleaned. A torch can be a fairly precision tool with some practice, I am not a daily driver and it can get even smoother. A lot of structural work is cut and welded, worked a lot of construction/repair where they didn't even have grinders.

 

[nismomans13]

wow, you're lucky. Your highschool still has shop classes. I stopped by mine a couple years back for a charity thing and saw that all the shops where i started to learn how to use tools and fabricate had closed because parents think their dangerous. Kudos to you school for allowing kids to realize that earning a living in a blue collar isn't bad.

 

[TAftw]

The notches were cut out of some blanks by hand. . Not cleaned. A torch can be a fairly precision tool with some practice, I am not a daily driver and it can get even smoother. A lot of structural work is cut and welded, worked a lot of construction/repair where they didn't even have grinders.

This site pretty much ruins me, the second I think I accomplish something I come on here and see how much I actually have to learn .

Those look incredible, I don't think I could get them that smooth with a bandsaw .

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

This site pretty much ruins me, the second I think I accomplish something I come on here and see how much I actually have to learn .

Those look incredible, I don't think I could get them that smooth with a bandsaw .

X2 -- the only way I get that smooth is when I use the plasma cutter - I never do enough torch work be "good" - best I can do is a cut that only takes a few passes of the grinder to smooth out....and I get paid to do this stuff.....

 

[CARS]

That is a great competition.

My H.S. doesn't even have a shop teacher anymore so therefore, no shop classes. You're lucky to still get taught these skills.

Even in the 80's our shop was under equipped. Torch and Stick was taught till around 2000 when they finally bought a Mig welder. Now it's all just sitting there collecting dust

 

[sberry]

90% of the cuts I make I hit with a grinder too in the real world. I don't make everyone perfect and its usually to square something a fuzz or knock off a high spot for fit up or rust, paint removal for weld etc. Or a lot of it is acceptable just the way it is. A lot of it is about being fast in its own right, or competent so a customer doesn't say,,, wtf.
This one is a poster child for that, if a guy did need to finish it a whack with the grinder about 15 seconds worth but in this case the operator pick up a torch, light and cut about like the contest, no mark, no measure, no clean before or after.

 

[sberry]

I was in a place at one point, they were whizzing thru the materials and not getting the job and some salesman was gonna sweet talk them into buying a new wonder tool which would have been nice to have and maybe some day but the immediate problem at hand was to cut and bevel plate. And there is a difference between knowing how to light and use a torch and how to get the most out of it. I train the operator a bit and zoom about double in just a few minutes with no investment.
Another one that comes to mind from a while back, was the mechanic on a machine install and the thing is missing a bracket, the customer has paid for new and this plate is in Germany somewhere. They all hitting the panic button and start yakking machine shop. We corner them,,, don't panic, I went and made the part on the truck tailgate in about 20 minutes. I had a can of primer and they had a spray bomb of touch up, the guy says,,, just like it came from the factory. You really had to look close to tell it wasn't machined. We didn't want a ******* looking thing hanging in everyones face on a brand new machine. The time it saved was huge. By being able to cut square and follow a line it made cutting a couple bolt slots in the angle look good, radius a couple corners, cut a hole in it for sq tube to slide thru.
Another time we standing in front of some worn bolt holes and we trying to come up with a scheme, my bud says,,, we could almost drill them up a size and just put bigger pins in it, drilling was gonna be a lot of work, I said,, ah ha. they were worn oblong, just shave each side of the hole, they had a bone yard, we found 4 big bolts to make new pins.
Below a couple cuts, first to cut the old off the green piece and splice new thread on it, did the length cut and the bevel in the same move. Second pic, just a couple minutes to cut some rods, didn't use half a tank of gas and bottle of 02.
Its important for young guys to see how many jobs this tool can do, a guy that takes the time to learn how to use it has a huge advantage n the work place.

 

[BigAl62]

Great work! I used to good with a cutting torch (20 years doing exhaust work), but now I don't think I could do very well (been out of exhaust work for over 10 years). Practice, practice, practice!!!!!!!

 

[Ben Iv]

I didnt realize tulsa welding shool recruited all the way in texas. But truth be told tws is kind of a joke around here, I have had plenty of tws grads work for me and none have made the cut. They give you the skills to get your foot in the door but definatly dont turn you into a ''master welder" as they claim.