Does this welding class look good?

[justanengineer]

Well unless they're blind it's clearly visible lol
Unless your talking about subsurface weld porosity?, then I'd say make sure your surface is clean, clean, clean, and your using proper gas flow.... Oh I know how does the average Joe know that?... Well, I'd reference miller's chart which is pretty good.
This will likely take care of 95% of issues with weld porosity. Google and youtube document this issue very well, as I've said a number of times.

Yes, internal porosity. JME, but I've seen a ton of porosity caused by bad technique. ie. Folks worrying too much about making a pretty, even, rectangular weave not accounting for changes in the base material's surface. Quite often the puddle travels over the joint, edge of a previous weave, or ding and folks don't slow enough/at all, so the puddle simply covers over but doesn't actually sink in/fuse into the base material where it drops away in the joint/edge/ding. Its surprisingly common in internal corners, esp on the root pass.

JMO, but folks on the internet are way too obsessed with appearance, particularly the stack-o-dimes bs, and doing everything in a single pass. I may overdo it a bit, but running stress analyses at work REALLY makes me appreciate the value of a big fat corner fillet.

 

[justanengineer]

I'm talking about community college welding classes that are a 1 or 2 hour a week thing, yes there are some classes that will get you welding for a ton of hours a week but they won't be the cheap classes like op mentioned.

This may be a stretch and not sure the specifics of the classes the OP looked at, but I'm fairly certain the classes I took were all 2-credit hour classes with labs, which usually means 2 hours/week scheduled "classroom" time + whatever they schedule for labs (or don't). The OP mentioned 20-30 "hours" at $500 each, college terms are usually 8 or 15 weeks, so roughly 2(?) hours/week (+ lab?) which makes sense for a 2-credit hour class. That would roughly be ~$250/credit which is right in line with most CC/Jr colleges I know of.

 

[trentonmakes]

Yes, internal porosity. JME, but I've seen a ton of porosity caused by bad technique. ie. Folks worrying too much about making a pretty, even, rectangular weave not accounting for changes in the base material's surface. Quite often the puddle travels over the joint, edge of a previous weave, or ding and folks don't slow enough/at all, so the puddle simply covers over but doesn't actually sink in/fuse into the base material where it drops away in the joint/edge/ding. Its surprisingly common in internal corners, esp on the root pass.

JMO, but folks on the internet are way too obsessed with appearance, particularly the stack-o-dimes bs, and doing everything in a single pass. I may overdo it a bit, but running stress analyses at work REALLY makes me appreciate the value of a big fat corner fillet.

Your right!

Problem is, the OP is looking for feedback on LIGHT Duty home and auto use!

Would a class help him, **** yeah!
Does he need one to achieve his needs, hell no!

If he was looking into welding as a career, or has been welding at home for awhile and still not picking it up or laying crappy welds, then I'd agree with you 100%.

Engineers,... Always over thinking ****. LOL!

JK



Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[sberry]

He is not over thinking it but his perspective and experience is his own and may be somewhat limiting. Most engineers are smarter that most welders, this is about a fact and we have some terrible people in the trades but this is almost a sales question,,,, what is the right thing for the customer ( often despite my own experience or expertise) I have seen the non welder manager at Airgas do a very good job with this and even some sales staff at Tractor Supply. I have seen some experts give bad advice regarding this.

Some real super welders I have seen are not working in the trades. It makes sense an engineer would be drawn to this and probably more to the tech than the trade worker but I watch for the skewed view.
I have read this thread, read most of these and see some or same answers. I know the engineer favors tig and its not that I don't think its a good thing and I have it but its got a thick layer of dust, a day doesn't go by we don't use a feeder followed by some stick which for the most part could be done feeder anyway.
We are not a hobby but general repair and farm, I/we make thousands of welds a year, none of them tig.
There is a thread on Millir similar, Portable welder there says, in 27 yrs had 1 real portable tig call.

 

[LumpyMusic]

...Who gives a **** if you can solder or desolder a component?...

Who gives a **** about stick welding when what you want to do is small gauge MIG a body panel?


Sgt Lumpy

 

[Stuart in MN]

I took a beginner's welding class at a local technical college a few years back. It was an evening course, one night a week for ten or twelve weeks. I don't remember the cost but it was pretty reasonable - I think around $250 or so. It wasn't a class for someone who wanted to start a career, just for amateurs who wanted to learn.

The majority of the time was spent with MIG but we did do a few hours with TIG as well. The instructor was very good (for his day job he's a certified welder at a nuclear power plant) and while there was some classroom instruction, most of the class was spent actually welding at the workbench. I thought it was well worth it.

 

[ZRX61]

It seems like gas is better than flux (no gas)
.023 or .024 or .025 wire sounds like it's for car sheet metal.

High quality wire sounds like it makes a big difference.
Can you suggest wire from Amazon ?

Esab brand E-Z Grind.'' -6, not -3 in .023.

 

[Jacobson]

I think I will look for a used MIG welder on CL.
Miller, Hobart, Lincoln 140 for 110V

It seems like gas is better than flux (no gas)
.023 or .024 or .025 wire sounds like it's for car sheet metal.

I SAW an EASTWOOD MIG-175 WELDER for sale locally.
About $300 but then I realized it was not 110v, but 220v.

This led me to price out a new EASTWOOD 135 for $280
That seems like a perfect starter welder, but reviews are mixed.

 

[My Old Tools]

The local CC (Dallas) teaches a beginner welding class, 6 hours on Saturday for 7 weeks. Covers OA cutting and welding, stick, MIG, TIG, plasma. I'm in it now. Will I be a welder when I get done. Hell no. Will I know more than I did, you bet. They also teach auto body and even hot rod building courses. Next up for me will be Basic Lathe and Basic Mill. The courses run about $225 each for Continuing Ed (non credit).

 

[jmarkwolf]

I took a community college welding class @ 10 years ago. My school didn't require any prerequisites for the "Basic Class" which included: gas, arc, MIG & TIG all in one semester. I loved it. Got to try all the 4 types of welding. If you are just a home welder/hobbyist all I would want is the 3rd class. The 1st 2 Arc classes will be pretty useless. Very unlikely you will be doing any overhead pipe welding at home.

If all you are going to do is play around and do a little sheet metal and thin steel a MIG welder is what most guys probably have & use.

Look for another school and save yourself a bunch of money.

Sounds like this might've been the class I just completed at the local community college in Ann Arbor, MI.

Introductory evening course (4 hours per night, twice a week for 7 week short summer class) provided "exposure" to all 4 "main" processes (oxy-acetylene, STICK, TIG, and MIG) and was the pre-requisite for all the other classes. Was a little pricey at $640 (including a $150 book), but I learned a whole lot, and went through A LOT of FREE metal, aluminum included.

The class I'm currently in (4 hours per night, twice a week, for 15 weeks) is all MIG. Even more pricey but includes all the free metal you can destroy again, and I'll be in good shape to operate my new MIG at home.

 

[Ign]

Sounds like this might've been the class I just completed at the local community college in Ann Arbor, MI.

Introductory evening course (4 hours per night, twice a week for 7 week short summer class) provided "exposure" to all 4 "main" processes (oxy-acetylene, STICK, TIG, and MIG) and was the pre-requisite for all the other classes. Was a little pricey at $640 (including a $150 book), but I learned a whole lot, and went through A LOT of FREE metal, aluminum included.

The class I'm currently in (4 hours per night, twice a week, for 15 weeks) is all MIG. Even more pricey but includes all the free metal you can destroy again, and I'll be in good shape to operate my new MIG at home.

God bless New Mexico education subsidies; I paid that much per year (full-time) for machining school - any of the programs would have been the same cost, I destroyed tons of mat'l and there was no limit on what you could use for personal projects once assignments were complete. I had to take Welding 101 for my degree (stick) and I'd often toss more rods in my box to practice at home; they didn't care.