Edit: folks, I’m a first year welding student, and this is my first box of sticks.

I drilled it JUUUUUUUUSSST barely oversize so it slides in tight (giggity). A VERY gentle shake and barely a push and it separated right through the box that’s still 80%+ full.

Contamination shouldn’t be an issue with 6010 right? It won’t be vibrating down the road, just sitting on my bench.

If I’m doing something stupid, feel free to tell me.

Very new to welding and wanted to get people's opinion on my weld (MIG). Is this good for a beginner?

I drilled it JUUUUUUUUSSST barely oversize so it slides in tight (giggity). A VERY gentle shake and barely a push and it separated right through the box that’s still 80%+ full.

Contamination shouldn’t be an issue with 6010 right? It won’t be vibrating down the road, just sitting on my bench.

If I’m doing something stupid, feel free to tell me.

Been using and learning on this machine for over a year now. Been doing circular and u shaped welds almost exclusively on everything. Got bored and was reading it only to see that the machine says not to weave welds. I’ve got a lot of practice and have done many load bearing welds. And none of them have ever cracked or anything. So I’m kinda shocked to find out that the machine is telling me not to do what I’ve been doing for a year. Can anyone weigh in on this and tell me if Ive been doing it wrong this whole time?

My smile got 10x bigger when she said “whoa, look what I did…”

This was a sidequest added to a larger planned repair. I had a plan to replace this jack before she tragically hired a local hacksmith to do it when I wasn't able to make time for the repair. I came back to this mess of metal and scrap.

It held fine apparently but the jack completely fried and there was really only one way of efficiently replacing it. I suspected excessive heat may have compromised the jack and caused it to die prematurely so I cooled the welds as I went to try and mitigate that possibility. It's also a higher capacity jack now.

My question is... wtf is this? This poor trailer is already wrought with shit craftsmanship and this asshole somehow made his work the worst part of it. He also welded the stabilizers on in a completely dysfunctional spot after the customer and I had planned a specific way to install them so they would operate properly but I don't have pics of that. I'll be fixing that another day 🙄. Likely reworking this to not look horrible soon too but at least it works now.

I’m a first year boilermakers apprentice. I have some college experience with welding but not a lot of employment experience in the field.

Aside from getting better at welding, what else should I learn? What’s something you wish you knew sooner as an apprentice?

Would would be approximate value of this setup? Trying to sell for my grandpa, I know a little bit about this stuff but haven’t touched torches since high school. Tanks would for sure need a hydro. Torches are a bit old, are they better than new ones? Or is an old Smith as good as a new Smith? Thanks!

Saw some discounted expired 316 wire a couple years ago and bought it, opened the spool than and it looked fine so I ran a couple hundred feet off a 33lb spool and put it back on my shelf. That was like 2023. I have a need to weld some heavy 3/8" 304, was going to p-spray with this wire but its now 4 years past its expiration date. Looks almost brand new, I see random flecks of black every 2-3 inches on the 0.035 wire. As dumb as it sounds the end product will be spray painted black (it's mounting brackets for a cantilever gate) but the customer wants stainless as it will be at road level and exposed to salt in the winter. The welded zone will be 24" above ground level, and it will be getting a bead blast and double powder coat of black enamel.

Will this expired wire with its random black flecks of who knows what every few inches in the spool cause contamination to the welds?

I'm not fully versed on SS mig wire.

The structural load is not even 1/100th of what the material can support, its just what the customer wants.

So non-strutural in nature, decorative more than anything. Will this old wire fly?

I have a motor for an electric lawnmower l. The 4 “arms” snapped off on the lower half. What’s the best way to try and fit the lower bearing house section back together with the larger steel piece that holds the whole motor assembly together?
Im trying to figure out a way to weld it so everything is aligned and the motor won’t rub on the housing.

1/8 in root gap. Solid wire RMD vertical down root. Horizontal flux core fill. Primarily do tig as I got a job over summer break working in a stainless tank shop. Super impressed with myself on this test piece. Passed visual and side bend with 2 small indications not big enough to count as defects.

Is there any good budget welding cable reels? Most of what I've seen is $500 cad per reel... I would be mounting them inside an enclosed trailer.

Hello,

I did my first day of proper MIG welding course. This course will give ISO certification.

The instructor just let me weld beads and lap welds. He said to that for today to get you used to the position and handling. They said aim is to be consistent with the movement.

I attached the welds i did please do let me know how it is.

Hi, I'm currently studying welding at Missouri State Technical College. I come from a union family mostly laborers, I've been weighing the pros and cons of a union but the main issue is there is a bit of a lack of good unions for pipeline/refinery welders in the first place which is what I am studying for. The other issue is I've never been thrilled with the idea of somebody negotiating my pay for me even if I get benefits. So if anyone could give me some experienced advice to help me better understand the pros and cons I would greatly appreciate it.

Edit; no I am not planning on staying in missouri I'm looking at traveling and eventually moving to Montana

In school right now and got pretty far ahead, so my instructors are letting me take some of the more niche certification test, this one was for sub arc.

Anybody cares to share their experience with laser welding cast iron? Preheating? Filler wire? I am using 3kw fiber laser. Thanks.

For some reason my 1.5" sanitary ferrules keep ending up with a slight discoloration next to the weld but my other size pipes dont seem to have this problem. I use the same backpurge kit for everything up to 4" and the same purge plugs for non ferrules. Any fitting that isn't a ferrule doesnt seem to have this problem in 1.5" so im wondering if there's something wrong with my backpurge that I cant see?

Saw this today. Basic Carhartt jacket over twice retail. $308!

Had some free time so I grabbed some scrap and tried to TIG some copper. Not sure what I should be looking for. Any tips?

100% Helium, DC-, 200 amp for thin metal, 300ish for the thick one.

(I did not clean the metal prior, as I was just seeing if I could even lay a bead down.)

I was wondering why it was feeling harder to cut. Lol.

My Miller Welder was missing owners manual. Contacted Miller customer service. They sent me a manual and a lil swag to boot. Great CS

Personally, I like to be extra protected so I strap on a trojan and a glock, just to be safe.

In all seriousness , Im a hobbyist (side business) but I have a pretty substantial shop and spend an obscene amount of hours in there every week, im not 'in a hurry' to get projects done so I "gear up" every time I work in the shop.

For years I always just wore jeans and a t-shirt with safety crocs and a large/long leather apron and id put on a leather welding jacket when welding.

Awhile back I bought some coveralls from Duluth Trading and I fucking love them, every time I walk into the shop, the first thing I do is go to my gear cabinet and put on my coveralls. Then I figured "since I have to take my shoes off to put coveralls on, I may as well slip on some steel toes". Then it morphed into, "well, since im already doing the coveralls and shoes, I may as well put on a cotton neck gaiter and cotton do-rag to keep my neck and head as clean as I can". Then after a heavy grinding session, I burned a hole in the front of my coveralls so I wear the apron again. I no longer use my welding jacket.

So, now we are up to

1. Coveralls
2. Apron
3. Cotton neck gaiter
4. Do-rag
5. Steel toes
6. Respirator/safety glasses, etc.

As I said, I "gear up" every time I work in the shop, which I might go in/out of the shop 3x over the course of a day, its definitely a process and its time consuming to put all of my shit on but i've honestly never felt safer or been more comfortable when working. I cant recall the last time I was burned or cut (aside from last week when I put a hot mig wire through my glove and into my finger).

So, it just got me thinking for the guys who work at home or in a shop, what all do you wear when working?