I need lots of practice! So far, this has involved about 4.5 hours of time on each of 4 processes, during a basic Continuing Studies course at BCIT. One more class coming up, sometime in the future when the school reopens. I was able to try out:
- oxyacetylene welding, which I liked because it is easy to understand and fairly slow-paced, once you get used to lighting and adjusting the torch.
- Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW- aka Stick welding), which involves lots of fire and smoke. This was relatively easy to do, except for the electrode sticking to the workpiece part. I've a long ways to go, but at least I could get a few pieces of metal stuck together during the class.
- Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW- aka TIG). This process was the most difficult of the four, and quite frustrating, since I probably spent more time sharpening tungsten than I did welding. It will take me much more practice to be able to do anything useful with TIG.
- Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW- aka MIG). This was the most fun, because it was the easiest process for actually getting results. The machine did a lot of the hard work by controlling the arc and the wire feed speed automatically. My welds were still poor quality, but at least I was able to accomplish some of the practice work I was trying to get done. I'm going to concentrate on learning this process going forward.
My son welds aluminum, too. Lots of it at his shop, which specializes in marine work. However, I'm going to follow his advice and leave the aluminum welding alone until I have more experience.
I don't have my own welder yet, but I'm actively shopping. It amazes me how much people ask for used welders. Is there no such thing as depreciation when it does to welding equipment?
