Getting Started Welding?

[RacH22]

I was saying that reading a book alone wont teach you.

I cant beleive you just brought up that Baby azz welding,icar certified,( I-CAR

Formed by the collision industry in 1979, I-CAR is an international, not-for-profit training organization. All I-CAR activities and resources focus on helping the industry achieve a high level of technical training.
The I-CAR vision is that every person in the collision industry, current and future, has the necessary knowledge and skills relevant to their position to achieve a complete and safe repair.

I-CAR develops and delivers technical training programs to professionals in all areas of the collision industry. In addition, I-CAR provides a communication forum for anyone interested in proper collision repair. I-CAR's primary funding is derived from student tuition and services. This assures that I-CAR can remain unbiased in developing programs and services on an industry-wide basis.).In other words you do body repair welds

Welding flux core on thin azz sheet metal aint structural welding,Now when you get your real certs "AWS" in STAINLESS-STICK/GUN,STICK 7018-10018(FLAT OVERHEAD,VERTICLE AND HORIZONTAL)unlimited size/material thickness,Mig unlimited sizes/material thickness,fluxcore flat,horizontal and verticl unlimited size/material thickness. I've been welding on navy submarines,aircraft carriesrs,cell phone tower mono poles and everything else under the sun that has to be x-rayed,and have never failed.I might be up in ky this summer for some car shows,So dont run, I love putting younguns in their place.

this is real welding certs that I have
http://www.weldingcertification.com/certific.htm

LOL..

Flux core? Your fucking kidding me right? I wouldn't flux core anything. Anything! For you to assume that I only do Autobody welding is typical for an oldschooler who hears "Icar". Being a professional welder on very important structural welding, striving for perfection shouldn't be a new thing for you. Icar simply brings that to Automotive welding, which had VERY low standards prior to them coming around.

This was the only certification I bothered with because it was $50 vs $500 at the time... I also don't mess with anything like you mentioned doing, but I would happily tackle it. If it puddles, I can weld it. It may take some test runs for setup on scrap, but I'm pretty confident I could succeed on the "live" weld.

I also do body-over-frame welding, diesel frames, a/c lines, p/s lines, and just about anything else you can think of. I can do any thickness stainless, chromolly, mild, aluminum, and anything you put in front of me that you can puddle and get filler rod for.

I'm also quite comfortable with both my MIG and TIG in all positions, vertical, horizontal, overhead, and that includes upside down in a car running the pedal using my knee's, which is quite common with cages.

I'm not going anywhere, I love talking welding with people who know what they are doing. I love having welding sessions to compare methods and information. I love learning about welding, and will continue to do so until I die.

It's people who "think" they know that bother the piss out of me and they are the ones who always say "reading a book wont help, just go do it!"..

I simply misunderstood your perspective on this and so would have most. It looked like you didn't support reading information that would improve your ability to cope with real world situations and teach you proper setup and visual inspection standards.

Any good book on the subject cover everything a n00b needs to get going in the right direction.

[RacH22]

One more note on the subject,alot of the those books dont tell you how to deal with real world situations,rust,wind,grease,water,things like that,thats where most new welders dont know what the hell to do.I went through the Newport News Shipbuilding welding school,where the best of the best come from,When you have done welding on Naval vessels and done welding in a nuclear power plant on base stands for reactors or done welding on crane booms or 1,000 foot conveyor systems,built water tanks used as crane test weights capable of holding 50,000lbs of water(cant remember the gallons),built all the rail components for ground zero that actually got the subway at the site up and running again,did all the rail components for the light rail system in pheonix Az from down town out to the stadium,did the system out in seattle,and even the new track plates for the panama canal just to name a few, then talk to me,not doing collision/bodywork on cars,hell I do that in my driveway or anyone elses who needs it.

Your too high strung man, calm the hell down. Like I said in the last post, your wrong to make assumptions. I never questioned your welding ability. In fact, it was a misunderstanding because you weren't very clear. And now you've turned around and gone back on reading being good.

Any good book about welding is going to have a plethora of information on what you call "real world" welding. What damn good would they be if they only told you how to weld in a perfect environment? Seriously.

I know damn well your training included hours worth of reading. Unless the instructors were your books and live welding examples showed you symptoms and causes of the many variables involved in welding. I had the pleasure of getting both, most can only afford the book.

[doughboy415]

Actually no,the only book reading I did was for the inpsector certification,All my welding instruction was done from a instructor and in the welding lab.Dont get me wrong,there is nothing wrong with what you are saying,but the book describes the "PERFECT" welding environment,not real world situations,like being in the inner bottom of a aircraft carrier crammed in a 3'xmaybe 5' tank trying to weld a sea valve flange with "2" mirrors,a book will never teach you that,lol,I'm sorry if I came off a little strong,but I get that all the time when I turn down someone looking for a job,they think just because they got a graduation certificate from their local school that they are the best out there,when they finish laying down their bubble gum for a prehire test,I then weld the same thing to show them who I am and what it is supposed to look like.You probably are good in your field.I only mentioned fluxcore because a article I read on ICAR thats what they mentioned,and the test they described only involved a 1"-1 1/2" flatbead,not welding on plates 6" thick and bigger.

[RacH22]

Actually no,the only book reading I did was for the inpsector certification,All my welding instruction was done from a instructor and in the welding lab.Dont get me wrong,there is nothing wrong with what you are saying,but the book describes the "PERFECT" welding environment,not real world situations,like being in the inner bottom of a aircraft carrier crammed in a 3'xmaybe 5' tank trying to weld a sea valve flange with "2" mirrors,a book will never teach you that,lol,I'm sorry if I came off a little strong,but I get that all the time when I turn down someone looking for a job,they think just because they got a graduation certificate from their local school that they are the best out there,when they finish laying down their bubble gum for a prehire test,I then weld the same thing to show them who I am and what it is supposed to look like.You probably are good in your field.I only mentioned fluxcore because a article I read on ICAR thats what they mentioned,and the test they described only involved a 1"-1 1/2" flatbead,not welding on plates 6" thick and bigger.

It's all good man, I understand your point as well. Books are limited, but not useless. They contain valuable information on where to start and what to be looking for. I know most of them will cover real world environment issues such as wind, water, etc.. But none will teach you to adapt to uncomfortable positions that you and I deal with. I'd hate to be that squeezed up for thick stuff due to the heat, but I'm used to it with TIG welding cages into these tiny ass imports. Not nearly as hot, either. LOL Most of my training was done in the lab as well and with live examples, but we had to meet a quota of time in the classroom and we killed a day with the basic variables in welding, kept a lot of guys from burning down the welding lab going at it full throttle. LOL

I'd love to get together sometime if you ever get into western KY. I prefer welding on thicker metals, but it's limited in my field. I can assure you, I don't bubblegum anything so you wouldn't be wasting your time hanging out.

[doughboy415]