[BadWolf]

Would advise against training yourself, I took a 3 month welding course a couple years back, it was all MIG. Managed to put the wire through my hand at one point, relatively easy to do, cleaning my gun and forgot to turn off the electricity.

Welding is HOT, DIRTY and frequently you will get sparks flying into your face despite wearing full facial gear. My first day I bought one of those cheapo $45 helmets and welder without a respirator, went home that night and coughed up black sh1t for hours. The next day I bought a 3M $300 helmet and a $50 respirator and most of the black stuff went away but the filters were dirty as anything and I could still taste the 'copper' at the end of each day. Failed my weld test by a tiny little micro meter but I still managed to get hired for $15 an hour at a factory. The only problem was that the guys working at the factory kept calling me a retard for wearing safety gear, these same guys were all living in the trailer park outside the city limits. Eventually got canned for not conforming to their retardedness.

Conclusion: Most welders are well paid retards.

I suspect the REAL professionals, really clean up well.

[Boot103]

Just got myself a TIG. Not great yet but getting there. I feel so manly when using it lol!

[JuiceDC]

Hey everybody. Welder in training here. 6g cert in mid-May. What's happening with the industry now? I see the pipeline action has slowed down. What does everyone think will happen next? And does anyone have any thoughts one welding overseas? I keep hearing about Dubai and I just heard Germany has a shipyard that never stops.

[Jack Of All Trades]

There was a boom in fabrication from Oil and Gas, but from what I gather talking to welders on site a more consistent gig would be to get into maintenance and repairs. I know pipeline, power plants, and nuclear work get paid pretty well. No one's gona stop using electricity and gas so I think you'll be safe. Also you have to factor in a lot of infrastructure in north america is aging and they'll fix it rather than rebuild it. Also this kinda work isn't like a factory where it's gogogo. It's more like do a long seam, take a coffee break for an hour or more; as the inspectors and engineers come to take a look. Rinse and repeat.

BTW If keystone happens it's gona rain money for welders.

[roberto]

(02-07-2014 10:47 PM)urbannomad Wrote:  

(02-06-2014 09:18 PM)Laner Wrote:  

To show off, we used to weld razor blades and beer cans together.





Aluminum TIG welding is the most difficult and gets the most abuse from the Rig welders.

I thought cast iron was the most diffcult

Cast iron is funky shit to weld. You feel like Harry Potter, there's stuff like candyfloss coming off the end of your rod. Really you need to heat cast iron up, and control the cool. I've patched a few things up the cold way though.

Sweet cans Laner.

Bumping this thread on account of this one thread-59154.html

[armenia4ever]

I was actually talking to a gentleman one of my calls - I work at a callcenter - and he told me they have some insane shortage of up and coming welders.

However, I know I can't just walk in and expect to get a job. He mentioned a basic test they give you, and when I asked him about going to a community college to take some classes and get a certification, he said it was a good idea.

I'd like to get my foot in the door, but I'm not exactly sure how. For your information, I'm in springfield MO right now and apparently there are a lot of welding jobs, but they focus on aluminum and not steel. Again, I don't know much about it, this is just what I was told.