AlexGo
09-09-2008, 08:57 PM
Hey there guys, so I landed this job (I posted about it a while back) in the metal fab industry and it's been about 4 weeks since I started. All the knowhow I have about welding is from 1 month of summer school (about 2 months ago) which consisted of 3 days a week (back to back) MIG class started at 8am and ended at 2:30pm, then TIG class started at 4:30pm and went until 9:45pm in between classes I picked a bench and napped on it. Shortly after school I landed a job. I was upfront with the people and told them I was a NOOB and that all I wanted was to start from the ground up, be it sweeping floors whatever.
On my 1st day I was grinding welds all day, on my 2nd day they threw me in the welding room to TIG weld Aluminum lockers, on the 3rd day I was welding and grinding, and since I've been welding here and there both MIG and TIG. Then I got a project to build a chair.
I understand this may seem easy to you guys, but remember I'm a noob and transitioned from a desk job behind a computer and with a phone stuck to my ears. I hardly know how to pull a tape measure and even worse the 1/8th 3/16th etc thing has me going nuts... The other day I told my co-worker 14/16th and he said 7/8ths, I replied, NO 14/16th, he looked at me confused and then I realized... oh yeah, 7/8ths... Geez, I guess I'll get the hang of it someday.
So I built a chair, nothing fancy, but, I had to build a jig etc, and my welds had to show, no grinding them down. (it's how the boss wanted it). The chairs are for the Navy. Then I had to make a total of 27 chairs all the same...Now I'm sweating... ALL THE SAME? Uh, okay.... It took me a while, I had to do some bending (fix some distortion issues) and I had to do some grinding and rewelding. And then I had to redo a total of 4 because they weren't square and level. Anyhow, they are done now and got sent to powder coating. I may get a chance to take a pic of the finished product once they return and get some padding on it.
I'm skeeered... I hope they look good once done. My jig sucked and it could have been better but I got little guidance on the project and whenever I did ask for some help I got some lame looks... but I don't cave in easily so I just ran with it. I learned on the way and the next time I build chairs the jigs will be better and I'll be faster. ;)
Here are two pics of the chairs before they went off to powder coating. One still has a jig on it for the holes that needed to be drilled in them. Anyhow, I'm glad the project is over and I have this experience behind me... can't wait till the next project.
The chair is made out of 14 gauge sheet metal and square tubing.
On my 1st day I was grinding welds all day, on my 2nd day they threw me in the welding room to TIG weld Aluminum lockers, on the 3rd day I was welding and grinding, and since I've been welding here and there both MIG and TIG. Then I got a project to build a chair.
I understand this may seem easy to you guys, but remember I'm a noob and transitioned from a desk job behind a computer and with a phone stuck to my ears. I hardly know how to pull a tape measure and even worse the 1/8th 3/16th etc thing has me going nuts... The other day I told my co-worker 14/16th and he said 7/8ths, I replied, NO 14/16th, he looked at me confused and then I realized... oh yeah, 7/8ths... Geez, I guess I'll get the hang of it someday.
So I built a chair, nothing fancy, but, I had to build a jig etc, and my welds had to show, no grinding them down. (it's how the boss wanted it). The chairs are for the Navy. Then I had to make a total of 27 chairs all the same...Now I'm sweating... ALL THE SAME? Uh, okay.... It took me a while, I had to do some bending (fix some distortion issues) and I had to do some grinding and rewelding. And then I had to redo a total of 4 because they weren't square and level. Anyhow, they are done now and got sent to powder coating. I may get a chance to take a pic of the finished product once they return and get some padding on it.
I'm skeeered... I hope they look good once done. My jig sucked and it could have been better but I got little guidance on the project and whenever I did ask for some help I got some lame looks... but I don't cave in easily so I just ran with it. I learned on the way and the next time I build chairs the jigs will be better and I'll be faster. ;)
Here are two pics of the chairs before they went off to powder coating. One still has a jig on it for the holes that needed to be drilled in them. Anyhow, I'm glad the project is over and I have this experience behind me... can't wait till the next project.
The chair is made out of 14 gauge sheet metal and square tubing.