I made my first weld!...

[welderpunk]

We started welding tonight in my welding class.
This was my first time actually welding a bead.
Our instructor had us practice making lines of "puddle" for about an hr and a half.
I was doing allright but when we started adding filler, i started messing up, but i'll just keep practicing.
I welded a couple little pieces of steel together an called it a coster for cups(hahaha).
THEN, I was really getting into my welding using the filler rod and i noticed my pinky finger was getting hot,and hotter and hotter, then i couldn't move it. I looked up and my glove's pinky finger was flaming and was stuck to my other finger, i threw it on the ground and stomped it out.
Now i need a new right handed glove
LATER guy's!!~~~Andy~~~

[jgor]

Andy,

Great news on laying your first beads - it's a lot of fun isn't it?

I seem to see a lot of "glove smoke" myself when running GMAW/FCAW but haven't seen it with the other processes. Gets to the point where I'm fighting to finish the bead before the back of my hand catches fire. Maybe us newbies should invest in those aluminized gloves!

John

[jeffm]

good going WP, I did my first beads only a few weeks ago. I stuck a few pieces of sheet together, but didn't have the nerve to test it. So I just have a small pile of my first weld outside somewhere :)

Don't feel bad about the glove, I've got a habit of holding the filler rod only four or five inches from the puddle (instead of letting it slide) and that heats up a glove real quick. I've been doing gaff work on a movie lately too, I use my welding gloves for that, and those freakin lights seem to crisp gloves quicker then the torch!

have fun!

[Rocky D]

If you torched your right hand glove, then you must be left handed, right? It's tough for a lefty in right-handed world, but I can remember (being right handed myself), a few times that I just could not get into a position to weld and needed a left handed weldor to finish it. I have at times done a stick or MIG weld left handed, but not a gas weld or a TIG weld where ya gotta use two hands. Some guys can do it both ways, but not me.
How many lefties we got out there?

[R. Nelson]

Originally posted by welderpunk
We started welding tonight in my welding class.
This was my first time actually welding a bead.
Our instructor had us practice making lines of "puddle" for about an hr and a half.
I was doing allright but when we started adding filler, i started messing up, but i'll just keep practicing.
I welded a couple little pieces of steel together an called it a coster for cups(hahaha).
THEN, I was really getting into my welding using the filler rod and i noticed my pinky finger was getting hot,and hotter and hotter, then i couldn't move it. I looked up and my glove's pinky finger was flaming and was stuck to my other finger, i threw it on the ground and stomped it out.
Now i need a new right handed glove
LATER guy's!!~~~Andy~~~

Welcome to our world, it's great ain't it.

[Al T.]

I'm a lefty, and I use my right hand when the left can't get there.

[Arc Burn]

Wait till" overhead" day,you think your burnin gloves now!My gloves used to get so bad i couldn't move any fingers,i could barely hold the stinger,i would ask for new gloves but the boss's don't seem to care much so i would buy my own.

[welderpunk]

Ya, i'm a south-paw. I don't care how many gloves i'll burn though, i WILL be a MASTER WELDOR someday!!!!!
I could practice welding all night, it's fun, and it's pretty solitary too,which i like.
LaTeR guys ~Andy

[Rocky D]

Yep, it's all there...solitary....burnt gloves....the makin's of a good weldor!

[morpheus]

man, Rocky really wanted to make his point so much he said it 3 times

anybody else, been getting random emailings from the board like someone has posted in a thread and you're getting notified. I got the same one about 12 times the other night on a thread no one had posted on in over a month. was weird.

- jack

[Hobart Expert Rock]

MORPHEOUS...........NO BUT I'M CONTINUALLY GETTING SPAMMED FROM ANOTHER WEB SITE ON OF ALL THINGS COUPONS FOR GROCERY'S.......... NOT KNOCKING COUPONS BUT I DON'T EAT MOST OF THE STUFF THE COUPONS ARE FOR............. ................................ROCK
SSCOTT@MILLERWELDS.COM

[morpheus]

how's the class going Andy ?

- jack

[Franz]

I've known guys who employed an aluminum foil pinkey condom over the glove and claimed it solved a lot of the radiational heating problem. Never tried it myself, so I can't say if it works or not.

[welderpunk]

Well, i went to another class last night and we started stick arc welding, but i didn't start on it yet cuz i still need work on welding Lap joint welds.
I keep burning the piece on top, and i'm having big problems w/ it. Can anyone tell me how to do lap welds????
Later~~Andy

[morpheus]

that's interesting you ask about lap joints.

I ended up getting into a welding class after all and after the first week of just making passes on pieces of 3/16" plate with a stick welder I had convinced the instructor that I knew how to weld and he asked me why I was there. I told him that I was a decent weldor and that I wanted to be better, maybe even "good" at it. He's been putting me through some good practice stuff now.

So, I get to MIG weld using some Hobart Ironman 250's, very nice machines, and powerful compared to my Hobart Handler 175. But I've spent hours and hours now practicing butt welds, t-joints, lap joints, vertical up, vertical down, horizontal butt (or whatever it's called). I must say that while I don't produce perfect looking welds everytime I am a MUCH better weldor and produce higher quality welds more consistently. I keep meaning to take some pics of my welds from class but keep forgetting my camera. Just the consistent practice alone is worth the price of the class ($100 for 3hrs of one night a week for 13 weeks) but the amount of wire/gas/power/steel I've used up is considerable if I were just practicing at home.

I finished up and installed a projector mount to hang a projector from the ceiling at church and used my vertical down skills last weekend and was quite proud of my abilities.

Amazing what a little instruction will do if you're willing to listen.
I must say that i find it sortof odd that people pay to be in a class to learn something and don't really listen to what they're being told ... but oh well.

But getting back to the lap joints, they are also a problem to me.

I seem to have an either/or type problem. 1 - I will get the weld to flow out evenly and nicely but I'll burn away the leading edge of the top piece (which my instructor says is a bad thing) or 2 - I'll be so intent on not burning away the top edge that I'll not be able to weave any to get the weld to flow out evenly and will end up with a "cold lap" situation on the lower edge of the weld.

stick with it though, with practice you'll get it !

- jack