Welding Lessons....

MarsFab said:
What type of welding do you plan to do? Do you plan on trying to find a welding job doing structural steel work or are you wanting to learn to weld on you and your buddies rigs?
I think everybody should initially learn to stick weld, it will teach you the fundamentals if you plan to maybe make a career of welding. For just a little hobby welding there is nothing wrong with starting with MIG. IMO
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I just wanna learn it as a hobby.. In case I ever need to weld up anything on the trails with some buddies. I beleive my buddy has a MIG welder, a cheapo harbor frieght one so I guess that would be the starting point since I would most likely be using his...
 
Ok I can work with that. we'll do MIG welding.


I've got a price figured up per hour per man. If you're seriously interested pm me and we'll go from there. I have to cover some clean metal for you guys to burn up and my consumables. I have a light day Friday if any of you guys wanna do it then. It can be during the day or in the evening, just let me know.
 
guys this is a golden opportunity to learn from one of the best in the business. Do him and yourself a favor and show up prepared. Bring your own welding helmet, if you have to go buy one then spring for a big face auto darkening one. You'll be happy you did. Bring your own welding gloves, kinda sucks having to put on someone else's gloves that have been around the table and everyone's sweat is waiting for you to slide into.

I had a chance just like this, but on a one on one situation to mentor a high school student for a senior class project. It's a lot of work and Chris is going to do it for a group. so be ready and pay attention.

Good luck with the class(s) Chris
 
man thats KOOL as hell
good looking out man MarsFab
i got a dumb question how much does a welder make starting out, and after he has done it awhile
 
welding boat docks with a mig gun: $12-$14 / hour

welding stainless pipe at a Nuclear Duke Energy plant: $25-$30 / hour + $500/week per diem if you travel. If you work overtime, you can easily make over $100k/year

Just depends on your skill set. You won't make $100k MIG welding.

I have heard of over $50/hr + per diem welding on pipelines up north, but I'm not traveling that far.
 
upnover said:
guys this is a golden opportunity to learn from one of the best in the business. Do him and yourself a favor and show up prepared. Bring your own welding helmet, if you have to go buy one then spring for a big face auto darkening one. You'll be happy you did. Bring your own welding gloves, kinda sucks having to put on someone else's gloves that have been around the table and everyone's sweat is waiting for you to slide into.
I had a chance just like this, but on a one on one situation to mentor a high school student for a senior class project. It's a lot of work and Chris is going to do it for a group. so be ready and pay attention.
Good luck with the class(s) Chris
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Thanks a lot Chip!! Coming from a veteran thats means a lot man. I appreciate it.

It would be awesome if you guys could bring your own hoods and gloves but if you don't have them or aren't sure what kind you'd like to buy, I have 3 or 4 hoods and gloves for you guys to use. I have auto darkening and fixed lense masks so you can try out either to see which you'll like better.
 
When is this happening? I would be interested if its on the weekend. I'm located in salisbury.
 
Nothing set in stone yet. Waiting to hear from a few guys. I could possibly do it Saturday morning if you'd like lmk.
 
y2kcrawler said:
I just wanna learn it as a hobby.. In case I ever need to weld up anything on the trails with some buddies. I beleive my buddy has a MIG welder, a cheapo harbor frieght one so I guess that would be the starting point since I would most likely be using his...
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Here is your first speedbump for happy puddling. Sorry but your buddies welder is going to most likely fustrate the crap out of you after doing any class time with anybody using a higher quality piece of equipment. Having said that Mars doesn't produce substandard weldments so you'll definately get a peak at proper technique and learn something. I also agree most heartily with Chris's initial statement that SMAW or stick is the best place to start short of oxy-fuel welding. But this is a costly method these days of welding metal. On the plus side for learning SMAW the machines and consumables cost a fraction of GMAW or GTAW to opperate, and unlike these latter processes rust gunk and plain dirty metals can be delt with by choosing a proper rod. Hell my grandfather never bought a torch for his farm repairs because he cut with his Lincoln "tombstone" welder too.:beer:
 
rockinranger62 said:
welding boat docks with a mig gun: $12-$14 / hour

welding stainless pipe at a Nuclear Duke Energy plant: $25-$30 / hour + $500/week per diem if you travel. If you work overtime, you can easily make over $100k/year

Just depends on your skill set. You won't make $100k MIG welding.

I have heard of over $50/hr + per diem welding on pipelines up north, but I'm not traveling that far.
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you don't have to go up north,you just have to work on pipeline.i've worked all over the country pipelineing.welders make 4000 to 5000 a week.tough work though.i've dealt with 115 degree days in south texas to 60 below in mininesota. all down hill wellding and all x-ray. i run heavy equipment so i don't how tuff down hill welding is but i see a lot of welders bust their test.
 
RedJames said:
man thats KOOL as hell
good looking out man MarsFab
i got a dumb question how much does a welder make starting out, and after he has done it awhile
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To add to this topic another opinion.

I started welding when I was 15 in the summer. I worked for a guy who had recently moved down here to NC from NY. He was in his second year of business and finally decided to hire some help. He payed me 10 bucks (not knowing how to weld) an hour starting out. I worked for him off and on for 4 years and at the end I was making 13 or 14 an hour. At 19 that wasn't terrible I guess. Since I've been gone from there I've kept in touch with him and he now has 3 or 4 employees that he pays around 16-18 an hour. This job was basically misc. steel work, everything from handrails to erecting smaller structures. In the shop it was mostly MIG welding, in the field was all stick welding. I had to be able to do both. I personally liked working for small businesses. It seems like you are more than just a number in some factory. Plus in a lot of larger steel companies you'll spend 8 hours standing at one station welding the same thing all day for less money. It's too monotonous for me. If you can find a smaller shop to work for and have a good head on your shoulders you have good potential to make decent money. In a big comapny it may take you 10 years to get anywhere near that. Now keep in mind this is refering to getting a start in the business. Going into a shop with 4g or even 6g certs. may be much different.

Guys who specialize in certain types can make good money because of what they know. But even with certs it doesn't mean crap if you have no real world experience. I wouldn't even think about hiring a guy with certs from a school that had no exp. in the field. I've met guys who went to crashcar tech who are supposed to know how to do tube work that I wouldn't let weld my dog fence together. Those guys have just enough knowlege to START in the fabrication field and work their way up, not come right in and make 25 an hour.

If you want to get into it and learn, find a shop go in there and sweep the floors, grind what ever the welders ask you to grind and take in everything you can from them. I learned sooo much from doing just that. Everyday I still learn something new and every chance I get to shadow a fellow fabricator I take it. You will never know it all so take in anything you can from anyone who's willing to give it out. The minute you think you know it all is when you see someone do it better.
 
ncsutj said:
When is this happening? I would be interested if its on the weekend. I'm located in salisbury.
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I was thinking mid Jan - give everyone time to get settled in from the Holidays.

WARRIORWELDING said:
Here is your first speedbump for happy puddling. Sorry but your buddies welder is going to most likely fustrate the crap out of you after doing any class time with anybody using a higher quality piece of equipment. Having said that Mars doesn't produce substandard weldments so you'll definately get a peak at proper technique and learn something. I also agree most heartily with Chris's initial statement that SMAW or stick is the best place to start short of oxy-fuel welding. But this is a costly method these days of welding metal. On the plus side for learning SMAW the machines and consumables cost a fraction of GMAW or GTAW to opperate, and unlike these latter processes rust gunk and plain dirty metals can be delt with by choosing a proper rod. Hell my grandfather never bought a torch for his farm repairs because he cut with his Lincoln "tombstone" welder too.:beer:
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Very true, this isnt the best welder my friend has.. I was in another buddies shop and noticed he had a nice MIG as well as oxy and a plasma cutter... He goes to Wyotech so after Mars shows me how to lay some welds maybe I can prove my worth on his equip! :bounce:
 
Hey Mars - I hear weld inspectors make the most money. Im guessing you have to be flawless in all your welds in order to get this position as well as know how to operate a sonograph? You know anything about that?
 
I Know you posted this to Mars but I know a great deal about the welding inspection field.

An old joke goes if you can't run the bead learn to inspect.

This isn't always true my college instructor was once nuclear certified but after to many shut downs his RAD exposure pushed him out of x-ray quality nuclear work. After making that kind of money he couldn't justify making lesser pay welding else where so he got his credits to inspect, certify and lastly teach. AWS even has a level certification for teaching. You see professional welders are just that and they adhere to certain standards because they have to, to keep a job.

Inspectors can be private for hire or work for large manufacturers or steel erection outfits. Welding is done on all sorts of alloys and even plastics at all sorts of level of accuracy.
Inspectors and teachers take a two part test that is further broken down into related subjects.

First part is considered the common knowledge test.
Sound basic. But thats dead wrong. The test covers all processes Oxy-fuel, SMAW,GMAW,GTAW, upset welding, sub-merged arc, sonic, infra-red, brazing and soldering (not actually welding BTW) consumables, sheilding gases, equipment set up, and a few other topics I've probably forgotten. I'm 99% certain this portion is closed book.

Second part is sort of practice and theory.
You get to reference the numerous welding standards and code books and you get to apply those to field senerios. To do so you must be able to measure with a few welding specific gages and micrometers. Then do the proper math at time to evaluate the results. Pending on the test parameters set by the code this might involve some basic engineering type math or the correct reading of x-rays. Blue print reading and a very good common knowledge of welding symbols are a must.

AWS offers seminars to help prepare individuals for the test and you can buy lots of litterature from them. The test and the seminars are only held in certain cities at certain times of the year and all have fairly expensive price tags and if you fail or pass no refund. There is a very high first time failure rate.
All the info you need is on the AWS web site to persue certificates.

Personally I'd get a welding deploma or 2yr. degree from a community college before I considered it. At least then you would get to see the underlying commitment to be a professional at this level. Your only other alternative is to take a job under an inspector to get a leg up as an aprentice of some sort. Just like burning wire other than a commitment to classes your going to have to work under someone for a good while. But for inspection your going to have to do some book learnin there's no way around it. Welding or Inspection, making the better money will be easier by getting real schooling unless you got a real inside relationship with some one.

I did both school and work for a small buisness and learned from thirty yr veterans. It was a 4 yr commitment for all the classes I took in welding and machining. Work from 7 to 5 school from 6 to ten five days a week. But I was a forman at 21 making 45K a year. That company has since changed for the worse and I've worked other places since, but nobody can take my experience or knowledge away.
 
^hey I appreciate that - good info there!

I talked to my buddy yesterday who welds professionally to see if he wanted to come along as well to give some added expertise. If anyone who is interested in going to Mars' shop to get your learn on PM me the best time you could do it and I will compile all that info together to reach a date with Mars. Please put in the Subject 'welding.'

thanks again everyone
 
OK guys I've got 6 of you saying your very interested but nobody has set a date yet. How about we do this. My wife is due to have our first baby any day now, and if not she's set to be induced on the 12th. So I'll be shut down for at least a few days after that goes down.

Lets set a date now so you guys can be planning for it. I'll do the first class Wednesday the 18th at 5:00 pm, and for you guys that cant make it during the week we'll do another class the following Saturday morning the 21st at 10:00 am.

The address is 5640 Pharr Mill rd. Harrisburg, NC 28075.

Bring 20.00 per man per hour. I hope to see you guys there.
 
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