I am about to start into my CWB level 1 visual weld inspection course. Nothing like getting paid huge dollars to look at someones welding all day. I can weld okay myself but i definitely am not a certified welder. Sure is fun though.

 

may i ask how

 

thats funny, inspecting someone else's welds that you may not be able to do better. those who can't do teach right?

 

Hey thats awesome. Thats a good job I hear. And ya you make the money cuz its freakin Pricey to get certified. I was gonna get certified for just one type of weld with SMAW and that cost $100 bux. Have fun inspecting tho.

 

you may not.

 

I learned a lot from the "Welders Handbook" by Richard Finch He recommends everyone start learning to weld with a gas welding setup (Oxy/acetylene). He's kind of old school though. Personally I'd think a 220 volt MIG set-up with shielding gas would be a good setup for most projects on your truck.

 

Unless they come after you when the building falls down.

 

Little bit of an old thread, but I was wondering if any of the Colorado guys could point me to a school that offers some welding classes in the Denver area. I looked around at Arapahoe Community College and Red Rocks Community College, but didn't have much luck. ACC doesn't have anything (as far as I can tell), RRCC has some classes through Warren Tech, but space is very very limited due to the high school students taking the class (and getting priority).

 

Front Range has a class, too. Last I heard that class had the same problems as the RRCC class.
I'm looking for a good class myself, so let's get this thread rolling again.

 

I learned a little backwards. My dad showed me a little tig in an aviaiton shop he was a manager at when i was 14 (i'm now 30, seems like yesterday). Then turned me lose burning up the welders test plates. Then i moved on to the scrap pile where i learned titanium, aluminmum, inconel, stainless and finally welded some regular steel. Most of my experience early on was tooling fabrication. Mostly things our real welders didn't have time to do and wouldn't be to bad if i screwed up! But i learned alot and it really helped my welding.

Made learned stick welding a pita. You get used to holding your torch hand a steady height and then you have to relearn to allow your hand to get closer. Next came oxy/acetalene. I finally picked up mig a couple of years ago as well.

And for equipment anything miller is about as good as it gets. I've worked in three different aviation shops now and they all use Miller exclusively. This is the most common welding brand i see in all the other shops i've visited also.

 

I was born with the innate ability. Laugh all you want. Nobody showed me how to do it. I learned by a few pages of reading and doing it.

I took metal shop in high school. That was when I started teaching myself. But, I honestly have a natural talent for it. The first bead I ever laid was of good enough quality that my "teacher's" reaction to it was, "So you've done this before." I was probably stoned at the time too.

 

Im taking a week of welding classes at CU in a couple of weeks. Im really excited to finally learn how to do it. Ive laid a couple of beads but not anything I can call welding.

 

I've taken several adult-ed courses and have done ARC, MIG, TIG, and oxy-acetylene. I'm considering going back and taking the two year TIG course offered at our college of technology.

 

i bought a mig welder and practiced, also learned to torch weld/ braze this way i'm alright...i'm gonna take TIG classes when i buy one of those (bigger)

 

I'm still having trouble getting into a class. I've also explored taking the classes offered through CCD (Community College of Denver), which is a long commute for me to make, since they are only at the north campus (almost I-25 and I-76), I'm down at C-470 & I-25. Not to mention the price tag on those classes, would cost me about a grand to take a TIG and MIG course, they might even require you to take a welding safety course first, for another $500.

Anybody know of anything in the southern area of Denver? Tech Center/Englewood/Centennial/Lone Tree/Littleton?

All I really need is one or two sessions of someone to show me how the machines work and the techniques, then I can go off on my own and practice. I'd rather not have to take semister long classes....

 

my dad is teaching me and hopefully i will being taking a class at adult edd and the awsome thing about it it counts as a high school credit

 

I first MIG welded about five years ago. I rented a garage that had an old MASSIVE MIG welder in house. One day this guy came over and started using it...ended up showing me how.

I then bought a cheap Craftsman 110v MIG and started doing exhausts, custom seat rails, basic stuff. That's about when all those bike shows started hitting the tv, and after having read so many metal fab books, seeing TIG on tv pushed me over the edge. I had to have a TIG!

So, about three years ago I bought my Lincoln PT185 AC/DC machine. I read all I could, and posted weld pics online to get advice. After a couple months I was looking alright. I started doing stainless and aluminum, and before you know it I was doing custom turbo manifolds, traction bar setups, custom charge piping, downpipes, you name it.

I'm now pretty good with stainless, and still do alot of manifolds. Once you TIG, a MIG just seems like garbage...lol. It's not though...both processes have their advantages and have their place. I now have a Lincoln MIG as well. TIG has to be CLEAN, and it's a highly controlled, and there is alot to know and do...it's a highly difficult process....MIG is child's play in comparison.

TIG has required a hell of a learning process, and a good bit of cash. With TIG, to properly weld pipe you need a backpurge setup, total cleanliness and good heat control. Gas lenses make a big difference as well, because TIG welds are very sensitive to contamination.

TIG is awesome...that's all I can say. Here's some welds of mine. I get better every day, because your constantly picking up new things. TIG is SUPER sensitive to torch angle, and filler angle....there's just so much to doing it right.

16g 2.5" stainless charge pipe on a custom turbo setup I did. This is last year.



Budget manifold for that build made out of sch40 304L stainless



Another of my manifolds, built to support a Garrett GT3071R setup I'm building for my own vehicle



Mounted on a mockup engine



Collector on that manifold....sch10 304L



Some charge piping from that setup



I have alot more stuff...better stuff on photobucket but it's under maintenance right now and I can't access it.

TIG is good

 

Anybody in the Denver area willing to give me a crash course?

 

Welds look awesome man! I first learned to weld in high school. I learned mig and stick there. Then I graduated about 8 months early so I went to a technical school and got certified in tig mig and stick. I graduate tech school one month after my actual graduation day. I am very rusty at welding now. It has been over a 2 years sense I have welded. They use to call me Tiggin todd cause I could throw down on a tig. For my live works project I did an aluminum fuel cell (that did not leak) for a friends truck. I doubt i could even start a bead on aluminum today if I tried.

 

"(that did not leak)"....lol...way to throw that in there