Always thought it might be worth learning. Plus would be another skill I can put on job applications. Is it worth going to a night class at a vocational school? There are a couple schools in the area that offer classes. One school offers everything all in one class-Stick, Mig and Tig for $425 while another school offers each type in a separate class for each one-Arc, Gas, Mig/Tig. Those are $175 each. Not sure which one to hit up as they both say they have a good program. It would be more worth it to probably hit up the one that offers it all, because the one that offers each individually I'd have to go do this over the course of time. Not sure I'd want to be hitting classes multiple times a week. I do have a construction job that has me up at 4am and the days are long. Hopefully it could be something I do for the winter if I get laid off when it's nasty out.
It's a very useful skill. If nothing else, learn stick welding. Mig is a great skill that's easily picked up if you already know stick welding. Unless you're planning on working with aluminum and stainless, TIG might not be a skill that you'll use very often. If you're paying for a class, my advice would be to invest in a class that will get you a certification. Maybe someone else can confirm this, but I heard that welders are getting $60-80k per year for pipeline work and about the same for manufacturing if you're willing to relocate to where the work is.
Yeah I know I'd definitely see if there was some way to get into another line of work if I could. Right now I'm a masonry laborer making the minimum I can without having to up and move from where I'm living. Was working with another company that had state work so was making double what I do right now. Hoping to go back there at some point. But as of right now probably would just pick up welding as another skill. I'd hope there is jobs in it that don't require heights because not sure I'm too crazy about that. But that would fall into the pipeline stuff. The whole experience thing is another issue. Most places want experience. But how do you get it if nobody wants to give you a shot.
Yair . . . mws_1984 . Yes, welding could prove to be a very useful skill. I believe joispoi gives good advise . . . concentrate on stick to begin with. The problem is welding is not like riding a bike and to maintain your skills you really need to weld regularly to develop technique and "keep your hand in". . . untill you've burned you first pallet or so of rods. After that it's sort of ingrained in your psyche. There is not much point in paying for a course that entitles you to a piece of paper saying you can weld if you can't come up with the goods. All the best and Cheers.
Check comunity colleges also. The prices you quoted seem fair but maybe you can find them cheaper. All good advice from the others. I had an old man teach me 30 years ago when I built my first roll off truck. I only use stick welding. I also do all my own welding repairs. My son in law brought over his wire feed welder, I could not use it at first. It takes awhile to learn the technic but once you have it you can do it but you must continue using that skill or you get rusty. Good luck Doug
Well the more local Vocational school will cover them all in one class. I just found out they meet 2 days a week for 3 hours a day. Course totals out to 45 hours. I only would get a certificate of attendance. No certification in anything. So that is a downer, plus I'm not crazy about 2 days a week when I have been working 10 hour days recently. Maybe I'll have to get someone to teach me or look into community colleges. It just sucks with working a highly physical job, no ambition at end of day when your dog tired.
Couldn't hurt to learn welding, it's a useful skill. And a lot of it still can't be outsourced. If a trucker has a crack in the body of his dump truck, how's he going to send it overseas to get fixed? If you have the skill as a welder, and can afford to put together a welding rig, you might be able to work for yourself, if there's enough demand for it where you live. Regarding the pipeline welding, usually someone without welding experience works as a helper to more experienced welders for a few years. I don't know a lot about welding on a pipeline, but I know they use 6010 or 7010 rod and they are required to weld vertical down. (I think pipeline is the only thing done vertical down?) They have to pass a certification test, and I think every weld on the job is X-rayed. Most of them have travel trailers they pull behind their rigs and go all over the country.
Check out weldingtipsandtricks.com it is an awesome site and has tons of youtube videos.
As a general skill I'd have to recommend stick first, then MIG and then TIG if you want to weld aluminum and stainless. Like Scrub Puller said, until you have burned several pallets of rod, you will need to practice practice and practice. For basic all around welding, you can't go wrong learning stick welding since you don't have to worry about windy conditions like MIG or TIG. If you know the basics of welding, torchwork and have some basic metalworking tools, there is not much you can't fix or build.
Your all-in-one class is probably geared to the do it yourselfer. That does not make it a bad course, as it will give you a taste of the main welding types. If the instructor is good, you will pick up a lot of tidbits from all the forms. Can you find out who will be teaching the course? The one reservation I would have is that you end up in an artsy geared course if thats the instructors background, and the participants only want to make lawn art that only needs to stick to itself. The certificate courses tend to be geared towards following blueprints and making proper welds. Since you want to use it to pad a resume, it would probably be a wiser choice. How this goes also depends on the instructor. When I took arc/mig, the first night the instructor wanted to know what people where more interested in. Fortuneatly it was making good welds, so most of our time was spent actually welding to improve our technique rather than reading drawings. The guys who where in the course for the certificate got extra attention and pointers since they pretty much did destructive testing of all their welds and discussion of what they didn't do right. You may also want to think of some projects you want to make if you don't own your own welder, you'll reach the point where you want to make something rather than welding scraps together after you get the hang of it. As the others have said, if you need to pick one, start with arc. Difficult to articulate it, been a couple decades, but as a beginner, with arc, you could manage your technique from the visual and audio feedback a lot better and see actual results. Mig's a bit more of a beauty queen, hides your faults too easily. You can lay what looks like a fantastic bead and its a POS when you go to break it apart. A lot more practice required to pick up on all the cues so you can adjust accordingly. Alex.
Yair . . . Axle Never were truer words said!!! Cheers.
All good advice mws_1984. Check out local trade schools or college.If youre realy interested in welding might be a good idea to invest in a welder.We use mostly miller welders but my first welder was a lincoln 225 amp ac/dc.Damn good welder for the money.My lincoln 225 is allmost 30 years old & still going strong.I keep it in the shop & use it all the time for stick welding. www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200435113_200435113 Lincoln also has allot of information on it's site www.lincolnelectric.com Best of luck mws. Master stick & gas welding and the rest is easy
You will for sure look at the way things are built a bit differently if you take a few classes in Welding. Try to become certified if you can, that welding skill will serve you in more ways than one. If possible some night machining classes as well or engine courses.
When I got certified, two of us on the course were working long days, me on site and my mate on the farm. We often turned up an hour late into class. My mate got top student, even outperforming full-time trainees, so it is possible if you want it as badly as he did. We were both around thirty at the time. I'll admit I wouldn't want to repeat the experience.
I use to teach welding at local vo tec. I wanted everyone to learn to stick weld first. If you could stick weld you can pick up mig welding easly. But if you learn to mig first you might get frustrated. I aways compared weld to learn how to write some people take longer that other. Also, it takes practice. Good Luck
welding is one of the things i'm glad i learned how to do at a young age. it's helped me get every job i've had at heavy eq dealerships for the past 26+ years. :drinkup learn how to stick weld, and if they offer gas welding, learn those skillls as well. the hand to eye coordination it takes to gas weld carries over into tig. gas welding will also give you insite into how metal moves when heat is applied/removed
Stick is the way to start, all of the above advice is good, buy a lincoln buzz box they are cheap durable and used ones are plentiful. A welding school will give you a hat a hammer and a brush. Have your own grinder and scrap metal to weld. My school could not provide enough material for me. The best welder in the class will get a job.
True. The best way to enhance your skills after getting your welding certification is to put what you have learned into practice.