Dr. Dave---Med School, internship and Residency was a breeze compared
to welding.
Just kidding.
you will probably find it
easier than dealing with the nurses and politics at the hospital.
Welding requires a little didactic and lots of practice.
Depending on where you are, you might be able to find a high school
extension welding course. Tapes, etc will probably do well, but a short course
will give you somebody looking over your shoulder (kinda like going back to your
training) to give you some hints.
The basics of all welding (although each has it's own idiosyncrasies and
requirements) are 1- clean your metal 2- choose the right filler rod
3-worship the molten puddle that you are creating and adding to with your filler
rod (if needed) and 4- heat control .
Practice practice practice practice practice
practice practice practice before you do any final stuff--
then do it. If you haven't done it for a while, you are going to need to
practice again. One thing you will notice is that the more you do the better
your welds will look. You will always be able to see which welds you did
originally and how they progressed as you continued.
Soon you will be welding Aluminum
Rich
In a message dated 2/4/2016 12:04:04 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
flyrotary@lancaironline.net writes:
Todd B. - Great to hear from you again! You really are
breaking your silence. That unit does look nice and I the more I review
video from the inter-web stick welding seems archaic compared to TIG.
You and everyone else are swaying me in that direction. Yes, I always
figured I could eventually lean the skills to do a reasonable weld (as opposed
to playing an instrument or singing at a profession level) but given
that it took me the more than a decade of 60-100 hr weeks to become a
physician I was wondering if welding could be done with a little less
commitment. ;-) Is your plane still flyable? I am in
the midst of an engine re-build and tear-down inspection that looks like it
could use some welding.
Funny aside. I texted my girlfriend yesterday that I spent the morning
watching welding videos. She misread it and thought maybe we were
getting hitched. Trying to defuse that one....
Todd A. - Great to hear from you too. Hope things are well in Fairbanks
and making a go is making it work. Winter there must no be too much
fun. I am getting really tired of all the 60 deg days here in San D.
;-)
Dave Leonard