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

On Wed, Feb 3, 2016 at 11:27 PM, Todd Archer <flyrotary@lancaironline.net> wrote:

Nah, just figured CraigsList ads from Fairbanks would be of less help.  Still trying to make a go of it up here.

Todd


On 2/3/2016 9:30 AM, David Leonard wrote:

You guys are Great!  That completely answers the question and probably some of the questions I will have once it get it home.

Todd, are you back in San Diego?

David Leonard

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