Welding

Every new school year brings new things to learn and new challenges. This year the new challenge in my autoshop class was to learn how to weld. The second week of class I was already using the MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welder. My teacher taught me three types of welds, a tee joint, butt joint, and lap joint. At first it was pretty hard because I wasn't accustomed at looking through the mask and wearing such thick gloves. Within the next couple of weeks I began to get better but it still wasn't enough. I wanted to become proficient at it until the point where I made little or no mistakes.

Lap Joint

Lap Joint

Butt Joint

Today I am better on the MIG welder but I still have not achieved my goal. Besides using the MIG welder, I have also tried using the TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welder. Both these welders must always have a ground meaning they always have to have a electric current running through the metal your about to weld. Where they differ is in the form in which they weld. A MIG welder uses a consumable wire electrode that heats the work-piece causing it to heat up and melt joining the two. A TIG welder on the other hand uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. In TIG welding a filler metal is usually used, this is heated and melted by the tungsten electrode causing the work-piece to join. For me TIG welding is the most versatile but also the harder form of welding, there are more variables that must be taken into account and more room for mistakes.

The reason I began welding is to complete the project I started with my classmate last year. He designed a tube roller to bend metal that we would use in class. The metal would be used to fix a set of chairs that are broken in the classroom. As of right now I have only welded one piece of the project using tack welds to hold the parts in place. Later on this month I plan to weld the remaining pieces with tack welds and then weld it completely. Hopefully nothing goes wrong and we should be done with the project real soon.

Project Wall