Coffee 11-17-12

Damn, you guys got me a little worried now. Been welding up a project for a week or 2, an hour here, an hour there. I'm a "weekend-welder", but my brother taught me, and he has his certifications in all forms of welding.
I don't mind the upsidedown welding. I can do it much better than vertical welding, but I hate when the splatter bounces off my helmet and down my back, INSIDE my coat Or when the splatter bouces off my uncovered scalp and sizzles its way through my hair. Time for a skull cap, I guess.
Knock on wood.... nothing in the eyes.

NoSmoke wrote:I am in a lot of pain tonight!

As for work, there is kind of a story on that. I am a welder, for those that do not know, and build US Navy Destroyers. About a year ago my foreman says he is putting me to the test and gives me a very difficult welding job to do. Since ships can have awkward spots to weld, I get this job of welding a critical I-Beam in the corner of a ship section that is overhead, in a tight spot, and inaccessible. In other words mirror work. The problem with mirrors are; if you use one, right is now left, and left is now right, and up is down, and down is up...and you thought welding in general was a skill! You can use two mirrors which discounts that, but multiple mirrors makes your depth perception off. You cannot win! So anyway I just have a knack for mirror work and do a good job and do a pretty good job on this critical weld.

Well guess who always ends up with overhead, critical, inaccessible, mirror welding jobs, and I mean ALWAYS!

Grinding is a part of welding, and so it is not unusual to be in a section of ship that is no bigger then a refrigerator, welding a far corner with a mirror or upside down. No joke, really tight areas. In places like that grinding dust and chips from the pneumatic tools we use blows that stuff everywhere so eye injuries are common place.

PS: I have gotten stuck so many times welding there. After awhile you learn to just relax, stop breathing because when you panic, your body expands a bit. Once I got stuck in the same spot twice and it was the only time I ever said bad words (swear) there. That was bad!

Why do you think they have those scull caps & big brimmed welders hats, Lincoln used to give the scull caps away for free if you bought enough over priced rods.

A skull cap??? Shalom my friends I remember in 7th grade metal shop--every body had to run a bead & have it inspected--wellll, the room had windows all around it--of course I turned my head from the actual welding, not being stupid & looked out the windows ( spent most of my schooling doing that) anywho-- talk about eye burn-- felt like somebody ran 40 grit emory on the inside of my eye lids That was my last & only burn experience welding. Point being--reflection ain't good.

Went to the local welding shop the other day, a little piece of America tucked away behind Main St., Somerville, NJ. No parking in the little lot so I just parked close to a big supply truck right in front of the "No smoking Beyond This Point" sign. The guy was clanging various bottles and offloading, adding to the macho ambience. Bottles everywhere. Took my little 60cu.ft. oxy bottle to be refilled, it was made in 1957 like me. It's out of test so off it went to be tested dammit two weeks wait. How does five year blocks of time vanish like that? Got a swap bottle of acetylene and five lbs. of Lincoln all purpose 3/32" sticks. That place used to have loose welding rods and you could get a pound if you wanted. Now everything is in plastic boxes. I told the guy I been comin in there for 20 years, but only once every two years. Somebody gave me a Sears 4.5 hp Leaf Vaccuum/Chipper. The engine bolts loosened and damaged the mounting flange, and oil was all over it.
Very glad I was able to repair the cracks and chip outs on the relatively thin metal deck. Reinforced it underneath by welding washers in place and doing a little grinding. I thought it had a bad crank oil seal, seems the normally inaccessible oil drain plug was loose! Of course I find this out after I sent for a case gasket and oil seal. Somebody botched a previous repair and I bet they forgot to tighten the oil drain plug and engine bolts! I made a tool to pull the tapered shaft cast aluminum fan impeller assy., happy that worked out. Sharpened the chipper blade, kept all the parts in a parts box for sequential re-assembly. Took it for a test run and it's pretty good. Ate up a few sticks through its 2" chute, and there's a lot of them lying around after the storm.
I still have a leather welding jacket from BOCES welding school, Bingo, NY; circa 1978!
I can so relate to welding burns on the scalp, the top of the foot, the sandpaper eyeball pain from catching a flash hahahhaha.

I am a welder, but I am not a big fan of it. I worked hard to become a machinist, both Manual and CNC but I always seem to get laid off and have to go back to welding. Here in Maine anyway, there is just a bigger demand for welders than machinists. It is a skilled trade, and I am a good welder, but I would rather run a Bridgeport then weld...but it is a trade that has fed me and my family for years so I cannot kick on it. Just saying...I would rather machine a part out then weld.

My biggest issue with being a welder/machinist is that most of the metal things I have to buy in life, I could make. The problem is having enough time and the materials...the biggest being the time.It really is a curse; you look at some part, realize you could fabricate/weld/machine it out better then what they are asking you to pay $$$$ bucks for! But DO I REALLY HAVE THE TIME to make one...oh that is the question and usually when I feel my wallet get lighter!

As for a beannie...surprisingly I have never worn one. No joke.

When I worked for the railroad I got a couple of tattoos with one in Padducha KY. The guy put the needle to my forearm, started doing a little bit of it, stopped looked up at me with a grin and said, "I love welders. You guys do not even flinch when I start working on you."

NS, my Grandfather always told me with farming, "if you're gonna be dumb, you'd better get tough. Got some ink myself & it never phased me--I thought the guy in the chair next to me was going to cry--he got a lil devil about 2" with " born to raise hell"

I got inked by my buddy with a sewing needle wrapped in thread, and a jar of ink when I was 15 or so. Some chick wrote it out in pen, and he traced it with the needle. Can still see all the tiny dots on the edges.



Funny you guys are talking about welding. I got a job doing just that for someone recently ... but for some reason when I get paid to do something it comes out like *censored* & I spend more time grinding than welding. Figures!! Can't seem to get anything to go right this past month anyway ... so why am I shocked???

Christ, if I could just weld a inside 90° corner I'd be happy - never mind the mirror *censored*!

What's the problem when the bead ends up lumpy & porous??? Gas pressure?

SMITTY wrote:What's the problem when the bead ends up lumpy & porous???

The problem is that it's you behind the wheel! <Ducking and running away>

I hear you Smitty. I can weld OK IF things are just right. (flat, level, clean) When you ask me to weld tricky stuff it's weld & grind, weld & grind.

If it's lumpy & porous my first guess would be too much heat, but I don't know. I'd just play with settings until it looked better.

freetown fred wrote:NS, my Grandfather always told me with farming, "if you're gonna be dumb, you'd better get tough. Got some ink myself & it never phased me--I thought the guy in the chair next to me was going to cry--he got a lil devil about 2" with " born to raise hell"

There is a lot of truth to that!

I was at a tattoo/body piercing shop and about to get a tattoo when this kid comes in...maybe 19 years old or so, and says, "there is no way I could ever go through the pain of a tattoo", then proceeds to plop down money for his first eye brow piercing. I held back because I wanted to see how it was done and it was pretty crude. There was a little numbing stuff, but in reality the woman just took this big needle, told the guy to hold his breath and jammed...and I mean jammed...that needle up through his eye brow.

He looked at me cross eyed, then looked at the woman and she was like, "Why don't you lie down", but it was already too late, he had passed out. They had a couch right there so I guess it happens a lot. Anyway I was thinking..."And you thought getting a tattoo was bad!"

There is no way this guy is ever getting anything pierced, but my first wife did pierce her tongue. This is a family rated forum so I will just say, I liked that!

As for welding and grinding...it all depends where you work. I was always told that a good weld looks better than a ground one, but in building ships, we grind a lot. I mean a lot. The reason is simple, there is no undercut allowed, nor sharp edges, everything must be blended, but for a very good reason. Paint can flake off a sharp edge so to ensure the paint sticks, and prevent the ship from having undue maintenance costs over its 35 year designed life, the weld specs are tough.

These are across the board, meaning it does not matter if the weld is to hold down grating, or the frame of a ship; it must be 100% welded, well wrapped, and blended out. It does not matter if it is a mirror weld either; same standards apply.

We grind a lot!

But, these are ships that can, and have seen battle. One ship hit a mine in the Mediterranean and the Captain of the ship, and his crew came to the shipyard and said honestly, "We owe you our lives because you did your job." The ship received considerable damage, but no weld broke because of the stringent standards we have. There is meaning behind what we do, and that is the reason I like working there; I am giving the training, time, materials and pay to do a really good job and so I do the best job that I can. If it means a lot of grinding, so be it...just part of the job of building amazing ships.