The learning curve begins...

Here we are. The beginning of Summer. As you all know by now, my goal this summer is to become a proficient welder (or Weldor as some of my books say...) So, I need an office. A little place to call my own where I can concentrate, study and learn. This is what I came up with...

This little beauty was assembled from scraps of wood found in my basement. It's a 24" square desk topped with ceramic tile... and a brick. Fancy, I know. At least I can sit and brace my elbows on the edge while I figure this all out.

I went to Lowes to get some steel to practice on. I bought a piece that was .125 inches thick by 36 inches long. I've been cutting that into small pieces as needed. I'm not sure why I bought .125 though... I probably should be focusing on some thinner material, but it's what I have now, and I'll certainly ruin it... or practice, I mean.

So here are my first "welds"...

The lower bead was just that... making a puddle and running it across the steel.  That was fun, so I grabbed another piece of steel, put it next to my first piece, tacked it at both ends, then went for it! Nothing like jumping right in! Purdy ain't it? I was so proud... until I put it in my vice and bashed it about 5 times with a hammer. Broke right off. Seems I only penetrated about a third into the steel. So I tried it again, same 2 pieces, re-welded. This time I made sure I had good penetration and when I did my destructo-test, I passed. Bent the steel in half about a half inch below the weld. I win!

So now you see how cocky I am! I tried various other joints... outside corner weld... (perfect)

and a (kind-of) "T-weld" (not so perfect... lots of undercutting and very "blobby")

So, as you can see, I need lots of practice. I've read about everything I can find on "gas welding" and watched a few DVD's, but there's nothing like doing it yourself... and seeing where you're deficient. I keep going back and referencing various things like torch settings, distance and angle of the flame to the steel, how clean the material is, etc. My issue now is that I don't want to develop any bad habits. So, why don't I enroll at the local community college and take a course? Because they don't offer oxy-acetylene welding. It's all electric... stick, arc, Mig, Tig. No gas or brazing/soldering. Bummer.

I just said to Deb last night "I need to find someone to look over my shoulder to make sure I'm not doing things really wrong... kind of like an instructor."

If I were Mig-ing or Tig-ing that is real easy... Gas welding, however is another story. It's like this "romantic" way of welding. It began in the early 1900's and leather-clad men would wield torches and wear heavy gloves and goggles to fuse steel together with fire! By WWII, they came up with Tig welding which was the same but used electricity and an arc instead of fire (which sped up production on the military assembly lines) Mig took over as a "low cost" alternative and the old romantic method of welding with fire has taken a back seat.
However...
The aircraft industry STILL gas welds. Even as late as 1990 some aircraft companies were still gas welding aluminum. Some still do today. Even the EAA (experimental aircraft assoc.) officially endorses gas welding and if you go to the Osh Kosh fly in you can attend a gas welding seminar.
So, in looking for my "instructor", I went to the EAA. Turns out there's a guy in the next town who is an EAA technical counselor. His job is to make sure that every home-builder has an airplane that passes it's technical certification. So we get in touch, and he's willing to teach this dude how to gas weld!
Pretty awesome.
I'm humbled, yet giddy as a little school girl at how all this motorcycle stuff seems to be coming together.

Thanks for reading, and I'll try to keep the posts up.