ABOUT WELDING

[berrojalbiz]

DOES ANYONE KNOW SOME PLACE IN SPAIN TO DO A GOOD COURSE ABOUT WELDING??????

THANKS

 

[MASSEY]

If you are trying to patch that crude oil cargo ship - it's too late - unless someone wants to try underwater welding.

Sorry, I couldn't resist, I know that what is happening is a terrible environmental disaster.

I hope all energies spent are to prevent as much damage to the environment as possible, then persue the responsibles later.

In answer to your question - I'm sorry I can't help you. Except to suggest hiring a private teacher, you could call a portable welding service and learn at home.

Good Luck.

 

[micjk]

berrojalbiz,
I can't give any reference to "School" for welding in Spain, but can give advice on the learning process. I was a welder for 15 yrs in the southeastern US and had never taken a course. I had certs in smaw (stick) welding and GTAW ( tig) welding for several types of metals ie aluminum, carbon steel, stainless, zirconium, hasteloy, inconel (the list goes on). All of which I learned on my own. Welding is more of an art than a textbook trade. Welding courses, from what I have heard, are more centered on principle of and metallurgy than technique. The welders that I have met all had the same basic technique but different styles (if that makes sense). The best advice I can give is to pick up a stinger, tig torch, mig gun, etc. and start to learn. Talk to the welders that you associate with and listen intently. It's not rocket science, it's an art form.
"You will never master anything that you don't try."
Roy Gariepy
Maintenance and Reliability Dept.
Bayer Corporation Dorlastan Fibers Div.
Goose Creek, South Carolina USA

 

[MASSEY]

micjk,

You offer excellent advice.

I learned how to weld on the job in the field. I was awful at first. Now I am excellent. I never had a class. It is an art. I love welding.

 

[micjk]

Massey,
Thanks. Welding is an art. I have worked many jobs as a structural and pipe welder. I have also done a lot of "hobby" type work i.e. ornamental jewelry (belt buckles and braclets made from pipe, filler wire, angle iron, etc.) I have also made ornamental iron fences and gates. Heck, we have 2 christmas deco's (Santa and reindeer + a christmas tree) both of which are @ 15-20 ft X 10 ft that we hang off the side of our 5 story production building (w/ lights of course) every year just after Thanksgiving.As I stated I learned on my own. The first time I ever welded, I was an ironworker and was asked by my foreman to grab a stinger and follow an inspector around who was using a sledge hammer to check nelson studs and weld any down that broke. When my foreman walked off I had to ask my connecting partner "What the heck is a stinger?" and have been welding since. Not near as much since becoming a reliability Eng. Roy Gariepy
Maintenance and Reliability Dept.
Bayer Corporation Dorlastan Fibers Div.
Goose Creek, South Carolina USA

 

[MASSEY]

micjk,

I made some 8' wind chimes for my wife, an awesome fireplace insert for our house and many other similar things.

When I first started welding, I learned in a cement plant in a dark hole no one will ever see again. When I got transferred to our production shop the foreman told I would be wire welding, I said "great". When he left I asked the guy I was working with what a wire weld was. He proceded to walk me around the area we were working showing different types of welds and tried to verbally explain how to wire weld.

So I promptly reported to shop to serve up a nice batch of popcorn.

I've come a long since then. It's been fun.

 

[MASSEY]

micjk,

I noticed you said you used to weld a lot of pipe.

One of my jobs from the past - before I went back to college - was drilling water wells with an old cable tool well drilling rig. We put down steel pipe with the cable tool rig and plastic with the rotory. Anyway, I used to drill single-handedly (most of the time) so I did all the drilling, maintenance, cutting, and welding.

95% of the time the pipe was sticking out of the ground and I would have to bevel it off with a torch because it would mushroomed from beating on it with the drive clamps. Then stand another piece onto it and run 3 passes of 6010 5P+ around it. This varied in difficulty depending on how high the pipe was sticking out of the ground. Those were some of the ugliest welds I have ever produced...but the important thing is that in 3 years of welding pipe and driving it through the earth and yanking it back and ramming it into shale and trying to hammer it back out - I never had one weld break.

Of all the good memories from that job, including the good wells and the not so good ones, of all the hard work, blood spilled, and broken bones (seriously) the one thing that causes a comfortable, confident smile to turn the corners of my mouth is that I never had one weld break.

Thanks for listening.

 

[micjk]

Massey,
Thats unbelievable. What a small world. I also used to work for a water well drilling outfit. As a matter of fact at one time they were and may still be, the worlds largest water developer. You may have heard of them, Layne (Atlantic Div.). I also have memories tied to welding involving this type of work although at that time I didn't weld. The worst is at the time I had never been around welding at that time and recieved my first and worst case of "flash burn". We were setting 24" casing in a 1300 ft deep well, I was the rigger, I would guide these monsterous lengths of 24" pipe up the runway and then sit back while our welder did his thing. I was @ 40 ft. from the welder and had always heard do not look at the weld. Well needless to say at the ripe old age of 18 and you know as well as I do that the "pretty blue light" has a mesmorizing (sp) effect, for 12 hrs I, on and off (more on than off), glanced at this little light thinking heck I'm 40 ft. from it so how is it going to burn me. Needless to say I knew, but didn't know, what the heck ultraviolet radiation was and what it could do to your eyes. I suffered, blind for 1, and in pain for 2 more days due to this. I had never experienced anything like that before. I have had mild burn since but nothing to compare to that first time (thank goodness for ponticaine).I will say one thing, well drilling was one of the most fscinating jobs I ever had. We took soil samples for every rod we dropped, at the points where the geologists felt there was water. When you start pulling sharks teeth up from 800-900 ft underground you start to think of how the earth has evolved through the ages.
Thanks for letting me share that, it sure spurred some old memories. Roy Gariepy
Maintenance and Reliability Dept.
Bayer Corporation Dorlastan Fibers Div.
Goose Creek, South Carolina USA

 

[MASSEY]

micjk,

That is really incredible. Your well drilling experiences sound very much more involved than mine. I usually ran 4" casing and sometimes 5" & 6".

We are blessed with a lot of water up here in northern Michigan. The shallowist water well I made was 32' and deepest was only 312', most were between 125' to 200'. It sounds like were drilling on two different worlds.

Thanks a lot for sharing your drilling experiences. I wonder if the guy who started this thread even knows what he has started.

See ya later.

 

[micjk]

Oh yes, two totally different worlds. Our drilling rods were 4" sch 160 pipe ranging from 20- 25 ft long. Heck when we tested this 1300 ft deep well we had 2 diesel engines tied to a submersible pump @ 1150 ft under ground. We tested for 72 hrs at 350 gals/min. Needless to say the little old town of St. Stephens SC was not happy about the localized flooding. This well would free flow 50 gals/min. I have done little residential drilling with the execption of a 50 ft well I did on my property using a pump garden hose, homemade "bit", 1 1/2 in. pipe and a whole lot of elbow grease. Roy Gariepy
Maintenance and Reliability Dept.
Bayer Corporation Dorlastan Fibers Div.
Goose Creek, South Carolina USA