Tried my hand at some welding today!

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Dodge72

Dodge72

Odd one out
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At my local community college they offer a free 'Women in Welding' workshop for any woman that's 18 or older to get exposed to some welding. They do this every two months or so. I was finally able to go today after having to cancel a few months back and man, how fun! After discussing some basics on safety and why they do this (basically to get more women interested in the field), we had three stations. One was plasma cutting, one was oxy acetylene welding, and the other was MIG welding. I've never done any sort of metal cutting or welding so this was entirely new and a great learning experience. I thought it was great and I learned a lot.


My plasma cut:
12814767_1432977923431309_4784656803087363010_n.jpg


My MIG weld:

12790877_1432977836764651_8915670198567828771_n.jpg


And my oxy-acetylene butt weld:

12821365_1432977860097982_1130499440880966401_n.jpg


Obviously I've got work to do, lol. But hey! Wonderful program and I'm glad they're doing it. I sure hope they have programs like this in other places...I think I heard them say they have grant money for this program.
 
this is so freaking awesome ...this is what I am trying to get my local girls to do because it is so empowering to make metal do what YOU want like you are wonder woman or something. :cheers:

I am proud of you ...keep it going :toothy8:
 
Great job! Isn't it fun (and powerful) to be able to cut apart and melt metal together?
 
Old man ray said:
Cool. And very good for a first time attempt
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no kidding, my first try was way messier.

I started with flux core and that makes a mess and it seems the heat is less focused with flux core.

That is so awesome she could try with a good welder on the bottle. :D
 
if they have V.I.C.A club at your community college....join it!!!

the skills USA program they run is soooooooo awesome ...I won up to state but didn't even place in nationals because the higher you go the more fierce the competition gets. But it is so fun and such a great time!!!
 
Thanks a bunch Rani. :D All the ladies there were totally into it too, and they were coming from all different walks to life; one was en route to being something in the medical field, while there were a couple ladies probably middle-aged trying it for the first time.

Edit: I think they have something like that. But I'm moving in a month across the country so I'll have to look at my transfer college.

It was very powerful! And totally not so intimidating anymore. You just have to do it and then it's like....well that wasn't so bad, lol.
 
might I say, your beads look really very good. torch gas welding is a dying art.

I have a horse friend, she repairs jewelry for a high end store, and makes some nice items. this is done with a very small "jewelers torch", just a small gas torch, many people fuel it with propane as the heat is lower than acetelyne.

I do a little bit and spur making.
 
barbee6043 said:
might I say, your beads look really very good. torch gas welding is a dying art.

I have a horse friend, she repairs jewelry for a high end store, and makes some nice items. this is done with a very small "jewelers torch", just a small gas torch, many people fuel it with propane as the heat is lower than acetelyne.

I do a little bit and spur making.
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Thank you. I took a jewelry making class a while back and we did a little solder with a propane torch. With such tiny little pieces of metal though I made a mess with it, haha. That has to be some intricate work there. Spur making? I'd love to see that!
 
Very cool! I took an intro to welding workshop a couple of summers back - took my wife to the next one - she really likes making welded art projects...working on a fence right now - and she's doing wire-art, including a '64 Dart :)
 
That looks pretty good. It is great you tried it. A couple summers ago I taught a intro to welding during a venture crew summer camp after the guy that was supposed to do it didn't show up. The girls all did better than the boys. The just have better hand eye coordination.
 
barbee6043 said:
might I say, your beads look really very good. torch gas welding is a dying art.

I have a horse friend, she repairs jewelry for a high end store, and makes some nice items. this is done with a very small "jewelers torch", just a small gas torch, many people fuel it with propane as the heat is lower than acetelyne.

I do a little bit and spur making.
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X2 on that oxy/acetylene bead. Looks good, and certainly a dying art. I do some with a Cobra torch. Looking to get a lens for aluminum oxy/acetylene welding. It takes practice, but persistence pays dividends!
 
64DartGTinAZ said:
Very cool! I took an intro to welding workshop a couple of summers back - took my wife to the next one - she really likes making welded art projects...working on a fence right now - and she's doing wire-art, including a '64 Dart :)
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Metal art and rod iron fences were super popular for people in the Southwest when we lived there. When the Recession hit, my dad took up projects like the fence gates, making headboards and lots of iron art that he sometimes powdercoated too. It was some beautiful stuff, thankfully he didn't sell all of it. Endless possibilities it seems. That wire-art sounds super cool!

It's great to hear that there are little workshops like that in other places too, seems like so many are dying out. I most likely wouldn't have found my true passion for cars if I didn't join Auto Shop on a whim...
 
Dodge72 said:
At my local community college they offer a free 'Women in Welding' workshop for any woman that's 18 or older to get exposed to some welding. .
Click to expand...

I fully support women over 18 to expose themselves.... :D

View attachment Low cut blouse 02.jpg


But seriously, It's great that you got to try welding. We had some welding classes in our high school and I learned from a good teacher.

Keep it up, you have a good start. Pretty soon you will be able to make a nice bead...
 
burning metal is something special. if you like it, then you will for ever be into it. Theres just something about metal, you can join it, grind it , pull/push it. Nothing is un fixable..
 
Those welds look good. Good to get our women involved in what we love. Just a tip, always make sure you are welding clean metal. Clean steal leaves clean welds. The opposite is true as well.
 
Back in the early seventies I was taking engineering classes at the state college, but I also wanted some hands-on welding experience since I was working on an old Plymouth. I took this oxy-acetylene welding class at the local junior college. It was 5 hours a night, 2 nights/week for a whole semester.

For the "final exam" we had to weld a weld up a box-type object with a hole into it and a pipe connection. The instructor clamped a water hose onto it and turned on the water - and your project was supposed to hold water without leaking. Some people's project looked like a sprinkler. It was actually pretty funny.

The bottom line is that was most fun class I had throughout my whole college career. Amazingly enough I was even able to apply the 5 units as an "elective" towards my engineering degree.

So K.P., I applaud and encourage your efforts.
 
Earned a living for a while welding .....always loved doing it.My eyesight is so bad now I had to give it up and miss it a lot....Keep up the good work.
 
Wow, great job!! I like the "K" cutout....I love steel art!! Can we call you Sparky now???
 
You went and did it now... You'll be wanting to melt stuff everywhere!

It's fun to learn new skills.
 
That's some good looking results for a first time effort, good job. It can be very satisfying to lay down a good looking bead on a workpiece.

If you ever get a chance to TIG weld you already have a handle on how to do part of it, since it requires similar hand motions but the heat source is electricity instead of a flame.
 
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