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I am not a welder, but I thought there was a problem welding outdoors with a MIG welder - that a slight breeze would destroy the gas "shield" that made it work easily. I didn't see that warning in Stu's excellent summary (but I may have missed it).

If the $90 per hour welder has a 1 hour minimum, he may be expensive, but if he charges by the minute for a 10 minute job, that would only be $15 and perhaps a bargain.
 
Thanks, Stu. Your information is most helpful and I am grateful you have shared it.

Jim, thanks, but I have no time for a regularly schedule class of that duration and crammed with stuff I am not interested in. I am very familiar with that program and it is not suitable for me.

I'll keep poking around. Next is a notice looking for a mentor on the Senior Center bulletin board.
 
All I am going to say is there are a ton of seniors that would be delighted to teach a lady to weld. Some might be a little shady but many would love to see a lady learn. And there are several senior lady welders that would do the same thing. A lot of people respect a can do lady..
 
Carol, I used to teach adult welding classes at night. Check with your local/area vocational school (here it is called Ivy Tech). Also call your local school systems and see if they have a vocational school they send their students to or if they offer welding. Then check and see if evening classes are offered.

I teach my students to stick weld first. It is the basic welding and teaches the foundations for kids to better understand the puddle, need for slag and penetration.

Then MIG, it is faster, easier and cleaner (main reasons why industry prefers it).

As Charlie pointed out, MIG has disadvantages to welding in an outside environment. That is the main reason structural steel workers still weld with stick. Gas pressures to keep the gas shield on the weld has to be turned up or wind breaks have to be created. It is easy to get a great looking weld that is extremely weak with MIG. An old fridge will keep your welding rods dry and if real humid in your area, an old style light bulb creates enough heat to keep them warm and dry throughout the change of seasons.

I tell my students, when you start welding at a trailer factory (semi trailers) there is a pay difference between inside and outside weldors. Inside weldors their welds are hidden. Outside weldors make more money as their welds are admired or complained about by the customer trying to buy that specific trailer. Always strive to be an outside weldor.

Welder-the machine used to produce the weld.
Weldor-the person using the welder to create the weld.
 
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Charlie Plesums said:
I am not a welder, but I thought there was a problem welding outdoors with a MIG welder - that a slight breeze would destroy the gas "shield" that made it work easily. I didn't see that warning in Stu's excellent summary (but I may have missed it).

If the $90 per hour welder has a 1 hour minimum, he may be expensive, but if he charges by the minute for a 10 minute job, that would only be $15 and perhaps a bargain.
Click to expand...

I did not state it clearly I said
Stu said:
By shutting off the gas, and changing the polarity of the welder (5 min job) as well as getting a spool of Flux Core wire you can also FCAW with this welder, which means you can weld outside.
Click to expand...

With FCAW (MIG with fluxcore wire and no gas, the fluxcore wire had a core in it that is filled with flux, much like the welding rods in SMAW Stick welding have a coating on them that creates the shielding gas and the slag which protect the weld.

Good catch Charlie, I was not as clear as I should have been. :D

Two more good videos from Lanse here about the various kinds of welding...

Part 1

Cheers!
 
With Stu's permission I adapted his summary of the types of welding to a web page - I see the welding discussion come up on woodworking forums periodically, as it did here, so I added a welding page to my web site.

I am not a welder (someone who tried to teach me stick welding 45 years ago finally gave up and said, "Charlie, there are some things you should accept that you cannot do.") But I found the discussion here interesting, and probably useful. I would appreciate anyone who knows more about welding than I do (which is almost everyone) to make suggestions and comments about my web page. www.solowoodworker.com/tools/welding.html - please email suggestions as suggested at the bottom of the web page.
 
FWIW, there is a very large and active welding group on tractorbynet.com. They have also been helpful. Was alerted to lots of resources there.
 
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