My first thought is contamination. Is your prep work back away from the weld at least 1"?

When metal working always wear safety glasses. Even clear glasses will help prevent accidentally flashing eye burns. Safety first.

Old indian trick - When tacking pipes or tubes up for a test I use three tacks about 1/2" long. When placing the tacked coupon in position to weld (6G) I rotate the bottom tack so that the end of it is dead bottom with the remainder of the tack coming up the weak side. That gives you a little a...

The aircraft tubing test makes a 6G tube test look like a cakewalk.

Gouging uses heavy amperage a lot of the time (with bigger rod) so you need to match your machine to the amperage you use. I have used Y's and hooked two or even three machines in parallel for really heavy gouging. Used a BIG Lincoln generator machine once that literally jumped off the floor when yo...

General rule is the lighter the material the smaller the rod. I have gouged 16 ga with small rod and 3" plate with big. A gouge is capable of really delicate work or really heavy duty back gouging. It is fun to gouge heavy plate if you have ventilation, ear plugs, and can stay out of the stream...

That is looking awesome! Please keep us posted on your progress and a "how to".

Just as an aside thing - a 12" length of welding lead with a crimped on lug and a female Tweco quik connect on the other end makes a really excellent self defense item. Roll it around in the dirt some so it doesn't look brand new and tuck it under the drivers seat.

I started to comment but I won't go there. Learn all you can and have a good life.

Dream job. I guess as close as I could come would be welding heavy wall superheat pendants with a good welding partner on the other side. One pass TIG, go to stick, ring it out slag welding non stop until the last pass of the cap. Turn off the lights and let the glow light the area. Weld the next on...

Well I freely admit to being an ornery, bitchin old man that calls a spade a spade and is very opinionated. Personally if I were hiring and you showed me those welds I would not hire you. Too coarse for me. You need more experience if you want to use TIG as your only process. Lets face it - TIG is a...

What you are talking about is called a hot tap in the trades. I have done it on natural gas lines by welding a weld on pipe fitting to the pipe or vessel. Then put a gate valve on the fitting, open the valve and drill thru the valve into the pipe. Pull the drill and shut the valve off. Doing this wi...

Them grumpy old farts can teach you how to do it right the first time because you don't have time to do it over. If you don't do right they will also put knots on your punkin head! MIG is a great process and you can teach a chimpanzee how to weld something using it in a few minutes. I would concentr...

Opie education is great and I highly recommend learning a trade. While going to school APPLY yourself. The classroom and theory is good but BURN ROD.Learn how to weld whatever on top of the bench, set it up at 45 degrees vertical, set it up at 45 degrees the other direction (leaning away and into yo...

Every welder should have a trick bag. I always had a .50 cal ammo can full of all sorts of things. Die grinder with several different air hose connections for it. Wrenches for the grinder. Several different style and size carbide burrs. Several arbors with different thicknesses and diameters of grin...

I wouldn't pick up the rod holder for $14 an hour. Suppose you expect them to furnish all their own tools at that rate too. Please tell me that was a joke.

Was working a job on the Oregon coast years ago and staying with some friends. I had been there several weeks so decided to give them a few days privacy and I drove around Washington. Dropped by the hall there to visit with another friend & he wanted to know if I wanted to test for a job there -...

Hands down Esab Atom Arc.

My advice would be to burn a lot more rod. Most inspectors would look you out before you got finished. Not trying to be the grumpy old butthead here - just telling like it is.

Choices these days are not as good with all the winky blinky hoods. My favorite lens over all was the old time American Optical gold that had a blue tint. Unfortunately if you can find one these days they want really big bucks for them.

Years ago I was up on staging and the job weld inspector for Chicago Bridge and Iron was below and yelled up at me to give him a 2" stub (we were burning 5/32 7018) so I reached in the stub bucket and threw one at him. Well - that wasn't exactly what he wanted - and he proceeded to let me know ...

Looks good to me. Nice overlap on beads, no undercut, nice and flat. Well done.

Esab - atom arc.

Knock on doors. Let them know your background, what type welding experience you have, work history, and provide references for them if they ask. Be prepared to knock on a lot of doors and keep coming back to check with them. The people that keep on coming back are thought of first when help is needed.

I have and use a TA 185 and love it.