Welding Tips and Tricks

Let's get something going. Who's in charge here?

Spartan wrote:Let's get something going. Who's in charge here?

That's the problem. No one really is. Ottonobedder used to be active every now and then, but he's dropped off the face of the earth. There are peeps responding to reported posts, but other than that, it's Mad Max style around here. Were you hoping to get something going in specific, or you just happen to crack open a few beers already for the weekend?

Oscar wrote:

Spartan wrote:Let's get something going. Who's in charge here?

....Were you hoping to get something going in specific, or you just happen to crack open a few beers already for the weekend?

Ha. Both of those things. Maybe some dedicated tutorials, giveaways, contests, etc., to liven things up a bit. Things to aid in both participation and new active member recruitment.

How do you think this forum could be better? What ideas do you have?

Questions are directed both at Oscar and at everyone else here.

Spartan wrote:How do you think this forum could be better? What ideas do you have?

I've suggested things in the past but they fall on deaf ears. I don't think because of any intentional negligence, but just because there's nobody in charge.

For starters, fixing the minor problems with missing files that log people out, or cause people to need to log in again, would be a huge help.

There is nobody who really maintains the software, so it's in a static type state, it is what is is, so to speak. What works works and what doesn't doesn't. I don't know how else to put it, there's nobody that can change things when they need fixing, so people just put up with what they have.

Mick used to be the moderator but didn't do any changes to the forum software.

There must be someone that approves people, but I have no idea.

Jody has a lot of content that could be used, but it takes some effort to set it up so it's useful I get the impression that the powers to be don't want to spend anything on the website, so that's kind of why it's in the state it is. It is what it is.

keep in mind forums are small scale these days. social media dominates so the fact they have kept a forum running is quite good.
it is what it is. enjoy it while it lasts.

Yea, I agree it's all in social media now a days. I try to participate in social media, but I don't spend a whole lot of time on it. Mostly just follow stuff. I tried to follow "welding groups", but as someone here once mentioned, they're "crappy" to put it nicely.

How about a Swedish Bikini welding team? That might liven things up.

I will even volunteer to be a judge for tryouts!

VA-Sawyer wrote:How about a Swedish Bikini welding team? That might liven things up.

only if they're women! (you didn't specify, so I didn't know what you meant)

Strange, but ok. Supposedly this fellow is a welder. Does this work for you guys?

I definitely agree, I think it would help if Jody or a mod posted write ups of his videos or at least a handful of the most important ones, welding often very much depends on visual aids to get the point across, but certain things I just prefer to read at my leisure without sitting through a video with audio, he does have a lot of info on his website itself however.

I think the forums could benefit GREATLY from more people sharing their experiences and reviews of equipment and accessories, but with welding that can be hard to do in an objective AND informative manner. I have a grader blade that I've recently been welding with various methods and break testing but I don't even know for sure what steel it even is, I could go start hounding the steel yard for any drops that were things like AR400, T1, 4130 etc. Or perhaps buy a few pieces, maybe I could even figure out a way to track the force I was applying with my pipe wrench or add weights until failure so things would be more objective than "that weld broke way easier than that other one" but would anyone even care? The welding world as a whole is full of "nobody cares about that" and "You should've done it X way rather than Y way and used B machine not C machine" types, although this forum tends to be better about that.

I like these forums though for the exact reason that welding groups on social media make the most abrasive forum seem welcoming. They end up being 90% the mocking of those who can't weld by those who can and the criticizing of excellent welds by supposed world class welders with nothing to back it up.

I regret making that suggestion. My eyes still hurt!

You guys must be too young to remember those beer commercials.

VA-Sawyer wrote:I regret making that suggestion. My eyes still hurt!

You guys must be too young to remember those beer commercials.

Shoulda been more careful with your wording lol

If I was setting the forum up, I would have an area where everything was laid out for a beginner. I would have an area setup for tig, mig and stick, even oxy/acetylene. Yes, could even be in the respective forums as a sticky, but a place you could point newbies to.

There's always a lot of people new to welding coming to the forum, it would be nice to have an area where you could tell people go buy some coupons from Superior Welding and Fab, set your welder like this...this is how you test for gas leaks, how the consumables are setup, amps to use, what a clean tungsten looks like, this is all basic information but what is needed to make one's first welds.

I'd do the same thing for mig, how to set the machine, how to adjust the gas, the wire feed speed, etc...and the same for stick welding.

Sure, there's videos out there that we can direct them to, but the idea is to have the content here, so when new members join they have a place to get that without having to scour the Internet.

For that matter, I'd have an area you could buy from the Weldmonger store, or Superior, make it easy for them. People are looking for simplicity, not complexity.

Then I would start adding to it, how to weld miters, how to weld coped pipe, how to weld sheet metal, etc...and keep building on it...so that eventually this forum is a better resource than it is now, where it brings all the information together that people are looking for...

Just thinking out loud...

TraditionalToolworks wrote:If I was setting the forum up, I would have an area where everything was laid out for a beginner. I would have an area setup for tig, mig and stick, even oxy/acetylene. Yes, could even be in the respective forums as a sticky, but a place you could point newbies to.

There's always a lot of people new to welding coming to the forum, it would be nice to have an area where you could tell people go buy some coupons from Superior Welding and Fab, set your welder like this...this is how you test for gas leaks, how the consumables are setup, amps to use, what a clean tungsten looks like, this is all basic information but what is needed to make one's first welds.

I'd do the same thing for mig, how to set the machine, how to adjust the gas, the wire feed speed, etc...and the same for stick welding.

Sure, there's videos out there that we can direct them to, but the idea is to have the content here, so when new members join they have a place to get that without having to scour the Internet.

For that matter, I'd have an area you could buy from the Weldmonger store, or Superior, make it easy for them. People are looking for simplicity, not complexity.

Then I would start adding to it, how to weld miters, how to weld coped pipe, how to weld sheet metal, etc...and keep building on it...so that eventually this forum is a better resource than it is now, where it brings all the information together that people are looking for...

Just thinking out loud...

I completely agree, also sometimes even I find myself stumbling over something so basic it's rarely mentioned or I don't know where to find it.

I'm tempted to not post this message, but I think it needs to be said. I haven't posted as much in the past week or two because of contention I've had with Oscar, and it made me step back and evaluate what I'm looking for in a forum, how I fit in, and how I participate.

1st and foremost for me, I am not just a welder, I have a lot of things going on so I do a lot of various fabricating and building, not just with metal but with wood also. So for me the welder is not always the solution. Kind of gets down to the 'ol saying if you only have a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. I don't only have a welder, I have many tools.

Social Media was brought up, but forums are a form of social media, it's not as if they're not on the Internet, it's just that they're not dedicated to videos like YouTube or pictures like InstaGram, but forums contains those elements and should be considered Social Media for all intents and purpose.

So what type of forum do I want to come to when I want to learn about welding. I want to come to a forum that is comprised of welders who are welding day in and day out. Is that the case here at WTAT? Not really, it is somewhat but not entirely, IMO. There are a few people that do weld all the time, but there are others that only weld some of the time, like me. I have come to realize that I shouldn't offer advice and why I started to taper off.

There are other people on this forum that should consider the same thing, and get out and do more welding. At some point when you have enough equipment you should use it, rather than just talking about it on the Internet. I'm so glad that I make the decisions I do for myself, because I would rather have an $800 welder and use it for my needs than an $8000 welder and not. One day I will have an $8000 welder, but until then I have my hands full with many projects, all of which are not welding.

Occasionally Spartan will mention in a thread, "Ok, too much talking and not enough arc", and I think that is true. As Jody often says in his videos, "Ok, that's enough yapping, let's get to the welding".

I 'spose it depends on what type of people you want frequenting this forum. Do you want them to be welding or do you want them to be armchair welders? That will probably determine how to "liven up this forum", IMO, and what type of people frequent and are attracted to WTAT. If you want to attract armchair welders, encourage armchair welding. If you want to attract welders, encourage people to do actual welding.

Today I embark upon getting the steering hydraulic off the rear of my forklift, it doesn't involve any welding, and if I can get it off I will need to machine a piston rod, again no welding. If I get time I will get to my welding cart, it does have some welding and maybe I will or will not share some of that if I get around to it...I don't know.

All the great ideas that people are posting are great...ideas. The only issue is that no one is actually willing to put the time & effort to create all of those things because they truly do consume a lot of time. Things like tutorials, videos, schematics, flowcharts, PDFs, articles, scientific white papers, etc are all great resources, but I doubt anyone here has the time to assemble all those things. It would literally be a full-time job. Like it was said before, it is what it is. I don't mind that this forum is more of a "hangout" or "the breakroom at the shop" instead of being "the shop floor". It's free, and we only get what we pay for. It's kinda like my HTP Welder Group chat on WhatsApp. Yea we talk welding and there are hobbyists as well as professionals who own their own businesses in there, but in the end it's more like (a virtual) "the customer breakroom at HTP" where we chit-chat a bit here and there about welding, a little bit of cooking (mostly me posting food/bbq'ing pics ), and every now and then Jeff strolls in when he has a couple minutes to say hello or what not. I feel it is kinda like the same basic principle: if it's free, you can't ask for more. In case anyone has noticed, I've actually been starting way more threads than I typically do, because yes I do think there needs to be more "action", even if it's just discussion. I also weld a lot more than I disclose or than what people think I do, but it is not so apparent because there are very few times I actually need help so I'm not posting left and right about it and I'm also not taking pics of every little thing I work on. A long time ago I learned how to learn, so I am good at finding info out for myself one way or another.

TraditionalToolworks wrote: So what type of forum do I want to come to when I want to learn about welding. I want to come to a forum that is comprised of welders who are welding day in and day out.

in most forums i'm on, you simply do not get that.
a lot of full timers will not bother with forums, they already know what they need to know.
its often the part timers who are there to learn new things and pass on a bit of what they know as well. especially helping out the beginners while they still remember what its like to be a beginner.
having some full timers in the background is great, but just getting them to share those gold nuggets of info is difficult.

one thing we really should do is post a bit about the mechanical/engineering side of things more.
welding tends to be 10% of the job, but the other 90% often effects how you do the welding. understanding how its all works together is important.

The welding world is so diverse that very few are exposed to the many different aspects, the world of a structural welder vs that of a aerospace welder is just 1 of many examples that could be made.

I don't want to name names, but there are people on this forum that have a lot more experience in areas that I don't, so their input is valuable and opens up points of views and ideas that I wouldn't know otherwise.

I don't weld everyday anymore...because the company I work for doesn't have any welding work that needs done, in fact the weld booth was taken down and put in storage because our current customer has taken over the entire shop floor, so even though I was hired as a welder I don't weld, I'm doing mechanical assembly work, but I do weld for my business and I'm ok with that.

I see the forum as a place where like minded people hang out and can exchange thoughts and ideas that you (and I) might not be able to otherwise, still this is just my POV, others will vary.

If the forum was perfect for one, then you can bet it would suck for someone else. During my stay here there have been slow times and times it was packed, just the way it is, I just glad it's still here.

tweake wrote:

TraditionalToolworks wrote: So what type of forum do I want to come to when I want to learn about welding. I want to come to a forum that is comprised of welders who are welding day in and day out.

in most forums i'm on, you simply do not get that.
a lot of full timers will not bother with forums, they already know what they need to know.
its often the part timers who are there to learn new things and pass on a bit of what they know as well. especially helping out the beginners while they still remember what its like to be a beginner.
having some full timers in the background is great, but just getting them to share those gold nuggets of info is difficult.

one thing we really should do is post a bit about the mechanical/engineering side of things more.
welding tends to be 10% of the job, but the other 90% often effects how you do the welding. understanding how its all works together is important.

Exactly. Welders who are welding day-in-day-out are doing just that. Most would have little time for forums, I'd think. Besides, such a forum would be boring, because everyone in there would already be a professional and like you said, would already know what they need to know. There is no such thing as a welding forum that has only professional welders who weld day-in-day-out and then with just 1 person who does not fall in that category, for then it would not be a forum of only welders-who-weld-day-in-day-out, because the initial premise would be false and a contradiction.

The engineering side of things is equally interesting, but then you need the input of people that have proper training on the subject.

Oscar wrote:All the great ideas that people are posting are great...ideas. The only issue is that no one is actually willing to put the time & effort to create all of those things because they truly do consume a lot of time. Things like tutorials, videos, schematics, flowcharts, PDFs, articles, scientific white papers, etc are all great resources, but I doubt anyone here has the time to assemble all those things. It would literally be a full-time job.

Personally I don't necessarily mind spending some of my time or even money contributing info in some way especially if I'm merely sharing info that I myself wanted to find out. But I think the issue is that there can be such an immense cost of time and money even if you have the skill or experience level to be taken seriously in the first place that it excludes most people. A few years back I did some testing of newer "super steel" knives on BladeForums and the Spyderco forums, as I had several relatively high end knives and my obsessive need for perfection lead me to drop the cash on a Wicked Edge Pro Pack 2 and additional accessories. I spent dozens of hours testing, sharpening or repairing damage and documenting it. But I was able to provide information not otherwise easily available and decent evidence that certain widely accepted info about the traits of certain steels were in fact false in practice.


I don't know if I could do anything similar in relation to welding, although I personally think it's great when anyone documents or shares their experience, designs, builds etc.Although I think not necessarily having frequenting mods to sticky certain threads or a compilation of "most educational posts" like on other larger forums means often great sources of info or discussion end up buried for newcomers.

sbaker56 wrote:. I have a grader blade that I've recently been welding with various methods and break testing but I don't even know for sure what steel it even is, I could go start hounding the steel yard for any drops that were things like AR400, T1, 4130 etc. Or perhaps buy a few pieces, maybe I could even figure out a way to track the force I was applying with my pipe wrench or add weights until failure so things would be more objective than "that weld broke way easier than that other one" but would anyone even care?

Honestly, I would be interested in this. If you explained what you were doing, why you were doing it, and what you hoped to achieve, I don’t see how this couldn’t be helpful. It might be helpful for even you, having someone “check your math” so to speak.

tweake wrote:in most forums i'm on, you simply do not get that.
a lot of full timers will not bother with forums, they already know what they need to know.

We do get some here. cj, Josh, and even though Richard says he's not welding fulltime, he's got the experience. What I'm saying is I want knowledgeable people to answer questions, not just people taking stabs at it. I often see someone looking for help, and they tend to get the same item list tossed at them, what's your torch angle, what's the gas pressure, what's filler size, how far is the tungsten sticking out...often much of that is just confusing to the person and is not even related to their problem. If you know it's a gas problem, what does it matter about their tungsten stickout or the angle of their torch?

WeldingWeb has more professionals than here, they have more traffic in general, but they also have a rash of regular members to deal with...maybe there is no perfect world.

In regard to people not willing to put the time in, I don't buy that. Jody has a lot of material that could be incorporated into the site, there's a lot of content on the site. Nobody has the power to move or rearrange things, so that's why I say, it is what it is. If at some point the power's decide they want to do something with the site I guess they will, otherwise people will continue to fight the ebb/tide all the time.

I think this is why InstaGram is so popular, take a pic, upload it, done. You don't have to type much, even welders can do it.

sbaker56 wrote:Personally I don't necessarily mind spending some of my time or even money contributing info in some way especially if I'm merely sharing info that I myself wanted to find out.

The point is that even if you did that, there is really nobody with the power on this forum to be able to move/edit/create-sticky/etc...with it at the end of the day. There's a void.

People are willing to do it, don't kid yourselves, but if some don't think so it tells you they most likely wouldn't do it.

sbaker56 wrote:Although I think not necessarily having frequenting mods to sticky certain threads or a compilation of "most educational posts" like on other larger forums means often great sources of info or discussion end up buried for newcomers.

Bingo, that's what I'm saying.

We don't have anyone here that can do that.

Josh646 wrote:

sbaker56 wrote:. I have a grader blade that I've recently been welding with various methods and break testing but I don't even know for sure what steel it even is, I could go start hounding the steel yard for any drops that were things like AR400, T1, 4130 etc. Or perhaps buy a few pieces, maybe I could even figure out a way to track the force I was applying with my pipe wrench or add weights until failure so things would be more objective than "that weld broke way easier than that other one" but would anyone even care?

Honestly, I would be interested in this. If you explained what you were doing, why you were doing it, and what you hoped to achieve, I don’t see how this couldn’t be helpful. It might be helpful for even you, having someone “check your math” so to speak.

That kind of "project farm" type of testing is awesome, but I don't see that happening on a consistent basis. I think it would already be happening if it was a feasible endeavor. Stuff like that simply takes time. Once or twice in a blue moon yea I can see people doing that in their spare time, but I'm pretty sure most if not all of us have full time jobs and/or family and/or kids or whatever else is a large part of your life. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!

Oscar wrote:snipped

I lost my much longer reply sadly as the forum logged me out for some reason, but while I know the time constraints all too well sadly, I couldn't keep up with the knife stuff when college started again for the fall semester because between school and my job I just couldn't find the motivation to attempt to make time for it anymore.

But I do have an utter mad scientist mentality and I do miss contributing to a topic of interest to me in some remotely helpful way. Sadly for every decent idea that pops into my head I have 9 that would leave most everyone else asking WHY!?! Would ANYONE care if 5p 6010, 5p+ 6010, or 6011 works slightly better for making rough cuts in a pinch or how much slower it is for demo work than a torch or cut off wheel? Probably not Trying to filter out the stupid from the remotely interesting has stopped me from posting more in the past.