How to become a Tig Welder 2

[Lorenzo5]

Hello,
I'm in Toronto. I'm working as a welder in a local workshop.

Last weekend my cousin visited me. He works in a custom bike workshop. He showed me many models, and I liked them. I was thinking about becoming a part of custom building bikes. I used to weld pieces together to make bike and car models.

He told me that I will have to learn Tig welding for building chassis. I plan to join Weldtechtraining (

http://weldtechtraining.com/welding-courses/customized-welding-courses/gtaw-tig).

I think it will be easier for me.

I'm also considering learning tig working with someone who knows. Want advice

 

[MikeHalloran]

A very long time ago, I worked briefly for Electric Boat.
They use a lot of welders to put their boats together.
They offered a night course called "Welding for Non-Welders", open to any employee, apparently in the interest of finding people who could do it, and hadn't tried before.
It was a blast.

After a few hours of classroom instruction, we learned stick welding, and practiced on bits of scrap, getting used to working in heavy gloves and leather coat, using very big and expensive welding machines that removed any thought of buying a $100 machine just to screw around with.
I even got pretty good at vertical and overhand welds.

Then we got a few minutes on a MIG welder, which was new technology in those days, using heavier gloves and a super heavy, aluminized coat; the machine was set up to really lay on the wire and the heat. I laid down a quarter of the root bead on a pipe weld, and I could swear I was feeling the magnetic field guide me. Weird.

Then they turned us loose on the TIG welders.
We spent a night welding in our t-shirts, with just light leather gloves.
It was great. It was also the worst sunburn I ever got. It took three weeks to stop peeling.
You will love TIG welding, because it's so clean and neat, and you don't get sparks in your shoes.
... but do wear a heavy, long sleeve shirt.







Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[moltenmetal]

Get professional instruction. Then, once you know the basics and have some practice, intern with a master welder. Don't do the practice before the instruction, as bad habits that you have practiced actually take more effort to get rid of than if you learn things correctly from the start.

TIG is beautiful- in the hands of someone with skill, it is a true art. MIG is practical and easy, but TIG is really beautiful. And like most arts, many people can do it for a hobby or even for a living, but only a few can raise it to high art. You need the ability (hands, eyes, coordination), knowledge, and enormous amounts of practice.

 

[racookpe1978]

As above. You will NOT be able to self-teach TIG yourself.
MIG? Maybe - If your good with your hands and know what you want to produce, and do OT expect to selll something that other people will rely on for their lives.

 

[berkshire]

If you are in Toronto see if these people can help you.
If you are working as a welder but not doing TIG then you may have to unlearn some habits picked up from doing stick or MIG welding.
TIG is closer to OXI Acetylene Fuel welding than the other electric welding methods.
As Molten Metal says, and I will re-iterate, get instruction first , particularly on the motion of the torch , BEFORE you practice.
A great many beginners do not lift the torch as they put the rod in, therebye contaminating the tungsten.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[Lorenzo5]

Thanks for giving me all the tips and advice. It's been a great help. I hope I will do well.

 

[tbuelna]

The custom car/bike fabricators don't require certification. But they do want welders that can produce TIG welds that are cosmetically perfect, on a consistent basis. And this requires lots of practice.