So, how strong are welds?

[justweldit]

when i first started welding i did gates and little things around the house ... if you think you dont want to wait to learn . then make shure you have a big 220 machine as far as roll cages and other critical components go, use your head because your trying to protect you an yours!!

 

[45Kevin]

The answer to your questions has been around for years.

You're a teacher, right? How do you know when your students have proficiency in the subject?

In Canada, the average person needs four years, or about 8000 hours of theoretical and practical instruction to be considered a reliable welder.

We could probably say that maybe 1/4 of that would be sufficient to be competent in electric welding only.

If you are under average, you may never achieve good welding skills and if you are above average it may only take a few hours.

Like a lot of trades, without the right apptitude, a person will never be a good welder.

 

[e9999]

well, I've always told everybody willing (or not) to listen that welding is an art and surprisingly hard to do well. I certainly make no claim of being good at it myself and would certainly not weld anything critical myself for a long time to come.

However, I would guess that saying that one needs 1000 hours + of welding practice before one could do welds well enough for non-critical apps would be met by most with a healthy dose of questioning if not skepticism.

 

[fj40charles]

well, I've always told everybody willing (or not) to listen that welding is an art and surprisingly hard to do well. I certainly make no claim of being good at it myself and would certainly not weld anything critical myself for a long time to come.

However, I would guess that saying that one needs 1000 hours + of welding practice before one could do welds well enough for non-critical apps would be met by most with a healthy dose of questioning if not skepticism.

I could argue the point that EVERYONE could become excellent college professors by doing 25 hours of student teaching. These teachers would not even need to have any formal college training either. Just spend 25 hours student teaching and you'll be proficient.

I would consider a bumper a critical application. Do you intend to use the bumper for pull or be pulled out by a winch cable or strap? I wouldn't want bumper parts being pulled apart because the weld was faulty.

I'd take a welding class at a local community college and learn. Good chance you'll learn more there than just asking questions about welding for "someone else."

 

[cruisernerd]

it never fails to amaze me how many people obviously think that welding is some mickey mouse skill you can learn in a week end.
there is a hell of a lot of learning in volved.
welding itself is easy. but the learning required to do it well takes time.
you won't be able to identify a quality weld without the instruction of someone qualified. though it is often easy to see a s***ty weld.

 

[45Kevin]

I have lots of experience with various trades. Some, like electrical or plumbing are very easy to do with a good book.

Others reguire both a good book and practice. Tapping for instance, can never be done correctly without many hours on a trowel or knife. And not everyone has the fine muscle control or coordination to do it. I put welding in the latter catagory.

Perhaps the kind of welding you are asking about is possible with only a few hours of practice. But I doubt that the quality would be consistant. Kind of like comparing a college professor and a Sunday School teacher.

 

[yotawheeler]

well, I've always told everybody willing (or not) to listen that welding is an art and surprisingly hard to do well. I certainly make no claim of being good at it myself and would certainly not weld anything critical myself for a long time to come.

However, I would guess that saying that one needs 1000 hours + of welding practice before one could do welds well enough for non-critical apps would be met by most with a healthy dose of questioning if not skepticism.

well....fill your boots my friend, if you want to make gates and the arts fartsy stuf then go ahead no problems there...but as somebody else said i would be pretty skeptical about attaching my tow strap to a bumper that looks poorly made because if that weld lets go and your tow point goes flying it WILL KILL somebody if it hits them. bottom line is if you gotta put in the hours behind a mask burnen rod before you go building stuff that your life depends on. but thats just my opinion as a welder.

 

[e9999]

talking about being careful, personally I would not attach a strap to a bumper at all (well, unless it's been seriously engineered specifically for that and has dedicated attachment points). I only use true recovery points which as I wrote at the top I consider to be a critical app and would not dream of doing myself.


You'll find no argument from me about the benefits of taking a welding class. I plan to do that myself first chance I get.

And no doubt that to be able to do consistently good welds over any number of situations you must be very good and have plenty of practice and knowledge.

But saying that most folks could not do the occasional decent weld without thousands of hours of practice would seem to me a bit farfetched.

 

[justweldit]

well i can say can stick okay, can mig weld any thing . got a new tig welder , man all i can say alum is a differnt animal am practicing all i can .... you guys know the trick of putting beeswax lube on sander pad to grind alum .... ya ......using that one alot

 

[cruisernerd]

you guys know the trick of putting beeswax lube on sander pad to grind alum .... ya ......using that one alot

makes life easier if you wash it off with acetone before welding. i learned how to weld on aluminium,when i tried welding steel i was amazed at how easy it is.
i burned alot of holes in aluminium before i ever made a decent weld.
worked with some boat builders, they are way pickier the pipe welders.

 

[PurpleFJ62]

I got to do this test at school about a year ago. I did several stick welds with some steel samples. Did a butt weld and an overlapping joint weld. This was done with a classic lincoln stick welder. I am not very good at stick welding, let me just say that. Anyways after they cooled I got to put my samples in a tensile test machine. All my samples broke at places other than the weld. If you get good penetration the chances are the metal will give before the weld does.

I guess all this is done on the assumption that you use the right current, polarity, and filler type.

For almost all the automotive type welding i have needed to do, a good wire feed machine cant be beat. its point and click, easy to learn and use, and able to be done on your back. Great when you break things on your chassis and need a quick fix.

just my 2 cents