I’ll make this short.
I have some experience welding, I liked doing it and want to get better.
I cannot afford to pay for school and I do not have good enough credit for a loan.
How do I get started? I need to learn on the job. I have attempted to get on as a helper everywhere around me and have had no success. I was an awesome helper to my last guy. At the end he just left me at a job site and I did hand rail solo.

Included a picture of something I did for the hell of it. Currently working on 18 wheelers.

I had an original design for the handrails that involved welding a 1.5” x 1/4 bar to a 2” x 1/4 bar and running it through my forge to give it a hammered look with a big ball peen hammer, but they changed their mind and I had to blend the whole thing with multiple passes and grind it out smooth. The design with the bars under the handrails was pretty easy to bend after forge heating. I used an old cast iron vent pipe as the template to make the rings before welding them closed to the support bar.

I still have some touching up to do on a few places to make sure the bars are the right length to touch the posts that were installed on the new steps, but I’ve been grinding all day and my hands are buzzing. My main question is what I should do for the tight spots where my flap disks can’t really reach? Should I use a die grinder to get in there? Someone I know suggested bondo but I wanted to ask some more experienced people first.

found this in our shop so im wondering whats the brand and what kind of gun is it

Couple of welds from today on a cable plow chute I'm building. Usually runs 6" stringers and bounce around to avoid too much warpage.

Curious what you guys think!

Currently taking welding in high school but haven’t actually started welding yet

I wanted to avoid tedious grinding, so I mapped this entire geometry out for edge-to-edge butt joints on 16-gauge mild steel. I separated the head, spine, and legs into four distinct assembly zones (see first pic) to try and manage heat distortion during assembly.

Before I run the DXF and start nesting the cuts, does this seam layout make sense for TIG fit-up? Any red flags or tight corners I should worry about?

Finished all my stuff and decided I should do some small things. Turns out someone on IG wants to purchase it after I shared a video. lol

So I just finished welding school in June and I’m having a hard time deciding what kind of welding job I want to do.

I already know what I don’t want to do and that is be in a tank, be high in the sky(even though sounds cool).

I’ve been looking at getting into custom fabrication because I love building things and making things but I don’t know where to start, I thought about making my own shop(but I don’t have the money to open one or buy all the equipment I would need), I’ve been looking into rails because it looks like a lot of fun, I also thought about trying to get into some kind of robotic welding, and lastly, I really want to get into pipe welding. Pipe welding was the whole reason why I wanted to start welding and go to welding school in the first place.

Anyone got experience with these? Found them for a good price and not a fan of thick leather gloves for stick welding. Really ache my had muscles

Been back on Smaw this past week, but today was the 1st time I’ve used 2 different electrodes on a joint as well as my first “open groove” joint. So this was different compared to the backing plate joints.

I understand the the whole “key hole”. But Jesus that was difficult. How do I avoid blowing through and having a massive drip underneath. I get practicing, but any tips to help my blow through problem.
I did one flat (pictured) and one horizontal. It happened both times about 2 inches after I start.

Very small fracture but less than an 1/8” so I passed

Also why theres pride flags in the bio?

Anyone have suggestions on a reasonably priced o2 sensor for purging/welding SS pipe? Searched through old posts and came up empty handed. Purgeye looks great until you see the $8k price tag. We’ve got lengthy 100’+ runs of sch10 316 to weld out and a very picky customer.

I posted a couple of these a month ago - the short story is that my landlord tore down my balcony to fix a leak in a different unit and the railing they put back is seriously flawed. It's riddled with burn through in some areas, low-no penetration in others, and joints that they straight up forgot to weld. I've been a welder for a little over 10 years, so I told them straight away it wasn't safe and had to be replaced.

Anyway we're going to court now. I want to map out all the defects on this thing in a comprehensive document, but I don't have *any* idea what could cause a weld to look like this. Most of the defects are pretty simple, but the ones that look like this I have no idea what to call. Has anyone seen this before/know what causes it?

I was going to wait till they were done done but it’s hard with kids n stuff, need to just focus one day a week and get em done. Made with slag from carbon arcing and my trusty 150 dollar flux welder from harbor freight. Welding at home is an expensive hobby.. this is a cow, planning on doing a whole bunch of different skulls/animals.

I have a fairly capable metal shop and I do some basic woodworking, (no CNC plasma and I dont really work with pipe but most other things I do) and im an above average welder/fabricator, but nothing spectacular, by any means.

I enjoy building things and then sticking them on marketplace and selling them. I have a big shipping container that I stick my stuff in until it sells, so storage isnt a problem.

I build a lot of workbenches, welding carts/tables, as well as freestanding porch style swings, small trailers, things like that. I make a prototype and if it sells fairly quickly, I will batch build a few and sell them over time.

I was just curious if you guys had any ideas of popular items that I could build and put on marketplace? My area seems pretty saturated with smokers/grills and those little rocket stove things and firepits. I live in a fairly large suburban area with the "country" being about an hour drive away.

Any suggestions are welcome

Today my Clark MIG welder started to seriously hiss at the valve-regulator. Obviously a big leak.
It turns out it is coming from a small hole (see pic) at the valve. It was perfectly fine minutes earlier.
Was there once a plug that might have come out? Any options?

So I just went from 1G to 6g the 1G was close to perfekt according to my foreman, but now I am on 6g and it’s looking kinda meh, I abit of cold filler and the bottom has undercut, any help?

I just started a new job welding sheet metal for dumpsters. I am doing fine at any other position, overhead and even downhill seem to be at least passable beads but i cannot for the life of me get my uphill dialed in. i usually run about 24v 190ipm, is that just too high or is there something i need to pick better technique wise? I've tried the christmas tree, the z patterm, the upside down U, frigging around with the setting just for uphill. Any tips or insight from an experienced welder would be greatly appreciated.

edit: im dripping bad or burning right through

I figured he is Arab, and he seems to like antigravity/tensegrity objects soo much.

I have base knowledge of welding, he seems like he is the only one in his field who like welding random objects, do you think we can show him some love on the way?

Hey Y'all. Just got into welding, and thought id share my first project, my welding cart. I had some motorcycle jacks that i thought i could make a creative little welding cart, that i can move around with my foot like a skateboard. Anyways i did it using Flux core wire, ive only been welding for 2 weeks, all self taught, well using youtube and some welding text books. Cheers!

Hey ya'll. Newish welder here. Saw a post about PPE and it made me wonder what I should be doing myself. I've never once seen someone wearing a respirator while welding.

I'm just a DIY/hobbyist but I am doing fab work more and more with both flux and mig. I work primarily in my garage with the door open. Should I be wearing a respirator? Is this a fairly new thing or just something a lot of people don't take seriously?

I received a picture from social media and the headboard and footboard. I'm no professional, I complete ld this over the course of a couple of Saturdays after typical chores around they house.

This (bed) was 20 gauge and I had to turn down the settings a few times. The supports, I split from square tube. I could really turn up heat on those joints.

Given those, I went to work. What type of pricing would in line for this?

Thank you

I do wire MIG and just last week, I got moved to another area using these Lincoln welders. I’ve only ever used miller, I know how to set those. Since I’ve been in this spot, I’ve been changing tips and diffusers and nozzles at least twice, if not three+ over a 10hour shift. What should I be doing different?

On millers, I run 27v with my speed at about 550. These settings on the Lincoln don’t make sense to me, and my team lead says he doesn’t know shit about these Lincoln’s either, they’re “new” apparently