#welding school

Just a girl that sews…with fire 💥🔥🙃

*pulls out another big pointy project* suddenly every boy in the room is huddled around like I am the dad at the grill for a BBQ party.

*gets my eyes dilated* woooooahhh your pupils are soo hugeee!!!! (Yes thats what it means sweetie*

*sneaks my cookie recipe to the guy who appreciates them the most* (keep in mind this dude is huge football player with a mohawk and looks like he is 30) AWWWWWWW YEAAAAAHHHH

*pushing a cart with heavy pointy metal tool through school* ..... what if we just pushed it down the stairs?

If you want to learn stick welding it will take practice and a little patience to learn to do it in a way that will produce fine welds. This is an important thing to remember although some people may say they never had to practice much.

Stick welding is one of the basic methods of welding that many students learn as they are just beginning to learn welding. This is also a method of welding that is high in demand because people need this help whether they are working iron, pie, boilers or building ships.

You will find that you will need the skills of all types of positions including flat and horizontal and ventricle or overhead welding. All of these will take some time to learn and some will be more challenging than others.

Here are some tips to help you make a better weld:

1. The right electrode for the job -- many people aren't sure of the size of the electrode they should use and this is important to know. The size of the electrode will depend on the situation you are welding within. In this situation you will be fighting against gravity if you are doing the weld vertically so you will want to use an electrode that is AWS classified as 7018 because they are low in their powder content.

2. A weld shelf makes a good guide -- if you are doing vertical or horizontal welding you will need something that the electrode can follow so you don't loose any of it to gravity. You can do this by creating a serious of little shelves so you can do a section at a time so that you can continue to work above a weld that you have already laid. This will create a situation where one puddle will freeze in time to hold the next weld.

3. Don't undercut if possible -- this can happen because you have to weave the electrode and sometimes your work may be gouged and not have enough fill metal. When this occurs, you will be working against gravity because it will work to pull your fill metal away from the space you are working. You can reduce your puddle size to help you have more control in this situation.

4. Stay away from weird sizes for your metal -- most metal will come in specific sizes that are always common. These metals will be easier to find and you can weld them fester. Stick with the ones that are AISI-SAE 1015 to 1025 so that you can be sure that you have what you need.

5. Make sure you know your arc length -- a good rule of thumb is to use an arc length that is the same distance from the metal as your electrode's thickness. As an example, if you have an electrode that is ¼" thick, then have your arc ¼" thick. Also remember that as you use the electrode, you will have to move it closer to the metal.

I love that there’s zero expectation to wear feminine clothes bc as much as I enjoy dresses sometimes it often gets on my nerves when I feel like I have to in order to be taken seriously or respected

Theres a strict dress code but it’s obviously safety oriented and not like “don’t distract the boys” or whatever, it’s literally “don’t wear torn or frayed jeans because they will catch on fire”

I’m required to wear work boots and that’s some good shit right there

There are more women than I anticipated, at least 3 (including me) in each of my classes

The welding program is at a smaller downtown campus that’s separate from the main school so there aren’t overwhelming crowds

Those herds of business students in suits that roam the campuses of 4-year schools? Not a thing. Everyone is in jeans or cargo pants and flannels and boots

There’s so much carhartt everywhere I love it

Everyone is on their own path. It’s not like intro classes at universities where most of the students are 18-19 and right out of high school

We went around and introduced ourselves in one class and there’s just a wide range of experiences. There are guys there because they got laid off or their union job got busted, a woman who was a navy mechanic, another woman who’s taking welding so she can make art with scrap metal, a guy who grew up on a farm and needs to learn welding to maintain equipment, there’s me who wants to use welding for theatre

We get lockers a-la high school, but I’m actually using mine here. It’s up in the welding shop and I’m storing my helmet and tools in it

Unlike at the universities I’ve been to, the school/administrators/teachers don’t have some bizarre expectation that everyone has a shit ton of money. There’s one textbook for all of the hands-on welding classes throughout the program, and they help you find discount options for the tools and materials you need

People are (for the most part) pretty laid back and nonjudgmental

The teachers are a lot more present than at college, and the classes are so much smaller- my biggest class is maybe 25 people

I walked into school on Thursday morning and for what might have been the first time ever, I didn’t feel like people were judging me - I felt confident walking in there with short hair and no makeup, wearing some men’s workwear, carrying a pink backpack, drinking some green tea, just being myself.

Like, I actually initiated conversations with my classmates. I never did that in high school or college.

The massive dice I showed off in my previous post are now live! Here are some images of them. They are all made of steel, and are about the size of basketballs.

My Etsy is now open! Anyone interested in these dice can find them here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlazingLizardBuilds