Weld One Well Done

Tonight in Welding Class, we learned the Five Principles of Stick Welding (Speed, Angle, Amperage... and... uh... two other ones), and started in on the Pad Project. Basically, working with a square of steel (steel! I love steel!), we made rows of welds, such that each weld overlapped slightly the weld above. I was not getting it. The instructor came by and I showed him my efforts, and he told me that they looked good, but I was going too slow. (Speed is a principle of Stick Welding y'know.) And, I was too far away from my work, and my stance was awkward. He had me do another weld, and talked me through it. I got comfortable, and got right down near the weld, so it was right in front of my helmet shielded face. I started in, and he said, "See that? See that bubble behind the weld? That's your 'bead.' You want that to sort of rise up behind the stick.

Then I got it. It's all about the bead. Just melting the steel (steel! I love steel!) and having it flow into the bead. Tragically, just when I was getting good, I ran out of sticks. I went to get more, and there were no more of the variety I was using (called '724,' just like the variety of slavery). The only other 724s were 3/32nds of an inch, as opposed to the 1/8ths of an inch I was using. They seemed too thick. But I found an unmarked batch of sticks and grabbed a few of them. This was a mistake. They were slightly thicker than those I had been using, so I upped the amperage. (Amperage is one of the Five Principles of Stick Welding y'know.) Maybe too much, because there was smoke, fiames, and lots of spattering. I lowered the amperage to stop that, but I couldn't get a good bead. I went back to the instructor, and he pointed me in the direction of the 724s that were 3/32nds of an inch thick. And told me to up the amperage slightly.

I was back in business. And I was making it happen. Nice fat beads. Straight welds that overlapped the weld above by half, so that the finished product was nice and smooth.

When the instructor does a weld, the slag comes off in one piece with just a flick of the hammer, one complete carapace. Mine were coming off in wee little chunks, particularly the earlier efforts. But towards the end of the evening, they were popping off in two or three pieces.

So I'm getting there.

It's so beautiful, to see that bead rise up, like a wave at the beach. Molten metal. About 6,000 degrees fahrenheit. Wonderful.

I'm gonna have to wait until Monday until I get to fire up the Weldmaster 2000 again. Hate that.

And, tonight I have to drive to Jersey City. What a pain in the butt. Tragically, I have a (mandatory) 'How To Get A Job Workshop' with the New York State Department of Labor that I'll need to attend at the ungodly hour of 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. And I'm not gonna be leaving here at 7:30 a.m. to make it.

Also made arrangements with a mover. Next Friday, October 3rd, ABC Movers will show up outside the Humble Abode with a van and men to load it. Then it will all be unloaded into my Dad's garage. And that's it. That will be it for me and Jersey City. For now, anyway. I may very well return. Find some derelict garage on Tonnelle that I can renovate into a cool living loft, welding shop, and dungeon. After I tire of living on 70 acres somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Anyway, I love welding. Love love love welding.

(And I'm just about done the account of Inferno Session B. It's coming, I swear.)

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