Welding Class

A few weeks ago I took a welding class through work. It was a day of lecture and the second day we got to actually weld in the machine shop. I had a blast. It was a lot of fun. The only thing I did not like was that the machine shop had swamp coolers and we were required to wear jeans, boots, and a long sleeved shirt. I was dying. I didn't have a long sleeved shirt that fit me so I borrowed one of Michael's old shirts. It was HUGE in all the wrong places. On top of that, I had to wear a welding shirt that actually felt more like a jacket. Needless to say I was sweating bullets. But alas, here are the fruits of my labors:

This was "stick" welding, where you basically have a consumable electrode. I found this one the hardest because I kept forgetting that the electrode was getting shorter and shorter, so it would arc. You can see from the splatter. I thought I did a crappy job, but our instructor said I was really good and my friend who took the class in the next hour kept ranting and raving how good I was. Ha, imagine little old female, pregnant bellied me.

This next one was with the "MIG" weld. It was hard to see the "spread" which determines how wide your weld is going to be. So I went really slow (speed is called the travel) which is why it's so fat. This was probably my least favorite one.

And finally the hardest one of all. Aluminum on aluminum, which I found to be the easiest and funnest of them all. This one had a foot pedal which controlled the amperage and you held the electrode like a stick. Then you had an aluminum wire that you fed into the electrode after your "puddle" formed (or melted aluminum). It was like a sewing machine kind of. I mastered how to end the weld (or make the "button") on another "coupon" but didn't take it home with me.

Of course, I was so proud to show these off to my husband. And even my brother-in-law was impressed with my newfound skillz. Now I know if I quit my day job, I could be a welder. Like Alex in Flashdance, one of my favorite movies. I always thought it was so cool she was a welder... and now I know....