week 5

This week i have reached 20 hours but it doesn't feel like it has been. These passed weeks learning how to weld have been one of the funnest and most educational times in my academic career. This week i have moved on to what i think is the best type of welding, and what is used on a lot of stuff by both professionals and those who need to fix something of theirs every once in a while. It is called tig welding, and it involves a long unshielded rod made of the same material that you want to weld. You then have to go to the tig machine and adjust the temperature, voltage, and how you want the current to flow. you then have establish a ground via a clamp with a cable. you then have to make sure you have the correct tungsten and cup on the tig gun for the type and thickness of your metal. Finally you are ready to weld once you turn on the machine and shielding gas. You then start by pushing the trigger on the tig gun and forming a pool of metal that you steadily move forward as you dip the rod into this pool every time you move. It sounds difficult, and at first it is, but like anything in life practice makes perfect and the more i did it the better and easier it became for me to do it. i really enjoyed learning to tig weld and i hope next week will be just as fun.