maxl93•12d ago

New welders don't stack dimes like we used to and that's a problem

I was on a job in Gary last month looking at a boiler from the 80s that was still holding up fine. The welds on that thing were tight and clean, but the new work I see coming through from younger guys looks more like a bird walked through birdshot than actual bead work. I think the shift to MIG over stick in a lot of shops made people lazy about heat control and puddle watching. Has anyone else noticed older rigs just outlasting this new stuff by a long shot?

3 comments

3 Comments

scott.olivia12d ago

Walked into a shop last week to check on a rental property I manage, and the tenant had his buddy over trying to fix a rusty railing on the back porch. Kid was using some cheap flux core machine from a big box store, running it so hot it was just blowing holes through the metal. He kept shaking his head and saying the settings were off. Told him to slow down and watch the puddle, not the gun. He just stared at me like I was speaking another language. Meanwhile, my dad's old Lincoln from the 70s still runs like a tank, and I can't remember the last time I saw a new machine that wasn't a paperweight after two years.

fiona_hunt7112d ago

Get him to run a shorter stickout and turn down the wire speed a bit too. Most of those cheap machines come set way too hot from the factory, and the manuals are useless for real world use. Tell him to practice on some scrap first before touching the actual railing, that way he can get a feel for the settings without wrecking the job.

iris_schmidt12d ago

That tenant's buddy reminds me of a guy I saw at the local trade school open house last fall. He was burning through 1/8th inch plate like it was butter (must have been running 200 amps on a 120V machine), and he had no idea why his puddle was a mess. Did you ask him if he was even checking his tip-to-work distance, or was he just chasing a clean stack without paying attention to the puddle? I swear most of these new guys have never even seen a real puddle form on stick, let alone on mig.