What Was Your 1st Weld?

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For me it was when I was just about Five years old and discovered I could weld two pieces of plastic together with a magifying glass.After seeing that my father starting teaching me stick welding.TomCo-Own CNC shop:Miller :1251 plasma cutter, MaxStar 700 TIG/Stick, & XMT 456 Multiprocess Welder.&  2 Hypertherm HPR260's Plasma CutterSorry I had a bad stroke but now I am back.
Reply:Two Ice Cubes, CRayons, Plastic Models (Solvent Welding), The trees the plastic models were on with a lighter , and then finally in the 8th grade metalworking class at Cherokee Jr HS in Springfield Mo I was introduced to filling a piece of Angle with some 6013 then sawing it apart to see any voids. I have been hooked since then !Have a nice dayhttp://www.weldingdata.com/
Reply:Mine was plastic also. I was a real firestarter. Burned the schoolgrounds down at age 8.Got a job at a small manufacturing place on a farm when I was 12, he had me TIG welding small aluminum parts that summer. He didn't let me touch the mig welder until I was 16.I am grateful that he taught me puddle recognition first, and that's how I teach today. OAW first for puddle recognition and the concept of fusion above all else.
Reply:Well lucky for me I never set the place on fire.And yes I think we all have had the two ice cubes stuck together in the glass of water.Puddle recognition oh yeahhhhhhCo-Own CNC shop:Miller :1251 plasma cutter, MaxStar 700 TIG/Stick, & XMT 456 Multiprocess Welder.&  2 Hypertherm HPR260's Plasma CutterSorry I had a bad stroke but now I am back.
Reply:I would have to say friction stir welding. Well it wasn't steel it was plastic. Back in the early 70's there was a toy called Spin Welder. It had a motor in a pistol grip drill look "tool". You pressed on little plastic rods and it used friction to melt the plastic and fuse parts together. It had several projects that you had to make. Kinda cheesey but it introduced kids to reading blue prints and while not steel it was amazingly simular to welding steel. Why don't they have toys like that for my kid and why can't they see why craftsmen are going by the wayside.Tough as nails and damn near as smart
Reply:I was 4 years old and my dad worked at Allis Chalmers. Stick welded on a piece of 1/2" plate steel about a inch worth, that dad cut out and brought home for me to keep. Which I did till I was about 6 years old.Miller Thunderbolt 225Millermatic 130 XPLincoln HD 100 Forney C-5bt Arc welderPlasma Cutter Gianteach Cut40ACent Machinery Bandsaw Cent Machinery 16Speed Drill PressChicago Electric 130amp tig/90 ArcHobart 190 Mig spoolgun ready
Reply:3 years old, Kaneohe, Hawaii. I took a pair of fine, long needlenose pliers, and shoved them right into a light socket. I flew, power to the house went out, and for years my dad kept the pliers as a reminder. Any time i got that look of mischeif on my face, my dad would take out the pliers, and put them down in front of me. Funny, he never said a word, just gave me "That look...."And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.
Reply:Uhm, a chitty stick weld. Never did anything else, in the fear one of the siblings would tell dad, and then I'd get a whippin. I'm still afraid of him haha.*insert welding gibberish here*                    Mandy
Reply:I think I was 10 or 12,  TVs in those days had wires instead of circuit boards.When that capacator blew out it welded a whole bunch of stuff together.  Boy was my pop p*s**d.A butterfly without wings, is just an ugly bug
Reply:My first was in high school auto shop. I made a dual carb intake manifold out of 1&1/2" exhaust pipe , for my friends 1950 Studebaker champion starlite coupe . I oxy-acetylelene  welded the pipe. worked rather nicely , with an extra carb he bought at junk yard for $3. Being a "cold" manifold , it dropped the in town mileage to 15mpg.[SIZE="5"Yardbird"
Reply:Bout 7 months ago, we oxy welded at the beggining of class ! :P I guess I must have stuck stuff together before .. but I Never stuck my tongue to cold steel (Pulled back just in time, Ahahah !)
Reply:In 1978,  my father went to friend of his farm shop where he was building a peanut trailer.  He had cut off several pieces  of 4 inch pipe for the axles.  There were about five 1" inch thick drops.  I picked them up and started playing with them.  He had hired a weldor to use his toombstone to weld the trailer up.  The weldor saw me and asked if I wanted to weld something.  Being only seven at the time,  my mind was focused on the neighbor hood olympic games we had been playing like stick ball and throw the corn cob/chicken feather whirly bird and willow bow and arrow competions and jump the banna seat bike across the ditch with the neighbor.  I picked up the drops and arranged them in the pattern of the olympic rings.  He handed me his hood and showed me where to "point" it.  Well I couldn't get it to stick, so he finished it up and I finally did get one of them to stick with his help.Proudly,  I mounted them to an 200 year old live oak in the front yard.  They remained there for years after we moved. Possibly for 15 years or so.  The last time I drove by, they were gone.  Got me to wondering what happened to them.Esab Migmaster 250Lincoln SA 200Lincoln Ranger 8Smith Oxy Fuel setupEverlast PowerPlasma 80Everlast Power iMIG 160Everlast Power iMIG 205 Everlast Power iMIG 140EEverlast PowerARC 300Everlast PowerARC 140STEverlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Reply:5th grade. O/A welded a 3 hp B&S engine mounting bracket to a kids (my) wagon bed. From there welded jack shaft bearig supports and related hardware to handle dive train. Dangerous to drive, hard to control, stear and stop, but what a blast. Hooked on metal fusion ever since.
Reply:Similar to Rojo, 3-4yo, hairpin in the wall outlet - more than once.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Some time ago.....................ok, long..................ago. It was my divorced Dad............he was in Chicago, my Mom, Sister and I were in Denver. Dad thought I should know tools; so he sent me a wood burning kit. I decided to play with it while Mom was at work. Well, I wasn't supposed to be F'in with it while She was gone. Soooooooooo, when I couldn't get it unplugged, I used my Kid sized 'butter knife' as a lever to help 'lever' the plug out of the outlet. The only problem was, I shorted the two prongs of the plug in the outlet: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzttttttttttttttttttTTT  T!!!!! I can still see the 'notch' burned in the butter knife...................50 years ago.     9-11-2001......We Will Never ForgetRetired desk jockey. Hobby weldor with a little training. Craftsman O/A---Flat, Vert, Ovhd, Horz. Miller Syncrowave 250
Reply:My very first experience with welding was in 1968 at the age of 5, The experience was not a good one to say the least. In fact, it was when I first found out about fusion welding. My dad and my uncle Eddie were working on dad's late model stock in the garage. I was watching them cut, notch, heat and bend some pipe for a new rear bumper on the car that was torn off the night before at the old Ea Gallie Speedway here in Fl. Anyways, after seeing them bend the pipe a few times I decided that I was gonna help them and grabbed a piece of tubing that still had a nice red glow to it and tried to bend it for them. That's when it became apparent to me what fusion welding was, that my hands had fused themselves to the very same piece of tube I was trying to help bend for them. I don't really remember much else until I woke up in a hospital bed with my hands wrapped in big giant balloon looking bandages. For several months I could do nothing for myself and the Doctors had told my parents that I may never regain the use of my hands because of the damage done to my nerves. I have never been able to close my hands into a tight fist and it takes me a few seconds to realize that something is too hot to touch. By the time I realize the heat it's already too late, I've got a burnt finger or palm.Fast forward 40 years and it's kinda ironic that I am still in my chosen  profession or why I chose this profession after my first experiences with fusion welding. I'm not sure what my addiction to welding and fabrication is, but I think I may have a personal vendetta against metal and want to hurt it as bad as it hurt me.I am what I am, Deal with it!If necessity is the Mother of Invention, I must be the Father of Desperation!
Reply:Dabar:I was typing while you were, and I'd forgotten this............my Dad was getting ready to solder something. He cupped his hand over the soldering iron, to see if it was warming up. Well, since I was maybe 7 years old; I'd thought he had grabbed it. So, in the blink of an eye; I grabbed the hot barrel of the iron........................ YEEEOOOUUUUUUUUUCCCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, Mom thought it was Dad's negligence and blamed him for the rest of His life. Although I don't remember the pain, I do remember (many days later) walking along the side of the house, dragging my blistered fingers along the side of the brick house and tearing the blisters open; painlessly. Mom said something like "don't do that, you might get an infection". Again, this was probably 50 years ago. 9-11-2001......We Will Never ForgetRetired desk jockey. Hobby weldor with a little training. Craftsman O/A---Flat, Vert, Ovhd, Horz. Miller Syncrowave 250
Reply:Some of you guys are going way way back, lol I remember seeing my neighbor welding on his backhoe when I was 6 yrs old or so and I didnt really know what it was until I got into my trade school at the age of 14. Then I laid my first bead with 1/8" 6013 on 1/8" steel plate. After welding that first bead I was hooked!
Reply:I was about 4 or 5 just old enough to remember the blue and sparks of an arc, my dad would be welding in the garage and I was told to look away I could see my shadow against the wall in the blue light.....I thought whatever he was doing  was magic....it was amazing....I was hooked.....later in about 5th grade my dad let me weld a few stringers on a small plate... mig with .023. The rest is history....well sort of.
Reply:I turned on the old stick welder about age 10, tried to burn a rod on some old angle iron, just to see if I could do it.Well, on the farm, we didn't ever have a torch.  Dad used that old welder cranked all the way up with a huge 3/16" cutting rod in it to punch holes/cut steel for his projects.I cut right through that 1/8" angle & couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make a bead.  Well after I burned that rod down, I grabbed another 1/8" rod & ran my first bead as a fillet weld in the inside corner of that angle.Showed Dad later that night & he cussed me up one side & down another.  Thought I was wasting things tryin to learn something new.  See, Dad was so tight................... he squeeked when he walked.I've been welding ever since too.  Learned to stick weld with Dad tellin me what the weld needed to do.  Learned O/A welding in high school plus learned better stick techniques then too.  Bought my own MIG welder about 5 years ago & still learnin.MarkI haven't always been a nurse........Craftsman 12"x36" LatheEnco G-30B MillHobart Handler 175Lincoln WeldandPower 225 AC/DC G-7 CV/CCAdd a Foot Pedal to a Harbor Freight Chicago Electric 165A DC TIG PapaLion's Gate Build
Reply:I started out with the wall socket trick also except with my mom's favorite sewing scissors.After my 3-year stint as an army helicopter repairman ended I took an aircraft repair summer course at the local high school.  Part of the course was O-A aircraft welding, which I did well enough at that the instructor had me weld a part for his friends plane.  That worried me a bit but I never heard about him crashing.Next bought an ancient Craftsman buzz box from a neighbor for $25 and tried for months in my girlfriend's driveway to run a decent bead, but couldn't.  Then bought an air force surplus 400 amp Harnishfager stick welder and could suddenly run beautiful (to my eye) beads.  It was all the buzz box's fault!!.  Still have that Harnishfager in my garage (because it's too heavy to move) even though I now have a one-hand carryable Thermal Dynamics inverter of the same capacity and a small wire welder.  In fact, I still have the Craftsman buzz box because I never throw anything away.I offered to teach my 9 year-old step-grandson to weld while he was staying with us for a week.  His response was, "why?"  The world has changed.awright
Reply:Originally Posted by dabar39My very first experience with welding was in 1968 at the age of 5, The experience was not a good one to say the least. In fact, it was when I first found out about fusion welding. My dad and my uncle Eddie were working on dad's late model stock in the garage. I was watching them cut, notch, heat and bend some pipe for a new rear bumper on the car that was torn off the night before at the old Ea Gallie Speedway here in Fl. Anyways, after seeing them bend the pipe a few times I decided that I was gonna help them and grabbed a piece of tubing that still had a nice red glow to it and tried to bend it for them. That's when it became apparent to me what fusion welding was, that my hands had fused themselves to the very same piece of tube I was trying to help bend for them. I don't really remember much else until I woke up in a hospital bed with my hands wrapped in big giant balloon looking bandages. For several months I could do nothing for myself and the Doctors had told my parents that I may never regain the use of my hands because of the damage done to my nerves. I have never been able to close my hands into a tight fist and it takes me a few seconds to realize that something is too hot to touch. By the time I realize the heat it's already too late, I've got a burnt finger or palm.Fast forward 40 years and it's kinda ironic that I am still in my chosen  profession or why I chose this profession after my first experiences with fusion welding. I'm not sure what my addiction to welding and fabrication is, but I think I may have a personal vendetta against metal and want to hurt it as bad as it hurt me.
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55Similar to Rojo, 3-4yo, hairpin in the wall outlet - more than once.
Reply:I am 13 and my dad is an auto colision teacher and in that fied you have to just about know how to do everything. Well I have been helping ny dad fix cars since I was about 4 or 5 and I had been somewhat familer with welding then as years passed I did research and learned even more so one day about 2 years ago dad had parent teacher con frences and since mom was working dad took me and my brother and while he was playing computor games I was teaching myself to mig weld. My grandpa gave my dad an old airco 180amp ac stick welder a while ago and after we put in the type of plug it took since the kiln required the same plug I bought a 1/2lb pacage of rod for steel (type not listed on pacage) and dad brought home some heavy steel from the machine shop and for about a week after school I played around with it. these are actully the only times I have ever welded ecept for spot welding on a 3 phas machine that dads school has but hat all you do is push a buton, also I have been usig a stud welder ever since I can remember.
Reply:my first time welding was when i was 16 i was just getting in to the whole off road seen and had a man crush on  jesse james...  haha and wanted to built stuff like he did.. i spent my life savings bought a tubing bender from HF and a lincoln 175 pro mig. so one night after watching west coast i got an idea in my head that it was time to build me a prerunner bumper for my truck!! wow 12 hours later i learned how to figure my bends,notch tube and learned to weld... actually make two tubes stick together   i thought i was a badass at that point  till my grandfather came out and seen that i had hacked of the frontt clip of the cherry 87 gmc that he had give me.. i got my *** kicked ( i had a smile on my face it was worth it) looking back now i think to myself .. what was i thinking.im now 23and  i owe everything to discovery channel/jesse james for my obsession and my career. its a weird way to get into welding but it was all i had since i didnt know anyone that could weld at the time. sorry if this was a little long winded but i had to tell the back story.SIN CITY METAL WORKSvisit my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/devvon