Entry level welder seeking advice

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I'm trying to repair old hand rails on apartment buildings. The buildings are three stories high and the rails have seen sun, rain, snow and heat. I don't know what size of welder to use, or if flux or MIG would be better. Can anybody help me with input? Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Reply:I would use 6010, or 6011. Vertical down hill.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Get a PERMIT.Have a FIRE DETAIL  on hand.Take care of that stuff FIRST before you start ANYTHING to do with heat and sparks.OR ELSE. ...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Read this. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...YdL/story.html...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:Working / welding in oil refineries, fire watch is a huge deal! You play by their rules, or they show you the gate!Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Not that I am a pro and I might be a jerk but if you have to ask what equipment you should use them why do you think you're qualified to make the repair?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply:Welcome to the forum.Lincoln A/C 225Everlast P/A 200
Reply:If you are an entry level welder, You should not do the repairs. Long story short, someone could die!Thermal Arc 210 - Tweco 211I - Cutmaster 52
Reply:Originally Posted by mxpapaIf you are an entry level welder, You should not do the repairs. Long story short, someone could die!
Reply:When I was an apprentice, I welded miles, and miles of hand rail in factories. But I also had 2-years of welding school before getting into the apprenticeship.Don’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by rl_dockweilerI'm trying to repair old hand rails on apartment buildings. The buildings are three stories high and the rails have seen sun, rain, snow and heat. I don't know what size of welder to use, or if flux or MIG would be better. Can anybody help me with input? Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Reply:Advice? Sure! Get a 2-year degree in computer network architecture, make three times as much as we do, work in an air-conditioned office wearing clean clothes while long-legged gals walk by your desk, and get off work with enough energy left to pursue your hobbies, possibly such as learning to weld for your own amusement.Meanwhile, try to grasp what outsiders and hobby-welders and high school welders DON'T GET:  Running nice beads, with good penetration, in all positions, .  .  . in other words, what you SEE professional welders doing  .  .  .  is maybe five percent of what you need to have learned in order to do this work. If all a guy knows is that five percent, running the beads, he can really screw things up fast (and setting fires is only one of a great many ways). When you are asked to weld a lot of things, like Kenny Rodger's gambler you need to KNOW when to walk away, and know when to run.But no, even guys in some of the other skilled trades seem to have no clue about welding.  Last week, a young guy, heavy equipment operator for an outfit I frequently weld for, came up to me and said, "Hey, when both of us have an afternoon or two, could you show me how to weld?" That's another reason to consider the computer degree;  you'll get some respect, unlike us dirty, un-educated, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal welders.Last edited by old jupiter; 05-14-2016 at 01:07 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by old jupiterAdvice? Sure! Get a 2-year degree in computer network architecture, make three times as much as we do, work in an air-conditioned office wearing clean clothes while long-legged gals walk by your desk, and get off work with enough energy left to pursue your hobbies, possibly such as learning to weld for your own amusement.Meanwhile, try to grasp what outsiders and hobby-welders and high school welders DON'T GET:  Running nice beads, with good penetration, in all positions, .  .  . in other words, what you SEE professional welders doing  .  .  .  is maybe five percent of what you need to have learned in order to do this work. If all a guy knows is that five percent, running the beads, he can really screw things up fast (and setting fires is only one of a great many ways). When you are asked to weld a lot of things, like Kenny Rodger's gambler you need to KNOW when to walk away, and know when to run.But no, even guys in some of the other skilled trades seem to have no clue about welding.  Last week, a young guy, heavy equipment operator for an outfit I frequently weld for, came up to me and said, "Hey, when both of us have an afternoon or two, could you show me how to weld?" That's another reason to consider the computer degree;  you'll get some respect, unlike us dirty, un-educated, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal welders.
Reply:Originally Posted by CEPWhen I was an apprentice, I welded miles, and miles of hand rail in factories. But I also had 2-years of welding school before getting into the apprenticeship.
Reply:Originally Posted by mikecwikYou also had someone assessing if you were capable of doing what  you were doing.
Reply:i find to get respect at any job others have to try to do the same job. when they have trouble or see it is not as easy as it appears then they learn to appreciate the type of work. old millwrights would not say much to a apprentice. they would just say this is job apprentice. show me how it is done. apprentices depending on how good sooner or later has problems and asks for help. that is the point to get them to admit they need help or advice..i would not bother trying to tell somebody the skill or training level needed. not worth the effort.
Reply:Most of the apartment type hand rails I've seen could be patched with a pop sickle stick and friction tape and be just as strong as the rest of the structure.  It's built with about the same material as the big box store hand rail sections."The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt
Reply:(back in a minute, having to paste a couple of links before I tell a story)http://locknlift.com/wp-content/uplo...3/model750.jpghttp://locknlift.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/750.jpgOkay dockweiler, here's an example of how an amateur welder can screw things up, maybe get someone killed, because all he knows (barely) is how to run beads.  The device shown above is used as a temporary lifting device for big excavators to pick up trenchplate, big slabs of inch-thick steel that can weigh tons, and "fly" it from one part of a jobsite to another. The gizmo itself is just a little bigger than a cigarette hard-pack. Very possibly you know all this. There are two versions of the device, early and late, and the later one is apparently a little bigger and is used with a slightly bigger slot in the trenchplate. I have only seen the old ones. In fact, I met the inventor in the early '80s.The other day, the owner of some heavy equipment came up to me with one of these older ones and told me that they slip out of the newer, larger slots (in the trench plate), and could I build up the lifting edges of his old ones with weld so he didn't have to buy all new ones.Now suppose he had brought this job to a friendly neighbor and amateur welder. The amateur would say, "Sure, I can build up those edges with 7018 and grind 'em to shape, no problem!"  If he had a little more experience, he might say, "Well no, not 7018, I'll lay down some passes with special build-up rod and finish with a couple of hardfacing passes, then grind to shape."  But this is where a properly trained welder would follow Kenny Rodgers' advice and walk away. He would observe that the device is a very small steel casting that has to lift a big load, thus it probably is no ordinary steel.  So he'd check up and find that indeed it is made of 4330 chrome-nickel-moly, and heat-treated. Because he has gone to school and been drilled in basic welding metallurgy, he knows that on either side of a finished weld bead is a heat-affected zone which in a case like this will act as a major discontinuity in the grain structure of the part, and therefore a point at which load stresses will concentrate. Furthermore, the heat of the weld puddle will nullify the affect of the manufacturer's heat-treating. So instead of taking a chance .  .  .  a chance that the part won't break, maybe with the falling trenchplate maiming or killing a man on the ground  .  .  .  he explains the the customer that while 4330 (which just looks like any steel to the customer) is weldable (with extra effort), the cost of getting the part re-heat-treated back to factory specs would be more money and hassle than just buying the new parts. Of course the customer will walk off grumbling to himself that this welder is a wimp and that he could probably weld it himself, and so on. Do you think this sort of thing is rare? Hardly! A couple of months ago, an acquaintance brought me the broken handlebar off his dirt-bike. "Sorry bud," I told him, "that's a strain-hardening steel, and I'd be giving you back a handlebar with a sign pointing to either side of the weld that says, 'Please break here'. Go find another one."Welders get little respect.  We might get more if ordinary people understood that bad welds can have fatal consequences, and that such events would be happening all the time but for the fact that trained welders are taking measures to avoid them. Understand, I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want you to understand why I can't show somebody how to weld in a couple of afternoons, why a high school shop teacher can't teach thirty boys anything much about welding in 40 minutes a day for a month, and why you need to get good training, in a 30 hours a week classroom, if you are serious about welding.Last edited by old jupiter; 05-15-2016 at 12:29 PM.
Reply:INSURANCE , LOTS !  I would skip that unless you and your [ CREW ? ] are qualified. Call someone to give you a price on it and see how it compares. Some of these buildings are so close that sparks might just jump to the next one. I would find another type of job .