Would you guys recommend a 60 hour course?

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I have been joining a few bits of metal together since I bough my welder a few months ago.  And although i can get metal to join Its probably not the most acceptable welds by industry standards and I don't have any peer group to ask about how to TIG weld,  or weld in general.   So i'm left to Youtube videos and talking to the airgas guy that gives me some pointers.  Most of my work Is small stainless home brewery connections,  possible mountain bike repairs (aluminum),  and patching holes in the cars sheet metal.  Hence why I needed the TIG for precision and different metals.   I was thinking about taking a TIG course at the local welding school.  Its 60 hours of under the gun time.  they do carbon steel, aluminum, stainless,  and then horizontal, vertical, a bit of overhead welding etc.  I'm guessing this course is more geared toward industrial welding as I didn't see too many chunks of steel there under a 1/4 inch thick.   And they were very proud of there 1/2" thick walled practice pipe coupons during the tour.  The main goal for this course is some sort of certification,  But i'm really just looking for knowledge.  Do you think learning the industrial way will help me with some of my home projects?
Reply:Elfmaze, my question would be where is the school, and how much do they charge for tuition? Where do you live?Of course any guidance is beneficial, but I hate it when they overcharge.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR" MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:All said and done it will be 1200 dollars.  Which comes to about $20 an hour for blowing thru their argon.  Not too bad hourly rate I guess if the instruction is good.  I didn't catch what machines they were using in the booths. I would say there equipment and consumables are reasonably priced too,  But tuition is as much as my welder/plasma combo was to start,  so essentially doubling my investment in my welding stuff.Maby a better investment would be a second tap so I can backgas better...
Reply:Do you have a local Community College?  Maybe you could get a broader welding education there.. At ours we had a course called special problems that you could practice with advice and supervision any process you needed or wanted to.It is really good to learn to oxy-acetylene weld. You really learn how to see & work your puddle. It's the way most of us started many years ago. 40 years ago for meLast edited by butwhat; 11-06-2012 at 07:48 AM.
Reply:How do you delete a post here? I accidentally posted here that was meant for elsewhere. I could change the post but not delete it.Last edited by butwhat; 11-06-2012 at 07:42 AM.
Reply:Price is on the high side compared to what I've seen some places charge. Part of it is probably due to the fact they sound like they are geared towards pipe with the pipeline boom in some areas.Your skill level will somewhat dictate how useful the class might be. If you are new, don't expect to go in and walk out with 60 hours instruction, tig  welding all positions in plate and tube. What it will probably do is give you a solid basis from which to build and improve your skills. If you get the basics down, then you can easily continue to work on your own in the other positions. Having your own machine will also help you out. This will allow you to practice at home what you learn in class, and spend class time working on trouble areas or learning new stuff, rather than burning class time doing the repetitive welds that's needed to develop the muscle memory needed for tig. If you are fairly advanced already, then the class may or may not have value to you. They might be able to help with your skills on some materials, or they may simply just be a place where you have access to a machine... That's a tougher call.You don't have your location listed in your User CP so we don't know where you are located at. Near me there are at least 4 high school tech schools that offer night classes in welding. Programs vary in price and length of class. The place I help out at, the term is 12 classes for 48 hours, $650.. One other tech school has their 30 hour semester for $385 and the 2nd has their Advanced Welding  30 hour course for $500. The cheaper program didn't have a lot of material to work with when I was last there, hence the lower cost.As you saw, price per hour isn't all that bad. If you figure out how much materials, gas, rod, electric and so on would cost you, this usually makes the price for the instruction even cheaper. The easiest and fastest way to learn is to have some one who knows what they are doing look over your shoulder and point out what you are doing wrong. With tig there are so many variables, often you don't even realize that you are altering another variable while concentrating on others..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by butwhatHow do you delete a post here? I accidentally posted here that was meant for elsewhere. I could change the post but not delete it.
Reply:Hi, if you haven't cottoned on to do even basic welding with a stick after dabbing with a rod for 60 hours you'll never be a welder.....LOL.....forget about the Tig till you can just about run a bead with a stick on some scrap iron....cost you nicks and you'll have fun, maybe even "create" some works of art with all your trial pieces.BTW, if most of your work is with stainless, you'll need lots of luck.Ian.
Reply:Originally Posted by puddytatHi, if you haven't cottoned on to do even basic welding with a stick after dabbing with a rod for 60 hours you'll never be a welder.....LOL.....
Reply:Originally Posted by puddytatHi, if you haven't cottoned on to do even basic welding with a stick after dabbing with a rod for 60 hours you'll never be a welder.....LOL.....forget about the Tig till you can just about run a bead with a stick on some scrap iron....cost you nicks and you'll have fun, maybe even "create" some works of art with all your trial pieces.BTW, if most of your work is with stainless, you'll need lots of luck.Ian.
Reply:Tig welding as is stick is all about practice, but before you can do that you have to know the basics.  You could jump right into tig but then what do you do when you need to stick or mig weld.  Find a more general course that will take you through the fundamentals of welding then practice.
Reply:I have seen some of the need to learn a "dirty but quicker" method.  My neighbor wants me to help him build a smoker trailer.  That would be one hell of a job for the TIG on a 45% duty cycle blasting mild steel.  So there may be a stick welder of some sort in my future.  BUT the real stuff I want to get into is small food grade welds,   And I'm starting to worry that this class is not the place to go for that.  I think there primary goal is to get guys ready for joining the pipe.  If I show up with 1/2 inch stainless fittings I think Its not really there expertise.   I may be wrong.  But I may hold off on the class for now.  I'll keep an eye out for next time you guys are doing a clinic.  Might be usefull to drive out to see.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWYou don't have your location listed in your User CP..