Going to school !

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Well im planning on going to school to become a welder.  I plan to purchase a HH 210, a Miller Dynasty 200 DX (if I can come up with the money) and a Victor Journeyman Torch set.Do you all think this would be good equipment to have around to practice on when not in school ?
Reply:Originally Posted by Newfie_1986Well im planning on going to school to become a welder.  I plan to purchase a HH 210, a Miller Dynasty 200 DX (if I can come up with the money) and a Victor Journeyman Torch set.Do you all think this would be good equipment to have around to practice on when not in school ?
Reply:Im just taking the welding course at the local College so I can become an apprentice welder, and do my time so I can write the Red Seal test and become a Journeyman Welder.Thanks
Reply:Sounds like a good start to me, and a good plan.Last edited by Jolly Roger; 03-01-2008 at 09:49 PM.Reason: didn't finishThe difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Hey Jolly do you think it would be benificial for me to purchase some books on machining and educate myself on that as well.   I figure knowing a little about machining would help me greatly in getting a good paying welding job once out of school. I also plan to purchase  the Lincoln "Procedure Handbook "Fourteenth Edition" "
Reply:Anything you can learn, you can benefit from. I have Machinist schooling, Welding, Truck Driving, Fire fighting, and Paramedic schooling. You can never learn to much and you always have something else to fall back on. Good luck with your schooling.
Reply:I know a little about machining and it has come in handy once or twice. The one to ask would be oldtimer as he is pretty accomplished at both. It certainly won't hurt anything. Seen a lot of welding shops with no lathes and such but never been in a machine shop that didn't have a welding machine in it. The three biggest machine shops back home also have an attached welding shop. Can't hardly do custom fab work without both. I modified a 4' swing, side turret lathe (I think that's what they called the thing, it's the only one I have ever seen) to an 8 foot swing and had to machine the parts myself. What little I knew came in real handy bad thing is I should know more as I grew up with a lathe and milling machine in the garage. I should be better, but have forgotten so much about it over the years.Learn everything you can about metals, their makeup and character and how they are worked as it will all be helpful. More and more work is being done using alloys so a little metallurgy is useful as well.Last edited by Jolly Roger; 03-03-2008 at 08:06 PM.Reason: added moreThe difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Originally Posted by Newfie_1986Well im planning on going to school to become a welder.  I plan to purchase a HH 210, a Miller Dynasty 200 DX (if I can come up with the money) and a Victor Journeyman Torch set.Do you all think this would be good equipment to have around to practice on when not in school ?
Reply:Originally Posted by Jolly RogerI know a little about machining and it has come in handy once or twice. The one to ask would be oldtimer as he is pretty accomplished at both. It certainly won't hurt anything. Seen a lot of welding shops with no lathes and such but never been in a machine shop that didn't have a welding machine in it. The three biggest machine shops back home also have an attached welding shop. Can't hardly do custom fab work without both. I modified a 4' swing, side turret lathe (I think that's what they called the thing, it's the only one I have ever seen) to an 8 foot swing and had to machine the parts myself. What little I knew came in real handy bad thing is I should know more as I grew up with a lathe and milling machine in the garage. I should be better, but have forgotten so much about it over the years.Learn everything you can about metals, their makeup and character and how they are worked as it will all be helpful. More and more work is being done using alloys so a little metallurgy is useful as well.
Reply:I have spent alot of money on welding classes. It was worth every penny. I'm not in favor of getting any machine untill as others have suggested untill you are able to narrow down your actual needs.
Reply:Well I am planning on becoming a Journeyman Welder so I would like some equipment that could hold up to some use and maybe a little abuse.  If this is going to be my job im going to want some half decent equipment of my own to use.In school I will be learning Stick, Tig, Mig and O/A Welding and cutting.When I get out of school I hope to get a job with a construction company doing weld repairs on their heavy equipment.   Now I dont intend on using any of my machines for this work of course.  I would like to use it to build saw mills, trailers and other items as a side business besides my regular job.
Reply:You guys are right it depends on what you are going to school for. For instance i'm going to MWI or Missouri Welding Institute and they offer both structual welding and a pipe fitting course or a combined course. So go for what you think's best and good luck. Masterstickwelder
Reply:whatta ya at me ol trout  ? I'm in Port aux basques at College of the North Atlantic doing a 2 year course.Metal fab, stick, mig, tig, brazing, o/a welding , cutting, pipe welding and so much more. It's an awesome course, teachers are best kind. You planning on Academy canada or CONA ?
Reply:Im goin to Academy Canada,  starting on April 23.  I can't wait to get going !   Im going to be doing the course in St. John's.
Reply:You can't beat the Victor torch setup. I have a 40 year old set of Victor regulators that I use daily and for all intents and purposes they are pretty much still the same critter. Up until a year ago I had never used a suitcase wire feeder and was trying to figure out how to afford a large mig. I got a good deal on a couple of suitcases and then got an xmt304 for a power supply (I now have a portable with cv that will run 300 amps at 60% so I pretty much always have what I need). I don't think I will ever have another strictly mig machine. I used to work in a shop that had 4 migs, 4 stick machines and one tig/stick combo unit (any time mig was needed a stick machine was idle and vice versa and taking up space. With inverters and cc/cv power supplies you can get a lot more bang for your buck (multiple processes from one box). You are also only limited by the length of your leads with the suitcase and I frequently use mine 150+ feet from the power source. For the type of work you are wanting to do you will need pretty robust equipment. I do most of my work on heavy equipment and I try to go with at least 200 amps at 100% duty cycle. My xmt304 doesn't do that on single phase power, but at the time I was in serious need and it was all I could get. I have a couple of others that don't have that punch as well and that had a lot to do with why I feel the way I do about amperage and duty cycle. Nothing worse than having to wait on your machine to cool down. You will not need that kind of power all the time, but when you do it is nice to have. The extra expense in the beginning is worth it in the long run. You don't need the same equipment to practice on that you use at school and once you have been at this a while you will find that a welding machine is a welding machine. If you have the room and the power to run it an old Miller Dialarc 250 is a workhorse stick machine and can be picked up used at a pretty good price. Practically all of the repair I do on heavy equipment is done with sticks. Most of it is done in the field and they are really well suited for this. GMAW doesn't work well in an outside environment and while I use a lot of FCAW I still haven't made up my mind as to whether or not I should use it for this. I know if I do it with sticks it is going to hold up. I hope you find this useful and good luck with your schooling as you can never have too much and at your age it will open many doors for you. This welder has an AAS in Computer Science and a BAAS in Studio Art. I don't think they have made me a better welder but I don't regret getting them at all. I am still considering a masters with no idea what field I would like to study. Maybe welding this time, heheh. BTW I graduated high school with an exchange student from New Zealand. He wound up coming back to the states and studying Chiropractic.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Thanks for the advice Jolly Roger.  I noticed in a post by Oldtimer than he reccomended the bigger torch due to the fact that it was heavier,  making it easier to steady and get a clean cut (makes sense to me).   I have been looking at it and if I can pull together the money I may try for an engine driven welder.   I know they're not cheap.  A Trailblazer 302 would cost me about $6000 Canadian.  But I think that would probably be my best bet instead of wasting money on welders that will not be much use to me.   The Miller Dynasty would cost me about $3200 and then the Hobart HH210 would be probably around $1000 give or take.  Thats $4200 and I can only weld at home and have a mig welder with a Low duty cycle.For $1800 more I can have a more universal piece of equipment..   I can get a Trailblazer for $5000 Canadian from the US (may go that route if I decide to get one).I dunno have to see how money goes for me.  Probably sell my car to help pay for the Trailblazer !
Reply:Check with reddarc about their used machines. I got my GX271 from them used for less than half of the cost of the Trailblazer. That included an extended one year warranty that also covers the engine. Two years ago I was using a Trailblazer DC. I wouldn't trade the GX271 (Lincoln) for 2 of them. It is rated 275 amps at 100% duty cycle at 104 degrees F and the only thing it doesn't do is weld in ac. I learned welding on SA200 Lincolns and used them almost exclusively up until about 3 years ago for engine drives and they are great machines, but I wouldn't trade it for one of them either.  It has the sharpest most focused arc I have ever seen when in pipe mode. In cc mode you have arc force adjustment that can be handy and in cv mode it powers the feeder like a dream. The biggest difference between it and the xmt is that the xmt is a lot cheaper to operate. You can pick them up used and warranteed for under 2000 US. I gave about the same for the GX as I did for the XMT. Listen to oldtimer about the torch. In 40 years of looking I haven't seen anyone better with one. He gave me the 40 year old set of Victors, heheh.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.