welders/welding etc

[adam c]

Hi i know a few of you on here are welders by trade or do alot of welding(suppose you have to with running a nova!:( lol ).Im looking to do a course at night school on welding/fabrication(mainly for the certificate to say i can weld!)and have a few questions,
I have experiance mig welding but im only self taught.

1)It says you learn about MAG,TAG and MMA?is MAG mild steel?,TAG stainless steel? and whats MMA?lol

2)which type of welding pays the best?or has the greater career prospects?or is it all generalised and your expected to be able to do all 3?

3)In order to practise all 3 welding types would i need to buy three different welders or would i be able to change the settings/wire?

4)Anything else i need to know?lol


Any help would be much appreciated:thumb:



p.s sorry if it doesnt make much sense as i already typed it out and then the computer f****d up and i've had to type it all again!lol

[turnipheed]

not a welder to trade but done a fair bit of it as a mechanic MIG stands for metal inert gas - inert meaning that the gas used does not do anything apart from shield the weld to stop it oxidising like what you get with a stick welder (the swarf that you chip off with a hammer) MAG stands for metal active gas, im not sure the ins and outs of what gas is used but i presume it has something to do with the weld or possibly what you are welding
TIG is used for stainless and alloy and is done by a lance like a stick welder to create an arc and you use your other hand to dip a rod (specific to the kind of metal you are jointing) very similar to oxy acetalene welding but using electric to create an arc rather than a naked flame
dont know what mma welding is?
hope this helps

[turnipheed]

mma welding is stick welding as i just found out on google

[gazz]

MIG and TIG is the main ones to learn. as i'm looking at doin same.i have alot of experience but no "ticket" to say i can as such.
ARC is mainly dockers and heavy gauge steel.

[Jon_nova1]

Arc is used where deep penetration of thick metal is needed as mig doesn't penetrate as much

[svlet]

how long does this course take and what does the certificite actually mean you can do

[DAN-F]

just finished 2 years. mma is manual metal arc (stick) and is gasless its for thicker metals and plant/contruction mainly, mig/mag and tig you probably already know, the corse is don in a positional qualification, after the first year your qualified as a downhand welder (ie everything you weld will be laid out flat in front of you welding down onto it), second year is vertical and third is overhead, its not just the technique/practical you learn though, to pass you need to learn about the gasses and the metals as well as the different types of electrodes and welding wires, and you need to learn the codes for them all too, its not tat bad though once you get into it but the actual welding is definately by far the easiest bit

[svlet]

dan-f did you do it at night school like the others are going to do

[gazz]

The course i'l be looking at doing is 31 weeks, 2 hours an evening
and at end get level 2 cert in fab and weld..

[DAN-F]

yea 2 nigts a week 3-4 hrs a night, one night practical the other theory.i enjoyed it tbh you start at level2 which is downhand.
fab and welding is a different course and is more generalized not so concentrated on welding.
last year (my second year) the amount of times the tutor had people call in looking for peope to work was unreal, just off my first years qualification i was offered work in norway and australia, and a few in this country pay was pretty good too, if i didnt hae 3 lil uns id hve been gone

[adam c]

Thanks everyone so far

DAN-F:do you work as a welder now?what was the name of the course you did?

[DAN-F]

nope not at the minute gonna be doing a hgv license soon then decide which i want to do/which comes up first.
not surfe the exact title of the course ill dig out some of the coursework now and have a look

[DAN-F]

this is the college i did it at but reading the desctiption i think its changed a bit since they made the webpage

http://www.merthyr.ac.uk/eng_emfec/802/eng-emfec-content

course is called perfoming welding operations

[adam c]

The course i'l be looking at doing is 31 weeks, 2 hours an evening
and at end get level 2 cert in fab and weld..

Yeah thats the course they are doing at my local college which im thinking about doing.Ive emailed the college today and also tried ringing them after work so gonna try ring them at dinner tommorow and hopefully sort something out.
whats the average hourly wage for a welder?

[grooge]

is stick welding the same as oxy acetylene??

[DAN-F]

nope oxy acetylene is for cutting, stick welding is purely electrical no gas involved.