I'm sure the "pro's" will murder me for this, but here goes.

 

Once upon a time, long ago when the earth was green and unicorns roamed (before Noah) I learned to weld, as an apprentice both oxy-acetylene and arc (stick) were taught (no MIG or TIG back then, at least not at prices my school would run to). I was actually half-decent at the game, probably better at oxy-acetylene :)

 

Here we are 40-odd years later and we're building a new chicken-palace, enter a low (ish) cost inverter welder as we are building in steel and concrete (the wood chook home was eaten by the local wildlife).

 

Anyway, it seems that unlike riding a bicycle, arc welding is one of those things you forget, particularly if you have to use the cheapo welding mask included with the kit.

 

Got some 50mm angle to knock up a bracket for the irrigation pump (which has been sat on blocks for xx years) as a practice piece.

 

Plenty of bird-sxxt welds and a mild dose of arc-eye (something you really don't want) later, I bought a cheap automatic welding helmet.

 

Wow! What a brilliant invention, I can see where the end of the rod is before the arc catches, and when it does, I can see to actually weld. All without peering round the side of the mask and hoping to get it in front of the eyes before the arc goes out and the rod ends up stuck to the job.

 

So, for this rank amateur, the $30 investment is the next best thing since sliced bread (and it's solar powered so no batteries to replace) :)

 

And NO! I am not going to post photos of my welding (the angle grinder and primer/paint are your friends), it's still up there with the local rod-burners who use safety Ray-Ban glasses, but at least the irrigation pump is still attached to the wall :)

 

 

The angle grinder and paint had always the best friend of many people.

Rod or gas no problem -  but all this new fangled stuff they use now-a-days - I wouldn't know where to start - maybe I wouldn't even bother - have a 2 minute stainless steel repair job done a few weeks back - charged me Baht 20 - so why would I bother. 

I'm sure the "pro's" will murder me for this, but here goes.
 
Once upon a time, long ago when the earth was green and unicorns roamed (before Noah) I learned to weld, as an apprentice both oxy-acetylene and arc (stick) were taught (no MIG or TIG back then, at least not at prices my school would run to). I was actually half-decent at the game, probably better at oxy-acetylene :)
 
Here we are 40-odd years later and we're building a new chicken-palace, enter a low (ish) cost inverter welder as we are building in steel and concrete (the wood chook home was eaten by the local wildlife).
 
Anyway, it seems that unlike riding a bicycle, arc welding is one of those things you forget, particularly if you have to use the cheapo welding mask included with the kit.
 
Got some 50mm angle to knock up a bracket for the irrigation pump (which has been sat on blocks for xx years) as a practice piece.
 
Plenty of bird-sxxt welds and a mild dose of arc-eye (something you really don't want) later, I bought a cheap automatic welding helmet.
 
Wow! What a brilliant invention, I can see where the end of the rod is before the arc catches, and when it does, I can see to actually weld. All without peering round the side of the mask and hoping to get it in front of the eyes before the arc goes out and the rod ends up stuck to the job.
 
So, for this rank amateur, the $30 investment is the next best thing since sliced bread (and it's solar powered so no batteries to replace) :)
 
And NO! I am not going to post photos of my welding (the angle grinder and primer/paint are your friends), it's still up there with the local rod-burners who use safety Ray-Ban glasses, but at least the irrigation pump is still attached to the wall :)
 
 

Yeah Crossy, they are up there.

I first came across them in Aus when, as a workplace trainer, Some of the local indigenous mob and I had to do a bit of welding.

I like you, learnt welding years ago as a trainee.

Now everyone borrows my little beaut shoulder hung welder, but I can't get them to use the solar powered mask.

I show them the mask, they want to please me and have a go, but soon as I go the mask is off and the weld tacks are done without protection.

The masks are brilliant.

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After watching my mate with his goggles I thought I would treat him  to a Global 130bt special  welding mask (as opposed to the ones for 500bt and upwards)

 

He recieved it like you would a pile of dog s**t and said they are "mai dee"

 

Still I found a use for it, its become the upgrade on the half an oil tin pan to go with the sweeping brush

and then the Fat Inspector appears and sez:

 

inadequate safety gear? hmmm, yahs...

 

no matter...you shall have to complete the required NDE (100% RT) and then submit to 3rd party inspection for which a certificate is required...

 

otherwise how could you imagine that your subsequent activities could be allowed to proceed?

 

 

 

In English next time please Tutsi.

 

Are you suggesting that the auto-darkening helmets are somehow unsafe?

 

They have to be better than the RayBan technique and certainly easier on my old eyes than the permanently dark jobbies.

 

 

They use them (or used to) in Aus, as a workplace trainer you are paranoid about safety.

I heard a combined cry from Safety Aus when I saw a big gathering of people the other day. Everyone's prayers were answered.

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Went to college to improve my welding, we learned horizontal, uphill and upside down, all on the arc welder. Bought a cheap arc welder and have fabricated many things here including my last project of a 5m x 5m canopy. I don't think the welding rods are too good over here though, my slag doesn't fall off as it used to. But yes the auto mask is a god send.

Went to college to improve my welding, we learned horizontal, uphill and upside down, all on the arc welder. Bought a cheap arc welder and have fabricated many things here including my last project of a 5m x 5m canopy. I don't think the welding rods are too good over here though, my slag doesn't fall off as it used to. But yes the auto mask is a god send.

That's what I really miss here, is deciding to do a course and being able to enrol in the course at a local college.

Years ago I wanted to do some brick laying, so just enrolled in a coutse at the local TAFE. Brick laying with a broken leg is a bit of a challenge.

Anyway, next best thing to a college here is Thaivisa. So much good stuff here.

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You certainly can learn to weld on TV!!! You don't even need a torch, an arc welder or  a mask, but a "flak jacket" would help at times!! 

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

In English next time please Tutsi.

 

Are you suggesting that the auto-darkening helmets are somehow unsafe?

 

They have to be better than the RayBan technique and certainly easier on my old eyes than the permanently dark jobbies.

 

 

 

nah...just a bit of a construction QA/QC joke...I'll get my coat...

12 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

nah...just a bit of a construction QA/QC joke...I'll get my coat...

 

Yeah, got the QA/QC bit, I was just concerned there was hidden meaning :)

 

8 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

and then the Fat Inspector appears and sez:

 

inadequate safety gear? hmmm, yahs...

 

no matter...you shall have to complete the required NDE (100% RT) and then submit to 3rd party inspection for which a certificate is required...

 

otherwise how could you imagine that your subsequent activities could be allowed to proceed?

 

 

 

Not forgetting site induction, OHS procedures; Quality Assurance - all of course validated by the appropriate authorities, then and only then would you be allowed to proceed.

26 minutes ago, wayned said:

You certainly can learn to weld on TV!!! You don't even need a torch, an arc welder or  a mask, but a "flak jacket" would help at times!! 

 

Don't forget, flak jackets are illegal here

'Fat Inspector' as in 'Fat Controller' from thomas the tank engine...geddit?...yuk, yuk, yuk...

I have a cheap buzz box that I find very difficult to use. I bought a MIG welder that uses a CO2 bottle. I'm really no expert with that either but I can get the job done. I have had an automatic self darkening helmet for quite a few years. It still works very well. The Thais refuse to use the automatic helmet or the old flip up one. I have no idea why they don't go blind just using sunglasses. They weld much better than I do just using the cheap buzz box.

I have a smart-phone app called "toolbox" which is up there with sliced bread.

Compass, level, measure, protractor, vibrometer, altimeter, decibel meter, magnetic detection, pressure/ temperature meter, converter, magnifier, code reader, mirror, stopwatch, timer, metronome....

I gota wife who knows EVERYTHING ...is that up there to?

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1 hour ago, carlyai said:

I gota wife who knows EVERYTHING ...is that up there to?

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Are you married to Donald Trump?

5 hours ago, wayned said:

Are you married to Donald Trump?

Or the other one?

If you don't believe that my wife knows EVERYTHING, just ask her. Us farangs are basically stupid. That has actually helped me. When something is broken, I tell her to fix it herself or find a Thai to fix it. I have found that as long as I do nothing, it works out fine.

1 hour ago, Gary A said:

If you don't believe that my wife knows EVERYTHING, just ask her. Us farangs are basically stupid. That has actually helped me. When something is broken, I tell her to fix it herself or find a Thai to fix it. I have found that as long as I do nothing, it works out fine.

 

After the third try to get something fixed that she or another Thai cannot fix I gently explain that I have been fixing things since before she was born and, no, I am not really stupid. I just cant ask the right questions in Thai. That is her job.

 

She usually gets around to speaking to me again after a day or so.

I'd not heard of an automatic welding helmet.  Sounds like a great idea.

 

I also learnt to weld at Night School, was bent over a peace of steel plate making my wiggly bird c$&@ welds when I heard a loud pop and felt something very hot go down the back of my neck.

 

Just thought - perhaps the Falang Kee Nok insult really relates to our welding skills.

23 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

After the third try to get something fixed that she or another Thai cannot fix I gently explain that I have been fixing things since before she was born and, no, I am not really stupid. I just cant ask the right questions in Thai. That is her job.

 

She usually gets around to speaking to me again after a day or so.

 

I tried to tell my wife that I was an engineer in my working life and that I too was fixing things when she was in diapers. That goes in one ear and out the other. She says all that I do is make things more broken. Since I am retied, I owe it to myself to be VERY lazy. That suits me just fine.

Now without hijacking the thread again, another thing up there with sliced bread, is this Thai style welding.

There must be a way to hold a decent arc, for longer than 3 secs without burning down half of the village.

I was told (yeah I know, they just tell me anything) that the reason they arc weld in small spurts, is so that the mains incoming cables don't catch on fire.(something like that ).

Firstly: is this true?

Secondly, what, cable wise is needed so that you can hold a long arc?

Now if we could solve this problem, and have some really good first welds, this would be up there......probably better than darkened welding masks.




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37 minutes ago, Gary A said:

 

I tried to tell my wife that I was an engineer in my working life and that I too was fixing things when she was in diapers. That goes in one ear and out the other. She says all that I do is make things more broken. Since I am retied, I owe it to myself to be VERY lazy. That suits me just fine.

 

My problem is that I dont like sitting around with nothing to do so I tend to do a lot of things around the house and land including maintaining and repairing where possible the garden machinery as I am the one that has the tools and the skills plus I am the only man for about 500 metres in 3 directions. The 4th direction is the national park and the hills. Nobody lives there but there are mushroom pickers. bamboo shoot pickers and the local poacher has been known to frequent the area at times.

1 hour ago, billd766 said:

 

After the third try to get something fixed that she or another Thai cannot fix I gently explain that I have been fixing things since before she was born and, no, I am not really stupid. I just cant ask the right questions in Thai. That is her job.

 

She usually gets around to speaking to me again after a day or so.

 

I got one over on her the other day. I was sitting at my computer. My computer room runs off my solar power system. The wife came in with her daily making me move so she can vacuum. She plugged in the vacuum and it didn't work. A little later I saw her sitting on the floor with a screw driver. She was getting ready to take the machine apart. I walked over to her and told her before she tries to fix it, to wait until the electricity comes back on. Sure enough the vacuum worked fine.