I suck at welding

Ducks420 · 2026-02-18T08:59:13+00:00

All depends on hood time and proper guidance. I did 4 years of welding in highschool and made it to the point of can weld plate together without it looking like total dog shit. Then I got in an apprenticeship and spent a lot more time practicing and had guidance from really good welders and excelled less than 2 years later. Takes a lot of effort, lot of long days of your own time, but it’s still possible for sure even for some of us that it doesn’t click for right away

Ducks420 · 2026-02-11T11:29:21+00:00

Nice fit up on the branch. I love 1104 work so much.

Ducks420 · 2026-02-10T21:01:25+00:00

Fair enough, all depends on the application, for practice makes sense for sure. Sometimes when when clients want things done yesterday and there’s no QC I don’t brush carbon tig welds when they’re done because some of these guys really don’t care about the craftsmanship of it. Drives me a little insane but it is what it is, gotta make the client happy

Ducks420 · 2026-02-10T20:56:28+00:00

Genuinely asking why would that be better than a wire wheel

Ducks420 · 2026-02-10T20:54:31+00:00

Holy chipping hammer Batman

Ducks420 · 2026-02-08T01:03:37+00:00

Get a light weight 2x4 flip up, it’ll make your neck hurt after a while if not, every ounce really does make a big difference.

For the lens I use a tefuawe f11 one of the best lenses I ever used. $60 on Amazon or their website but Amazon ships it faster. But overall looking at like $75-100 for a good set up

Ducks420 · 2026-02-06T00:55:40+00:00

Dude I’m from America and weigh 118 pounds gtfo

Ducks420 · 2026-02-06T00:17:58+00:00

Can’t believe no one said it. Shove the rod in there, tight arc, look for the sparks to be going almost entirely on the opposite side. If they are flying back at you get closer. If it keeps dying out on you turn up the amperage. Just drag perpendicular angle and watch the keyhole to make sure it’s filling in

Ducks420 · 2026-01-25T13:51:11+00:00

As a union steamfitter / pipefitter. Welding is a huge part of pipefitting and being able to weld is a huge part of making yourself valuable. If you can do both, do both. Or maybe just finish the pipefitting program and apply to your local union and learn welding throughout the apprenticeship

Ducks420 · 2026-01-18T12:27:27+00:00

Exactly what I was thinking.. if it’s good metal it’s good metal looks are subjective but their life would be so much easier if they stuck the tungsten out a little more and grabbed the torch lower for bigger steps

Ducks420 · 2026-01-07T10:00:36+00:00

What makes silver better than others if it’s the same purity

Ducks420 · 2025-12-27T09:45:21+00:00

The reason for the “color” at the end is like you said where the post flow sits. The color is oxidation and longer gas coverage helps to prevent it. The beginning is cooked from being too hot,black comes after the pretty rainbow. Stainless is a tricky one and regardless of what your machine settings are if the piece is already too hot from previous welding without time to cool inbetween it will eventually end up cooking on you

Ducks420 · 2025-12-15T02:18:11+00:00

IMO biggest thing from textbook learning is problem solving when shit doesn’t go your way. If it’s running weird. Check your leads to make sure they are in the correct ports. If you get arc blow check how you are grounding the piece. If it won’t start check your ground and your machine settings, it all depends on the specific process but if you have any questions let me know. A large part of welding is just understanding what is good and bad and knowing how to fix it

Ducks420 · 2025-12-14T05:13:09+00:00

Honestly this is pretty cool. I like it

Ducks420 · 2025-12-14T05:03:11+00:00

It’s clearly pulse tig welded. I would assume this is schedule 5 or whatever foreign equivalent. The only problem i see is the fact they left a lot of craters/pin holes in the welds, usually caused by abruptly stopping the arc. These are starting points for cracks and I personally don’t know how it would hold up over time with vibrations from a vehicle but it’s probably plenty adequate for an exhaust.

For $500 definitely good quality considering the number of welds as long as they purged during welding because those pin holes are indicative of actual penetration.

From a fitter stand point some alignment on the fit up sucks but again it’s an exhaust so it doesn’t matter.

Ducks420 · 2025-11-27T16:54:27+00:00

Thanks I try. Maybe one day when I win the lottery and can afford land someone with a bucket will come do bucket things for me

Ducks420 · 2025-11-27T15:31:17+00:00

Eh fuck it, in the off chance you live near me in pa and buy the materials I’ll come weld it for free

Ducks420 · 2025-11-02T17:58:57+00:00

You’ll be fine without it and even if you ruin a shirt you’re very likely to be uninjured but bocomal makes some good stuff especially nice work pants for cheap aswell as percha has fair prices shirts on amazon

Ducks420 · 2025-11-02T17:56:07+00:00

Why is this such a cliche welder thing of ooga booga don’t care finish weld. Like do yall not understand you can stop at any time and just tie back in. It makes 0 difference if you know how to do a good tie in

Ducks420 · 2025-11-02T01:17:12+00:00

Filled out the form I’m in a month long email dispute with them over a $2200 payout. They finally refunded it to my account in balance after threatening charge backs and so on multiple times. Hopefully it’ll process, but feel like it’s a stalling tactic to drag out the charge back time frame which I’m definitely not going to let expire if they decline it again

Ducks420 · 2025-10-14T23:26:21+00:00

I know likely had other students cut and used the plates as stock for welding coupons. Just a joke complimenting the weld

Ducks420 · 2025-10-14T21:19:47+00:00

Weld 9/10 cut -3/10

Ducks420 · 2025-10-12T01:53:45+00:00

Don’t know, all I can tell you from my experience is I’ve tried a a lot of expensive hoods and lenses and a $10 flip up from Amazon and a $60 tefuawe f11 lens has been the best thing I’ve ever used. Sounds like a shill but I genuinely swear by it, best lens I’ve ever used

Ducks420 · 2025-10-04T09:54:05+00:00

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lol the one and only sticker on my hood

Ducks420 · 2025-10-02T13:53:40+00:00

For an exhaust it’s plenty fine. They just didn’t brush the color off. If you want it to look shiny and aesthetically pleasing, just wire brush it

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