Best Welding accessory I ever bought

[RoMad]

My youngest son is home from school for the summer and had said he would like to learn to weld. I posted a thread asking about welding hood advice and ended up buying one with an auto lense from Amazon.com.
On Sunday we went over how the hood worked and I showed him how to run a flat bead and a lap joint using 6011 in my buzz box. I left him out in the driveway welding together a bunch of my scrap metal for about 3 hours. Sunday evening he said he was ready to help me build a counterweight for my tractor that I had been talking about. He showed me his welds and he really was picking it up pretty fast.
On his second day of welding we made the counterweight out of a bunch of metal they gave me at work and a drawbar I had bought from ebay. I made sure that all of his welds were flat lap joints and held his hands a couple of times to help him get the hang of it. Once again he did a pretty good job. At one point after about an hour of welding he said "this sure is hot work" which tickled me since i spent many hours in the hot sun, in boilers, tanks, and vessels welding when I was his age.
All in all a lot of fun watching him learn and pretty darn nice to sit in a lawn chair while he does the hot work. I should have bought another hood a long time ago :laughing:

 

[BlacknTan]

Nice job produced by the two of you!
Your son is also learning a new skill, which is always helpful no matter where life takes him. And most important, you're spending time together.

BTW, I agree that the AD hood is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

 

[KubotainNH]

So is the hood or son the best accessory??? :laughing:

Kidding aside, I love AD hoods.

 

[undercut]

Always nice to see the next generation applying themselves! Had my kids put together a small work bench I bought the other day. I helped them and showed them what each tool was used for. I mentioned I might need another one to use as a makeshift welding station. They've been bugging me when I'm going to bring it home so that they can put it together themselves!

Great project and congratulations on teaching a great skill and getting a project completed at the same time! Cheers!

 

[Shield Arc]

I' am so jealous! I have four grandsons, and a grand son-n-law who looks to be about the same age as your son. All they want to do all day long is play video games! Only time they ever get near my shop, is for me to air up a tire on one of their bikes.

 

[timster2]

I' am so jealous! I have four grandsons, and a grand son-n-law who looks to be about the same age as your son. All they want to do all day long is play video games! Only time they ever get near my shop, is for me to air up a tire on one of their bikes.

When my son was younger he played a lot of video games. As he got older and wanted to fix up his bike we started welding, milling and drilling "mods" to his bikes. He came up with the ideas and we put pen to paper sketched up an idea and we got to building. He shifted to only playing computer games when he was not fixing or thinking up ways to upgrade his ride. When he got old enough to drive he started working on his car, an old Jeep Cherokee. One day out of the blue he comes to me and wants to paint the car, the paint was kind of tired. With the help of the local body supply owner we got together some paint and supplies and he painted his first car. We set up one of those portable garages as a paint booth, hey it worked. Since that time he has attended several PPG painting classes been to Lincoln welding school. He now uses all that computer gaming "training" to run cad software. There is some benefit to all that time playing video games, hopefully it will lead to a skill using cad cam or other technical computer skill. He currently is designing and prototyping aftermarket performance auto parts using the skills learned starting with his bike.

Perhaps you can get the kids interested in upgrading their bikes and get them away from the computer games, it worked for me.

 

[Shield Arc]

The problem is, three of the boy's mom, (youngest daughter) is so afraid her little angels will break a finger nail! Didn't bother her one bit her Dad would have to work 200-feet in the air all day tho!

 

[timster2]

The problem is, three of the boy's mom, (youngest daughter) is so afraid her little angels will break a finger nail! Didn't bother her one bit her Dad would have to work 200-feet in the air all day tho!

My wife use to freak out when he was welding or running the mill, lathe or drill press she was always worried he would hurt himself. Took a while but she got use to the idea that this was real training and not just playing. She was worried he would ruin the car when he painted it to which I answered you gotta learn on something why not HIS car.:thumbsup:

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I put a stinger in my kids' hands when they were about 6 years old. I snatched up cheap used hoods wherever I could find them so that the kids could watch and learn when I was out in the shop welding. I still let them burn some rod every now and then. Soon enough I'll get them running beads and sticking metal together so it will stay stuck. It's never too early to teach a kid the value of work and a little creativity.

My son loves to hand around when I'm fabricating and make all kinds of contraptions out of the scrap that falls to the ground.

 

[yomax4]

That's great to get the kids invilved. I have 3 daughters that insisted that they get to try to weld. Now my wife even cuts things with the Plasma ans welds plant stands, Re-bar for staking trees and other minor things she breaks. Of course i have to referee her decisions. The AD Hood really is a huge innovation for welding but I also like my " Tig Pen " looks like a mini baseball bat that has a small wheel that feeds tig rod so you don't have to. You can hold it perfectly steady and it makes Tig welding a lot easier.

 

[Shield Arc]

I tried the Tig pen, I found it was easier to just feed by hand. Now for some reason I find it even easier to hold the torch with my off hand, and feed with the other hand, go figure! :confused2:

 

[ericher69]

My youngest son is home from school for the summer and had said he would like to learn to weld. I posted a thread asking about welding hood advice and ended up buying one with an auto lense from Amazon.com.
On Sunday we went over how the hood worked and I showed him how to run a flat bead and a lap joint using 6011 in my buzz box. I left him out in the driveway welding together a bunch of my scrap metal for about 3 hours. Sunday evening he said he was ready to help me build a counterweight for my tractor that I had been talking about. He showed me his welds and he really was picking it up pretty fast.
On his second day of welding we made the counterweight out of a bunch of metal they gave me at work and a drawbar I had bought from ebay. I made sure that all of his welds were flat lap joints and held his hands a couple of times to help him get the hang of it. Once again he did a pretty good job. At one point after about an hour of welding he said "this sure is hot work" which tickled me since i spent many hours in the hot sun, in boilers, tanks, and vessels welding when I was his age.
All in all a lot of fun watching him learn and pretty darn nice to sit in a lawn chair while he does the hot work. I should have bought another hood a long time ago :laughing:
<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=269281"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=269280"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=269279"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=269278"/>

Glad to see that you are teaching your son a valuable skill that will serve him well in life!

Don't mean to be the safety police but...

In the picture of him welding his mask/head is directly in the plum. I know I have done this numerous times in the past and have paid with black soot coming out of nose and throat for days.

I now wear a N95 mask (fancy dust mask) that catches most harmful particles when stick welding/grinding or plasma cutting.

Just food for thought

 

[Shield Arc]

Good point!
I think it was in the 1970s when the memos from the safety department changed their tune from concerns about our eyes to our lungs. Then in the early 1980s I worked in a tank shop building stainless steel and high carbon steel tanks. The big concern was being inside the tanks and drowning on the argon gas when Tig welding. Can you believe they would make us sign a statement at each Monday morning tool box safety meeting, that every night we sat with our azzes above our heads for at least 30-minutes so the argon could drain out of our lungs!

 

[ericher69]

Good point!
I think it was in the 1970s when the memos from the safety department changed their tune from concerns about our eyes to our lungs. Then in the early 1980s I worked in a tank shop building stainless steel and high carbon steel tanks. The big concern was being inside the tanks and drowning on the argon gas when Tig welding. Can you believe they would make us sign a statement at each Monday morning tool box safety meeting, that every night we sat with our azzes above our heads for at least 30-minutes so the argon could drain out of our lungs!

Unbelievable!

But I do believe you

 

[Artisan]

snip

Can you believe they would make us sign a statement at each Monday morning tool box safety meeting, that every night we sat with our azzes above our heads for at least 30-minutes so the argon could drain out of our lungs!

WOW! Really? Is this still a viable / plausible scenario? That is down right scary!
I wonder if there is a ARGON sniffer and after running gas all day you come home,
jump on the easy hangups machine / body inverter and see if you get readings
of Argon out of your lungs!

I guess it is plausible...:lifepreserver:

 

[ericher69]

Not good!

Probably why SAR (Supplied Air Respirators) are now required

Health effects of argon

Routes of exposure: The substance can be absorbed into the body by inhalation.

Inhalation risk: On loss of containment this liquid evaporates very quickly causing supersaturation of the air with serious risk of suffocation when in confined areas.

Effects of exposure: Inhalation: Dizziness. Dullness. Headache. Suffocation. Skin: On contact with liquid: frostbite. Eyes: On contact with liquid: frostbite.

Inhalation: This gas is inert and is classified as a simple asphyxiant. Inhalation in excessive concentrations can result in dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, and death. Death may result from errors in judgment, confusion, or loss of consciousness which prevent self-rescue. At low oxygen concentrations, unconsciousness and death may occur in seconds without warning.

The effect of simple asphyxiant gases is proportional to the extent to which they diminish the amount (partial pressure) of oxygen in the air that is breathed. The oxygen may be diminished to 75% of it's normal percentage in air before appreciable symptoms develop. This in turn requires the presence of a simple asphyxiant in a concentration of 33% in the mixture of air and gas. When the simple asphyxiant reaches a concentration of 50%, marked symptoms can be produced. A concentration of 75% is fatal in a matter of minutes.

Symptoms: The first symptoms produced by a simple asphyxiant are rapid respirations and air hunger. Mental alertness is diminished and muscular coordination is impaired. Later judgment becomes faulty and all sensations are depressed. Emotional instability often results and fatigue occurs rapidly. As the asphyxia progresses, there may be nausea and vomiting, prostration and loss of consciousness, and finally convulsions, deep coma and death.



Read more: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/ar.htm#ixzz1yUQnfw7g

 

[grsthegreat]

I purchased the Hobby Air system for my shop due to the fact that i didn't like seeing all the smoke given off by my plasma cutter. Now i use this system whenever i weld or use spray paint . It used a pump and a hose to bring in outside fresh air into a respirator mask to keep me breathing clean air.

I also improved my welding skills 100% overnight when i broke down and purchased my Jackson Boss auto darkening hood.


Why i waited so long is beyond me.

 

[rcowan]

Setting in the shade watching the son work. What a deal! I've about forgot that feeling. My two are out of the house on their own.

Great job

RC

 

[sparc]

Argon is a concern yes but if you are welding stainless steel then you have to worry about Hexavalent Chromium too.


http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA_small_entity_comp.pdf

 

[Turbys_1700]

My dad taught me how to weld back when I was real young helping out on the farm...
I have repaired lots of equipment over the years with a simple buzz box...
Great job...
I am sure that your son will look back on this experience and cherish it just as I do now...