Section : Welding

I got lucky enough to attend a welding demo in the CBA workshop. We saw four different types of welding:

1. Shielded Metal Arc Welding or Stick Welding: This is the crudest method, but also the most inexpensive. A stick covered in flux is used as an electrode and melts to provide the welding.
2. Gas Metal Arc Welding or MIG Welding: This is the most precise and controlled method, but also the one taking the most practice. A source of gas is fed a wire manually, which gets melted into a much finer trace.
3. Gas Tungsten Arc Welding or TIG Welding: this combines easier use with much more precise work: the wire is fed automatically through the nosel also blowing gas.
4. Resistance Welding: This welds two plates together by making a strong current go through them at one spot.

The shop had a sign giving more detailed specs:

We got to try our hands at TIG and resistance welding, possibly the easiest techniques. To do so we had to put on the correct protection: coat, gloves, and light sensitive helmet.

Here we are trying to do TOG welding. A few tips I picked up: both pushing or pulling the nosel are correct, it depends on the user's preference. The nosel has to be kept at a small constant distance from the surface, about 1/8 inch. The movement must be "lethargically" slow. Small zigzags as we move along the line we are welding help the weld to be more homogeneously spread.

Here is the result (the orange beads are due to impurities):