Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mobile welding

Thats definitely how it should be. I am not qualified on any welding. But I've welded a bunch over the years. And my worst issues around were cracks around the weld. IE if it broke the weld held but the metal didn't.

I simply cannot much fathom that with a bit of education and practice welding isn't all that hard. The cramped quarters of tight welds would get me at my age. And my eyes are not that great anymore behind the hood but the young ones should all be able to master something like welding..

Its a shame that some can't cut it. Its a good, but very hard working, job.

Just retired in January from a 35yr pipeline welding career…sold all my big diesel machines and miscellaneous equipment and just yesterday made a deal to sell my fully equipped 2018 GMC diesel duelly.
Good luck with your side gig…you couldn’t get me near the crackle of a welding rod or the roar of a welding machine anymore, the thought of it alone makes me wanna puke 🤮

Did a lot of pre-heating and post-heating to keep stuff from cracking. High carbon alloys are the worst for it, but even thick "mild steel" needs a preheat or it can crack. Worst I ever did was TiG tube to header joints on T9 material for HRSG panels, that needed a continuous heat throughout the work on the headers. There were 3 to 4 shifts worth of joints for two guys on each header. So they had ceramic heater blankets in clamshell devices that surrounded the header and kept it hot. The guy on top got to lay down on insulated blankets while he welded to keep from cooking himself, but he still cooked pretty good. The guy underneath doing the lower half of the joint overhead had it made. Sat in a modified office chair that was shorter and leaned way back. Worst of that was your arms got tired but you didn't cook medium well.

Welding will kill your eyes. Mine were never good to begin with, having to wear correction for near-sightedness since I was 12. The last 6 or 7 years though I've either had to use a cheater lens in my hood, or lately doing everything over-head I had bifocals made with correction at the top of the lens in addition to the bottom. Goofy looking as hell but I don't have to tilt my head back severely to focus, just look up from a normal position. Tons easier on the neck and no headaches after work.

You....uhhhhh.......there are some things going on with your welds if any cracking is occuring, regardless of it being around the weld or the weld itself.

A Porta Power? Cable and chain come alongs?


Lotsa jacks and stands.


Access to a crane helps too.

Have you considered mobile welding lessons?

The killer Diller super welder brand.

I wouldn't rule out hand rail work and the like either.


That would be good clean work you could knock out quick.

You ran into somebody you can't bully around, and you don't like it, you fuc-cking useless dik.

Berate a man for choosing a trade and getting good at it. Paying his bills, paying his taxes, providing for his family, and not asking anybody for a single damn thing.

Go fuc ck yourself, random irrelevant "jimbo" conrad, whoever the fuc ck you are, with extreme prejudice......over, and over, and over again, until they plant your sorry fuc-cking ass in the fuc-cking ground.

Hahah….

#triggered

I see some of you morons are still at it.

I spent all day visually inspecting welds and getting the appropriate NDE done. Like any, ANY occupation you will have both ends of the spectrum as for as abilities. Some work really hard to barley make it while others make it look easy.
Welding is no different.

What makes welding particularly different in one respect, is the amount of stupid people that believe they know anything about the subject. It’s really a curious thing.

You don’t see the same thing in other professions. A heart surgeon doesn’t have to listen to some mouth breathing retard trying to either give advice on his technique or try to convince home he’s over paid and under qualified lol.

Some of the comments here and what I’ve heard in person is down right retarted. What is required to be a certified welder the difference between the various welding codes, the difficulty of the various alloys to weld the different welding processes the difference between a pipeline welder, a structural welder, a refinery welder all of it may as well be written in Chinese backwards for all the good it does the average moron that feels compelled to comment on anything welding related.

It’s fascinating really. And for some reason the less welding ability one of these smooth brains have the more determined they are to try and down grade the profession?

Here are some facts for the smooth brains.
1. Structural welding including ship yards, fence building, trailer building, junk iron repair welding and your alcoholic uncle trying to weld a hole in a bush hog deck are the very basic lower skill level, entry level welding.
2. Pipe line welders are welding to one of the less stringent codes. The acceptance criteria for 1104 is easier than the refinery codes, period. No matter what your bumper sticker says.
3. Fab shop welders be they pipe, tube or structural are welding in a controlled environment where everything that can be done to make the welding easier ( read faster, more efficient, to make more money for the shop) has been done.
4. Of the various refinery pipe welding jobs. Tube welding in boilers and furnaces are the top of the difficulty levels. A lot of the tube welds are graded severe on the RT (X-ray) for the dumbasses that means any defect of any size is rejectable. It requires a nearly perfectly made weld in the tightest, sometimes hottest environment you can work in. Sometimes under fresh air respirators, often times with mirrors. These are the best of the best. I know because I’ve welded in every level from a ship yard to the highest paying tube welding jobs there was.

For some comparisons. I know and have worked with some young guys no more than 22-23 years old. These were some of the fastest and best welders I’ve ever seen. Lay out all night drinking, show up late and run thru more welds in a day than any other welders on the job 3 to 1. Never have a repair never have anything visible on a weld that I’d have to get them to fix. Smart assed attitude, cocky and able to back it up. There’s a reason these guys make as much in a year as your average family doctor.
Not every welder will ever get to this level, but there are plenty of them.

If your only experience welding is what you’ve heard second hand, or the time you welded a bumper on a piece of $hite truck you should STFU when the subject of welding is discussed.

Amazing super welders even need inspected.....

It never gets old.

Definitely worth it when you are down…. I have been in that business since I was 19. The last big job I did down in Fresno, we moved about 4 million yards of dirt for a housing subdivision…. I had about 25 operators on-site….. daily payroll and equipment costs over 40 grand…. I had 2 mechanics on standby all day everyday. Even things like paving, there may only be 4-5 guys on-site but the value of the material that is “on the road” or already on its way to the job is so high that most contractors have not just a mechanic on standby but also haul a “backup “ paver to each job…… if the op could get in with someone in that situation who may not be able to afford someone full time but only when they are doing a high risk operation…. Paving, big concrete pour, harvest time, etc….. could make a few bucks if you got the skills to McGyver the chit back together.

That’s a good insight into the real world of getting schidt done.

If you have most everything you need, then why not. All you can do is make money with equipment that is already paid for, great.
Maybe inquire with you’re insurance man on a liability and medical policy if you or someone else gets hurt on a job. LLC it and separate it from your personal assets, so if someone gets hurt a year down the road blames it on your weld they can’t take your house.

That or ornamental stuff. Like gates and fence work.


Here's one I built for my buddy, as a house warming gift:


Took this pic, after dry fitting it. Then off to the powdercoaters.

When I did mobile welding for a company, you never knew what you'd be working on. It's fun work, but be prepared for anything.

Thats cool.

100% CORRECT