Hackett (right) introduces the Madagascar Institute, and we each discussed our own skill sets, familiarities with metalworking (if any), and our comfort level with working in a shop. Hackett stressed the importance of safety and being honest with what you do and especially with what you don’t know — and he encouraged students to ask questions when they’re unsure or afraid (after all “fear is never boring”).
Hackett then gave a quick lecture on the different types of welding: “stick welding,” TIG and MIG, among others — comparing and contrasting the various applications of each. He also explained how burning, welding, and explosions are all forms of oxidation, with welding being a very precise and restrained form (hopefully!). We also went over all the basic equipment, like gloves, goggles, and the icon of welding: the helmet (and especially the benefits and drawbacks of auto-darkening filter (ADF) helmets, which use a solar panel (or other electronic component) to recognize UV light and “switch” to dark mode, allowing the viewer near-total vision the rest of the time they’re working).
Each student then proceed to metal-chop two 5″ pieces of hallowed square bar, which we ground down the edges of and would later weld back into “one piece” of metal:
A great primer class with extremely addictive properties, I’ve found myself numerous times since the class wanting to improve the world around me… with welding! While there is a bunch of science to this art, MIG welding is considered the “hot glue of welding” techniques, so its rewards are very immediate, and as mentioned before, can be picked up in a jiffy by makers of all skill levels.
No comments:
Post a Comment