- Joined
- Dec 18, 2019
- Messages
- 7,499
I agree. My class was regimented. In a way that was good, especially in the beginning. There were some students that had never done this at all, and it was important for everyone to learn about basic safety, so everyone would be ok. You can screw up real bad with oxy-acetylene. There was a mix of "class instruction time" and arc time. My class had about 12 students in the beginning. Some dropped out after 4 weeks. But there were 6 fume hoods, so no one really had to wait in a big line. There were many welders to go around. Everyone got as much arc time as they needed. The instructor spent time with every student which was very good. In my case, I was a little spastic in my TIG timing, and he literally helped guide my arms and hands to establish the right "muscle memory" timing. It helped a lot. For me, that made the whole course worthwhile.A lot of those trade oriented classes are fairly regimented. Make sure that you can get a lot of arc time. The first course I took, there were a huge number of students. You got in a long line and tried your hand. The first time you dipped the tungsten, you were out...for the remainder of the course, but you could watch everyone else weld. I lasted about 1 inch. I complained to the instructor and he said sign up for the same course the next quarter and you will get more freedom. There were some second quarter students floating around, and they seemed to be able to get more arc time. Unfortunately, the course got discontinued. Make sure you get some time in, not just instruction and stick welding. I have a neighbor who took a job at a local fab shop paying peanuts. They told him that they would train him on TIG real good. He ended up just carrying around a lot of steel.
A big class with a lot more students than machines or hoods is a problem. You really need hands on experience and sometimes some physical guidance. In my case, when someone dipped their tungsten, they got to change it and try again. The instructor would move to the next student. When they were ready, the instructor would come back. And yeah, dippers got to grind them. It was part of the experience. You learned pretty quick that you were doing something wrong if you were spending all your time grinding rather than welding!