Welders and Fabricators, is it a taught skill or something you can learn alone?

[SShep71]

Its self taught and learned at the same time. I bought a wal mart mig welder when I was 18 and figured it out. The knowledge is good as far as you want to go with it, I wanted to know more so I started working at a metal fab shop while I was in college, that lasted awhile then I wanted to know more. Almost 10 years later and I have all kinds of certifications and I have experience working with just about every single type of welding process except "explosion welding" ..yes...Explosion welding. I have done them all from your basic mig/tig/stick to position underwater wet welding certifications. You think that you only wanna do that much until you do it and you want to or other people want you to do more.

[John Wright]

I have experience working with just about every single type of welding process except "explosion welding" ..yes...Explosion welding.

that's about the only way aluminum and steel can be joined besides bolting or using some glue.....LOL
Some of the aluminum framed wheelhouses were welded to the steel deck on the ship with that process.

[SShep71]

Yeah, its not really welding its more pressure fusing. Its for fusing any dis-similar metals together with extreme pressure. Its technically not welding, but its technically welding. Either way its pretty damn cool.

[Kamikaze Sy]

I was around it as a kid. My family either did aerospace work, boats or race cars.
I thought, "Hell! It looks easy!" and for the most part, it is just a higher level of soldering and brazing.
But with more attention to details.

When I was a teen, I was doing scraps and making brackets as training.
When the person I was working under took all the parts and cut through them to inspect my welds, it was then the true learning began.

I had a great many teachers including a wicked fabricator that could do one handed MIG welds, upside down under a car, and seamlessly running a continous bead around a sway bar mounting pad! All of these people showed me the tricks and their skills from experience! But the best thing was to go to a class and get hands-on training with a certified instructor and one-to-one critique. It by far was the most value to have this so I can learn what to watch for in my puddles, and how the arc is affected by the hand position or sheilding gass pressure and how to make adjustments in position to adjust the H.A.Z. (Heat affected zone).

Practice all your can but also take the time to get direct instruction! You should never regret addition to your education of hands-on skills!

[507caddy]

I did not see anybody mention it but go down to your local scrap yard and buy scrap for practice. I do not know what it is gong for but it is cheap, just ask which pile, I think the last time I bought some it was 20 cents a pound. When I start a project I typically stop by the scrap yard to see if they have anything that will work for me prior to going to a typical metal source.