The Sheetmetal Worker

[JC]

Hey Mark, thats a great read. Most of it is so 'close to the bone' - I can vouch for that. Hilariously true at times. Does one good to have a good laugh at oneself.

I could add the biggest frustration for an engineer - when bean counters curb/veto his preferred design/fix-it cos they won't spend the necessary $$$. Most famous example is the space shuttle Challenger

[Tom]

G'day fellas thanks for encouragement  yesturday arvo while i was standing there buffing back the hand rails on a 40ft boat copping mouthfull after mouthfull of wax and fine little hairs off the buffing wheel i was thinking to myself "What am i doing this for again?" .Today i relised why

I learnt to tig weld  i can just picture it now alloy swingarms,bashguards,tanks,exhausts even frames  and another good thing i get to drive on my L's with dad every morning and scare the S@#$t out of him to haha             Tom

[firko]

Good on ya Tom. That weld is a lot better than on a certain Aussie brand silencer and you've only been doing it a day!
Keep it up mate, tig welding is the art of the metal industry. Some people try their whole lives and never get it. You're on the way. Will brazing and oxy welding be a part of your course, or are those skills on the outer?

[Tom]

Thanks firko its a great feeling  i learnt to oxy weld,mig weld,stick weld and braze last year  at school    .My dads got a bigger grin on his face then me 
                         Tom

[VMX247]

In our sons class at the beginning of last year all the students got to do probably the same as you Tom and the best welder was the emo guy,can't chop wood ,town boy and he was just like an artist drawing away,amazing stuff,he's going to go far with his welding.
may the gift be with you 
great weld pic above ,your on a roll. 
ps don't scare ya dad too much   

[Phil]

As a sheetie by trade, welcome to the A team Tom. The only advice I can offer is to learn the correct old school marking out principles before you even think about getting into the cad programs. It'll all make much more sense to you if you are aware of the bacic drafting principles behind  every design. Perfect your tig welding also as there are so few good tig welders out there. There are a lot who reckon they're shit hot but trust me when I tell you that good tiggers are as rare as shit and can name their own price.  If you get the opportunity try and learn to weld titanium and magnesium. It's extremely difficult until you finally get thre technique right  but once you do you have become a member of a very exclusive club. You'll have the trickest bike in the paddock by the time you're into your second year!

[Tom]

haha thanks old phil im going to be finished buffing up the boat rails tomoz thank god and my work mates said i should be able to help them start welding up boat petrol tanks and stuff soonish. I've already started thinking bout making an aluminum frame and swingarm and slipping my spare "81 cr125" engine in for a bit of fun  Tom

[GMC]

I'm also a sheetie by trade & have to agree with Old Phil.
CAD programs are a good tool but you need to know what your marking out, trouble is young guys don't get a lot of experiance at this these days as a lot of parts are designed in the office & precut & bent when the tradesman recieves them.
Polishing can be a real chore but it's good to know how to go about it. If you can perfect your TIG welding then the firm will find you too valuable to have you spend time on polishing.
Stainless site work is where the moneys at.
I could use a TIG welder here to help me but all the good ones are making good money on site.

[Tim754]

Go Tom ! Trades people will be more and more like gold as time goes forward. Cheers Tim754

[Colin Jay]

I work in the maintenance dept of a winery, and all the other guys in the dept are excellent tig welders. Fortunately I have a great boss, and even though I am the site electrician, he is happy for me to learn to TIG weld. The practice piece that I am working on in my spare time will eventually be a SS exhaust system for one of my 500 Yamahas.

CJ

[maicomc490t]

Good luck with your trade too Tom !

I know there are a lot of tradies on this site. I did fitting / maching / toolmaking back in the 70's and it definitely has given me an edge in life.

I would hate to be one of those poor guys who don't know one end of a hammer, spanner micrometer or whatever - absolutely nothing wrong with getting your hands dirty to make a living !!!

Just some advice -

Don't just sit at home at night - see what other courses are on offer and do the lot. An all rounder is hard to beat especially when jobs get tight. I did a journeyman's course in panel beating at night tech for something to do - you combine that with being sheetie and we'll be watching you on Foxtel some day making all manner of trick stuff !!!

Dave Mac

[VMX247]

Yes totally agree... maicomc490t
With the job losses in the West... loads more people are now enrolling in TAFE (further education) class's to get that extra certificate that is needed, as the competition/paperwork is a real thing in a interview
now days.....more the merrier...


example: 16 years working in a high rise building as business managers secretary.....throws job in..............
looks for new job..............has not one certificate in Business studies...........
so she doesn't get the job applied for............. some other 19 year old gets it 
Actually this started 10 years ago,Steven had electrical trade then that became electrical engineering. 
cheers Alison

[VMX247]

http://ozvmx.com/community/index.php?topic=6186.msg61261;topicseen#msg61261


Hows it going Tom
bit of info/ideas in the above for you Tom on welding....
cheers
Mum of an ET student 

[maicomc490t]

Yeah Tom how are you doing?

My 'boy' is loving the panel beating with his indenture now signed etc, and is hoping he can do a night course in spray painting (I'm hoping he does too, lol )

I've promised him a hand with some expensice gear for pulling dents out of tanks and other stuff - not that I would ever call on him to use it for my restos (much)

All of the trades are going to be able to command good money and sadly if we enter an economic flat-line it may well be the tradies who come out of it best of all.

Dave Mac

[TooFastTim]

I work in the maintenance dept of a winery,

Now if that was a brewery it would be my dream job