I am a machiiiiiiine.
When you spend 8.5 hours a day wearing ear plugs and a welding shield, your entire world basically focuses down to the square inch you can see when you strike the arc. I can see a tiny bit of metal, the tip of the welding torch, the tip of my welding rod, and because I treated myself to new gauntlets today, the slight shine off them.
So when I touched my tip into my weld this afternoon, naturally, I stopped welding and yelled 'BOLLOCKS!!' into my shield. And then lifted it up to find my boss standing right next to me...'Everything all right?' he asked, looking slightly wary... He also caught me making odd noises later. And asked if I was going slightly mad. I think by that point I was. There's only so long you can concentrate on a tiny tiny thing, unable to deviate from what you're doing even the slightest, because any flaws are BAD.
Seriously, I have so much welding to do. And all of it to be done tomorrow night, so it can be weld tested on Friday. (Why do they order testers in on Fridays?? If they left it over the weekend then the welds would all definitely be ready.)
So have some pictures.
A leg. Which requires 50% weld on every joint. 30 on 30 off stitches. That's a lot of weld.
That much weld, in fact.
That's leg number 2. Well, three, but it's the second one I'm welding. Just tacked there. Those tiny dark spots. Strong enough to hold it all together, though!
That's a close up of the base-plate weld. 100% weld. So to do that I drag the torch, dipping the rod into the pool, which is what gives it those little ripples. The trick is to get them very even. Like those :D And I did that with my left hand...woohooo. I am rather proud of myself. heh
And the purpose of these legs is to hold up the main body of the arch.
The metal, not the plywood former we've made!! And yes, those boys next to it are JOLLY BUSY too.
So when I touched my tip into my weld this afternoon, naturally, I stopped welding and yelled 'BOLLOCKS!!' into my shield. And then lifted it up to find my boss standing right next to me...'Everything all right?' he asked, looking slightly wary... He also caught me making odd noises later. And asked if I was going slightly mad. I think by that point I was. There's only so long you can concentrate on a tiny tiny thing, unable to deviate from what you're doing even the slightest, because any flaws are BAD.
Seriously, I have so much welding to do. And all of it to be done tomorrow night, so it can be weld tested on Friday. (Why do they order testers in on Fridays?? If they left it over the weekend then the welds would all definitely be ready.)
So have some pictures.
A leg. Which requires 50% weld on every joint. 30 on 30 off stitches. That's a lot of weld.
That much weld, in fact.
That's leg number 2. Well, three, but it's the second one I'm welding. Just tacked there. Those tiny dark spots. Strong enough to hold it all together, though!
That's a close up of the base-plate weld. 100% weld. So to do that I drag the torch, dipping the rod into the pool, which is what gives it those little ripples. The trick is to get them very even. Like those :D And I did that with my left hand...woohooo. I am rather proud of myself. heh
And the purpose of these legs is to hold up the main body of the arch.
The metal, not the plywood former we've made!! And yes, those boys next to it are JOLLY BUSY too.