Inexpensive Hands-On Welding Course?

Question

Recently heard (rumor) of an inexpensive, hands-on welding course that I'm interested in taking. A guy at the boatyard (boat owner working on his sailboat in a marina) said the course was available at "Norfolk Vocational School", cost $50, and consisted of ten, weekly, two-hour sessions of basically supervised hands-on welding. I've searched online and have not found anything of that nature.

Anyone know of anything like this available in the Tidewater, VA area?

I have an oxy-acetylene torch setup, a basic stick welder, a cutoff saw, and am planning to get a tubing bender and a basic wire MIG welder so I can fabricate various SS and aluminum tubing structures and other boat parts - everything from bowsprit/anchor brackets, awning frames, arches and mounts for antennas, davits, modifications to pulpits, railings and stanchions, and so on, for several boats I am building and/or fixing up for my own use or to sell, rent out and maybe even start a sailing school. I've been designing, building, repairing and upgrading my own steel trailer frames and similar projects for many years now and want to expand my knowledge and capacity to SS and aluminum.

A basic course would be very helpful as it is very clear to me that although I own a welder, I am not a welder, but would like to learn more without wading through too much specialization or the detailed knowledge required for the more technically demanding types of welding. I've read some on the various topics but feel a hands-on instructional situation would be very beneficial.

Any advice will be appreciated.

SteveB · Accepted Answer

IF it is at that price, it would be a good deal. $2.50 an hour is cheap. A hands on welding experience may be different from a classroom/hands on type. It is a good thing to learn about the metallurgy, technology and nuances of welding by studying all there is to study.

But, there are people who KNOW about welding (metallurgy, processes, rods, gases, and all that stuff) and then there are people who CAN weld.

But, if you are just wanting to learn, you can con an experienced welder with $50 and some beer, and surely get your money's worth in practical applications. If you get more than that, then it was a super deal.

There's more than a hundred ways to cook a poodle, and there are as many ways to pick up welding. Afterwards, if you feel you are lacking, then take more courses IN THOSE AREAS.

Steve

RAM^3 · Answer

wrote in news:1127022440.932911.3060Check with your local School System - this sounds like the same type of class that gave me my first taste 25 years ago. Taught at the local Vocational High School as a night class, it covered basic O/A cutting and welding and stick. The price of the class probably just covered the cost of the consumables.FWIW, the class contained 2 County Extension Service agents, 1 Airline Stewardess [the best weldor in the bunch!], 1 computer programmer, 2 locksmiths, and a handfull of others.Hopefully, the rest of them have retained even more than I did - they were better than I - but, in all fairness, I still remember everything that the instructor taught me.

Robert Ball · Answer

Check the community (junior) college system.  I paid $84 for a class that is 1.5 hr classroom instruction and 3 hours hands-on lab each week for 16 weeks.  Textbook cost me another $75 but in addition to theory it has tables and graphs for suggested starting points and filler metals that didn't come with my welder.  Covers OA, stick, MIG, and some will get into TIG.  Have to pass a practice, example:  2F & 3F, horizontal and vertical fillet weld, with both 6010 & 7018 before leaving stick and move to another process.  I had trouble with vertical 6010, instructor came into booth and demonstrated, let me practice for about 20 minutes,then "looked over my shoulder" and critiqued.  Written exam forces you to absorb the reading too.  Hard to beat that!RAM^3 wrote:

footy · Answer

Tidewater Community College has lots of welding classes at Portsmouth.

Inexpensive Hands-On Welding Course?

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