Neanderpundit

One week after the news, I am re-employed by a different division of the same company. Same money, same same, same.

Working for a guy I’ve known forever, has been with the company almost as long as me.I’ll be doing some things that are familiar, and some things that are utterly new, so I get to climb up that learning curve again, something I enjoy a great deal.

Remember, something you learn is a benefit your employer provides that they can never ask for you to return. I’m amazed by the people who get upset at having to learn new things.

You found out that your $50k machine is not proof against the laws of physics. Mind getting it out of my way? Spinning all four tires at once still gets you nowhere. Fucktard.

Shit, we couldn’t have had this snow during DEER SEASON?

Assfnords.

One of the toughest things to do in any engineering is to join materials. The choices have changed over the years, but the basics haven’t; you can use fasteners, you can use adhesives, and you can weld.

Most people think of welding as something you do on metals, but plastics are welded, certain kinds of rubbers are welded, and some types of glass can be welded.

Sometimes dissimilar materials can be welded together, sometimes they can only be adhered- case in point, it is possible to silver solder gold to steel (done in fancy firearms inlays all the time) but gold and steel cannot be welded. The solder acts as an adhesive, making a bond with both metals. The greater the delta coefficient of thermal expansion of the materials, the greater the possibility that the joint would fail (this is incidentally why automobile engines with aluminum heads are notorious for losing head gaskets- Aluminum has a coefficient of thermal expansion of 13.7X10^-6 inches per inch per degree farenheit, while the coefficient of thermal expansion for cast iron is around 10.4X10^-6 inches per inch per degree farenheit.(from the materials selectior, Reinhold) THe two items expand and contract at different rates, and eventually, scrub the damned gasket right off.)

Anyway- back to joining materials. Most anything that needs to be serviced is joined using fasteners, and the range of fasteners is more huge than it’s ever been. Welding, though, is still a very important solution for a huge variety of reasons.

THe problem is, the very best welds are made while the two pieces to be welded are laying flat. When you’re learning to weld, this is how you learn, with flat pieces. And it’s usually the last time you ever have that luxury.

Welding is such a critical process that the ASME has established standards for the quality of welds, and those standards are damned tough to meet, some requiring years and years of practice. Here’s an example:
Welding Positions For Groove welds:-
Flat
Horizontal
Vertical Upwards Progression
Vertical Downwards Progression
Overhead
Pipe Fixed Horizontal
Pipe Fixed @ 45 degrees Upwards
Pipe Fixed @ 45 degrees Downwards

Welding Positions For Fillet welds:
Flat (Weld flat joint at 45 degrees)
Horizontal
Horizontal Rotated
Vertical Upwards Progression
Vertical Downwards Progression
Overhead
Pipe Fixed Horizontal

These weld positions are the ones most commonly encountered by field welders, and it is their job to know how to do them and do them properly. Doing these things, especially the overhead (Which is a damned common weld) is, in difficulty, like trying to nail jell-0 to a tree. And guys with little or no education, only experience and practice and an innate ability, do it all the time, every day, all day.

No, welding isn’t a bloody easy thing. Unless you’re doing it on a table.