Welding is a custom career that can allow you to manufacture products with your own two hands. At its most basic form, welding involves permanently bonding two pieces of metal together by heating them to a melting point. Welding creates a very strong bond that is irreversible and highly preferred over other practices like soldering. There are four basic types of welding that you should be aware of.
TIG Welding
TIG stands for tungsten inert gas. This is a highly skilled form of welding that typically takes longer than other types. However, it offers the benefit of more precision during the manufacturing process. This type of welding is ideal for alloys and aluminum. The welder will hold a gun with one hand and feed in a filler rod with the other. This filler rod is made out of tungsten metal. This type of welder will come with a foot pedal that will allow the user to adjust the electrical current settings. TIG welding is a lot of fun to do at all times of the day and night. If you do weld at night, or even in the day, make sure you put up a blind to protect those around you from the intense light. Welding can cause permanent eye damage and blindness. Make sure to always wear a welding helmet to protect yourself as well.
MIG Welding
MIG stands for metal inert gas welding. A MIG welder is a common piece of equipment used by the novice welder. The welder will hold the gun with one hand and feed welding wire to it with the other. As they work their way down the seam of the two pieces of metal, they’ll create a bead that bonds the two pieces of metal together permanently. Welding is a great way to join metal together for increased strength and resilience.
Stick Welding
Stick welding can sometimes be referred to as shielded metal arc welding. This uses a metal filler rod, stick, of flux that melts in the heat of the welding machine. This type of welding can be done indoors, outdoors, on the production line, and just about anywhere else. Using stick welding allows for less sensitivity to wind and draft issues that may affect other types of welding outdoors.
Flux-Cored Welding
This type of welding involves using a continuously fed electrode tube into the welder. This is what would traditionally be the wire or rod that gets fed into the MIG or TIG welder gun. The flux-cored tube is made of metal with a flux agent at its core. When the flux melts during the welding process, it will create a liquid that shields the weld from outside contaminants. This simply provides more protection for the weld than MIG or TIG welding.
Welding is a great career to get into as there’s always a need for fabrication of metal products. By understanding the four basic types of welding, you can better pick a field that you want to invest in. As time goes on, you may find that you’ll be interested in learning about all four types of welding practices.
