Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

When I came back from the Air Show I remembered some of the things the TIG Instructor had pointed out and one of them was about the gas you use. For those of you who are not welders (Don’t feel alone) TIG stands for tungsten/inert gas. The way it works is on an electrical circuit inside the machine pushes electricity out through the “Gun.” The gun has a non-consumable electrode and when the arc jumps to the metal being welded the circuit is closed and out of the tip leaps the spark from Hell. That spark melts the metal being joined and creates a molten puddle. The inert gas creates a shield around the weld to keep out the atmosphere which will otherwise contaminate your work. The trick is to move the gun along as you dip the filler rod into the puddle.

Of all the welding processes this one is the most difficult because there are more things that can go wrong. For example if you accidentally dip the tungsten tip into the puddle it becomes contaminated and you have to go back to the grinder and clean it off. Another thing I learned at the Show is that the gas you use has to be completely Argon or Helium. The gas I am using is the same gas I use for my wire feed which is Argon and Carbon Dioxide….That is a huge NO! NO! And I suspect is a big part of my problem in TIG welding. Another Lesson Learned is that you must reverse the polarity from negative to positive when you weld aluminum. Duh! No wonder my welds look so crappy. I am learning to weld the same way I do so many things. By just doing them… It was the story of my career in the Military, going from one assignment to the next and running organizations that were doing tasks I was totally unfamiliar with… The first big step was always figuring out what the heck was going on while my subordinates looked at me like I was some “Dumb Ass” from the planet Doofis. For a closet dyslexic I didn’t do too bad. One of the advantages to the affliction is being able to think on your feet and a knack for walking around talking to people and looking semi-intelligent. Amazing what you learn talking to people about their lives and families.

My wife has signaled I need to get up and start getting dressed. She has a big day planned and in the process will be putting on her “Nurse Face” for the weekend. On Thursdays we tend to bang heads and sparks fly….just like welding. It’s hell being married to a woman who is smarter than you are but is still a woman who needs to be nurtured along and steered from the path of self-destruction… If you don’t know what I mean you haven’t been married long enough.