Took my final final this morning.

[daveman]

[Frostbit]

GED?

[daveman]

GED?

SAD. Doctorate of Smart-Assery.


No, just been taking some welding classes since fall of last year. Working a full-time day job and going to school at night is hard on an old guy. Glad I'm done.

[Gingersnap]

Post a pic of your final project.

[daveman]

Post a pic of your final project.

No projects this semester. This was a lecture class, Welding Certification:

Provides the student with a working knowledge of certification encountered in welding. The student will start with developing a WPS, qualify the WPS, and qualify personnel. Documents used in welding certification are developed and used.

In this case, it means certifying that the manner of joint preparation, the welding process used, the consumable materials, and the welding of the joint itself meet the standards of the person who designed the joint.

I know, I know -- you wanna party with me!

[Frostbit]

No projects this semester. This was a lecture class, Welding Certification:

Instructor - "Take this rod thingy and touch it there."

Class - "Wow look at the sparks"

[Frostbit]

A good welder is an artist. The guy that welded the roll cage in my old CJ-5 probably saved my life back in the day. He built a bunch of Nascar "cages" and knew what he was doing. That Jeep was trashed after I rolled and porpoise hopped it down I-95 in an ice storm while doing about 70. The only part that was not bent was the roll cage.

[Adam]

Instructor - "Take this rod thingy and touch it there."

Class - "Wow look at the sparks"

LOL!



What are you planning to do with it, Dave? Or was this just a class for fun?

[daveman]

Instructor - "Take this rod thingy and touch it there."

Class - "Wow look at the sparks"

In the labs, the welding instructors are happy to show you how to do it, but they want you to get your gloves dirty.

I've had a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over.

[daveman]

A good welder is an artist. The guy that welded the roll cage in my old CJ-5 probably saved my life back in the day. He built a bunch of Nascar "cages" and knew what he was doing. That Jeep was trashed after I rolled and porpoise hopped it down I-95 in an ice storm while doing about 70. The only part that was not bent was the roll cage.

Good stuff. Agreed about the artistry of a good welder.

Of course, materials make a difference, too. Your roll cage was drawn-over-mandrel steel tube (DOM) -- very expensive, but VERY strong.

[daveman]

LOL!



What are you planning to do with it, Dave? Or was this just a class for fun?

Originally it was just for fun, using my GI Bill bennies. Something I've always wanted to learn.

Then, when I joined the Corps of Engineers a couple of years ago, turned out they didn't have anyone on staff who could (or wanted to) weld -- so I became the staff welder. So far, me and my boss estimate I've saved the Corps about $20K by doing in-house what they used to have to contract out. You're welcome, Mr. and Ms. Taxpayer.

Stuff like this bridge to a courtesy boat dock at one of our boat ramps:

Took a 60-mile-an-hour straight line wind from the direction the camera's pointing. Before:


After:


Did that last year. In August. In 90+ degree heat. Wearing chest waders in thigh-deep water. Fun fun!


When I get a home shop set up, I want to build furniture, do some art, and generally build cool stuff.

[daveman]

I built this scraper blade for our Bobcat backhoe. We have a storm drain the gets covered up with silt, and the backhoe teeth tend to tear up the drain cover. The straight blade pulls away the dirt and leaves the cover intact.

Dunno what it saved the Corps, because I never could find anything like it, either commercial or that someone else had made. Got about 15 bucks in new material in it; everything else came from the scrap pile.

[daveman]

Our maintenance guy installed new partitions in one of our public men's rooms. It didn't take long for the local perverts to drill a glory hole in it.

So I made pervert armor for it out of 3/16" steel sheet.



I don't care what people do. But DON'T do it in public, and DON'T destroy public property to do it.

[Gingersnap]

"Glory hole". I could have died a happy woman without ever having been exposed to that term.

[Frostbit]

Our maintenance guy installed new partitions in one of our public men's rooms. It didn't take long for the local perverts to drill a glory hole in it.

So I made pervert armor for it out of 3/16" steel sheet.



I don't care what people do. But DON'T do it in public, and DON'T destroy public property to do it.

You guys need to start sitting down to pee from the looks of that floor.