According to the American Welding Society, there is a potential shortage of 200,000 skilled welders by 2010:

From the Welding Shortage Fact Sheet: The United States is in the midst of a welder shortage that is expected to intensify as baby boomers age and the need for skilled labor grows. Studies show that there are more than 500,000 welders employed in the U.S. And the need for these skilled workers is only getting stronger as virtually all construction and manufacturing companies require some form of welding, from the production of assemblies to maintenance and repair. But finding a highly skilled and experienced welder is no easy task. Skilled welders are in short supply and the situation is only getting worse. According to AWS and other industry research (1), the average age of a welder is in the mid-fifties, with many approaching 60 years old. It is estimated that more than half of the industry’s highly trained workforce is nearing retirement, creating a potential shortage of more than 200,000 skilled welders by 2010.–continue reading about the welder shortage–>

I’ve written about it before on this blog. It is part of what inspired me to begin the New Rosies series, which will hopefully inspire some young women to go into welding as a career. But how do you get into welding as a career? How do you get the really high paying welding jobs?

I recommend starting with professional training. There are a lot of low cost programs out there that will at the very least get you started. Check out my earlier post on How to find a Welding School.

Welding is far more complex than many people realize. A good welder needs to know about metalurgy, geometry, electricity AND have good eye/hand coordination to actually lay down some beads.

Look for a school that offers an open enrollment program so you can practice, practice, practice. One of the benefits of an open enrollment program like the Simi Valley Career Institute (we featured welding instructor Tony Marsden over on JoeWelder.com earlier this month) is that students can learn at their own pace and the classroom serves as a workshop. Beginners can learn, or they can improve their skills– learning to weld titanium or Inconel, or getting a pressure vessel pipe certification– which means additional money!

How did you learn to weld? How did you get your first welding job? What advice would you give anyone interested in joining the industry? First five to leave a comment (who aren’t related to me or Arc-Zone.com) will get a free t-shirt!

Another great tip from Weldcraft®

Avoid porosity by maintaining tight TIG torch fittings and cable connections, using higher gas flow rates, shielding the weld area from wind and cleaning your base metal.

Joe Welder™ usually recommends a gas lens too:

One of the best improvements you can make to the performance of your torch is to replace the standard collet body with a gas lens collet body. A gas lens version is an enhanced collet body constructed of a series of concentric, layered screens of varying mesh engineered to improve shield gas coverage. The screens generate a laminar gas flow, optimizing the weld zone coverage and eliminating turbulence, which can draw in contaminants from the surrounding air. It’s especially beneficial with stainless steel and materials such as aluminum and titanium, which are particularly sensitive to oxygen contamination.

A gas lens also allows the tungsten electrode to extend beyond the end of the TIG/GTAW nozzle by as much as 1 in. for improved visibility, reducing tungsten inclusions and weld defects.

More tips available at www.JoeWelder.com

Another great tip from Weldcraft®

For excellent arc starts on low-amperage AC or DC applications, use 2% ceriated tungsten (color code: orange) especially on carbon and stainless steels.

For consistent performance on all metals, and for all machines, Arc-Zone.com recommends our new ArcTime™ Hybrid All Purpose Tungsten:

Professional yacht tower fabricators, manufacturers of aerospace parts, and mountain bike builders have all selected ArcTime™ because of its excellent ignition properties, low burn off rate and longevity. As an added bonus, this hybrid tungsten electrode works well with all power sources and all metals from mild steel to titanium.

“You’ll notice a difference just by striking the first arc– no finer electrode exists anywhere,” says Jim Watson, aka Joe Welder, president of Arc-Zone.com, Inc.

Arc-Zone.com has partnered with Master Fabricator Ron Covell to bring you some terrific DVDs on How To Weld. Ron himself worked with us to select the premium DVDs he felt would best serve our customers:

• Basic Techniques for Working with Steel
• Chopping and Sectioning
• Hammerforming Techniques
• MIG Welding Made Easy
• TIG Welding Basics and
• Working with Tubing

These DVDs should get you well on your way to Weld Like A PRO™!

Another great tip from Weldcraft®

Maintaining good electrical contact between your tungsten and collet helps improve current transfer and weld quality. Keep your TIG torch components tightened and check regularly for worn parts.

At Arc-Zone.com we offer a free, downloadable PDF on the correct way to grind tungsten in our Welding Library, but here’s some quick tips from the Weldcraft® catalog to get you started:

• Grind your tungsten electrode Longitudinally, not radially
• Prepare a tip flat
• Use a dedicated wheel for grinding tungsten

We also recommend a dedicated tungsten grinder for TIG / GTAW welding and Plasma Arc Welding (PAW) applications.  Arc-Zone carries a full line from the handy, inexpensive Sharpie(TM) hand-held tungsten sharpening tool to the more rugged, precise DGP with a fully integrated vacuum system.

When cleaning contaminated tungsten, do NOT break off the end of the tungsten.

Breaking tungsten can cause splinter fractures, resulting in erratic arc. Use a cutoff wheel or the edge of a grinding wheel.

At Arc-Zone we would add the recommendation that you use a dedicated diamond wheel for grinding to avoid contaminating your tungsten.

Download your free guide to Selecting Tungsten Electrodes (.pdf) and Grinding Tungsten Electrodes (.pdf) — available in the Arc-Zone Welding Library.

In response to the skilled welder shortage reported on recently, the American Welding Society  announces improvements to their online school locator:

Miami, FL, April 3, 2008 – The American Welding Society (AWS), the world’s largest organization dedicated to advancing the science, technology and application of welding, announced today that it has launched a new online welding school locator. This tool is designed to boost recruitment industry-wide and help relieve an intense shortage of welders. With nearly half of the North American welder workforce due to retire soon, the U.S.  faces a potential shortage of more than 200,000 skilled welders by 2010….CONTINUE READING ONLINE ->

Visit the American Welding Society’s website to find a welding school online. 

Anyone have any recommendations?  Where did you learn to weld?

Another great tip from Weldcraft®

Optimize shield gas coverage by using an appropriate size gas lens. Gas lenses help minimize rework and allow for greater tungsten extension for increased access to confined joints.

And check out the Large Gas Saver Nozzles available at Arc-Zone.com . Pretty slick.

As any skilled professional can tell you, it’s important to constantly improve your knowledge if you’re to become an expert. Welding requires skill and knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, electrical, design, and more.

There are a lot of great resources out there, many of them I have referenced before on this blog:  The Fabricator Magazine, Lincoln Electric’s website, Miller’s website, ESAB’s website,   Hobart’s website, Arc-Zone.com’s Welding Library, The American Welding Society, and Edison Welding Institute to name a few.

Of course you can buy welding books (Arc-Zone.com carries a nice selection!)  You should also consider signing up for manufacturers’ newsletters. Although they are obviously plugging their own products, they offer a wealth of information that you can download or print out for your own welding library. Here’s a few to get you started:

• Miller’s Power Click e-News (Welding Newsletter via email)
  
• Lincoln’s iWeld Welding Newsletter via email
• Arc-Zone’s Weld Like A Pro(tm) E-Zine