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Yep , this one is really a can of worms . I’ve noticed over the years ( 40 odd ) that everybody talks about the money to be made in boilermaking/ welding , but does anybody ever talk about the responsibilities of being a tradesman . Any skills and knowledge that we older tradies have accumulated over the years has to be passed on to the young guys coming through otherwise the skills base of this country is going to be depleted to the point of no return . There should be less emphasis placed on college based training and more on work place mentoring . The so called rock lobster effect . I’ve seen young guys with all the knowledge in the world , good hand to eye co-ordination but can’t get it together for a 3g or 5g coded butt . The reason , something that was drummed into me as a 15 year old , POSTURE . If your not comfortable or set up don’t even think about it . This the simple basic stuff these young blokes need help with . So come on guys , give the young guys a hand , the old blokes ( probably dead or retired by now ) taught us , now the responsibility has been passed on to us . Worth a thought , yeh .
Yes ,welding education in australia leaves a lot to be desired and is costly to say the least . If you are fully prepared and have a good idea of what you’re doing before you hit the course you will be in front and if you do it through the private sector you will get through it quicker , because tafe only seems to advance as fast as the slowest student . A good source of procedure is ” Pipe Welding Procedures ” by Hoobasar Rampaul , available from pipefiitter .com or maybe you might be able to get it through amazon . It even covers all the tricks of gtaw root runs and walking the cup . As a young man , I thought I knew it all and was pretty much holding my own , but everything changed with the startup of the northwest shelf project . The standard changed to ASME IX , meaning full fusion with controlled or minimal penetration . I went to Perth Welding School and met George Benedetti and soon found out how big a mug I really was . George was German and all he did in Germany was pipe welding on nuclear power stations . If finances allow , buy a small inverter and practice as much as possible at home . Start practicing on plate and get every position spot before moving on , for example , if you have’nt got the overhead right you will never be able to crack the 6 G . Get some 6010’s and Kobe LB52u ‘S . Little tip , if you’re having trouble with control and over-penetration with the Kobe’s on the root run , up your amps a bit and flick over to run electrode negative , it gives you a nice flat internal bead profile . Other than that , best of luck and be persistent
