If you are looking for a career that will give you a good salary someday, then choose to weld. What is welding? Welding is a job that joins metal together using heat.
This job nowadays gives lots of opportunities, and it is one of the highest-paid blue-collared jobs locally and internationally because they are the ones responsible for doing metal repairs, building metals, and fusing metals.
They are needed in these industries like shipbuilding, oil and gas, aerospace, mining, building or bridge construction, automobiles, and other manufacturing businesses.
Someone doesn’t need a degree to work as a welder, you only need your welding skills and training, but if you have formal learning about welding, it is an additional factor when you apply for a job.
What are the top highest paid welding jobs?
Due to being in demand for welders, some schools are offering short term classes for welding; however, the available welders are still not enough because more and more countries are looking and hiring people to do their welding works.
Their salaries range from $7.25 – $35.50 per hour, and here are the top five high-paid welding works.
1 – Pipe welder – they are the ones who will do on any pipe works either repair or making a new one. They are needed in construction, car manufacturing, energy, metal fabrication, and building a ship.
2 – Aerospace welder – they are the ones needed to make airplanes, helicopters, spaceships, and other aircraft.
3 – Military support welder – they are the ones who build new, fix, or maintain military equipment from weapons to military vehicles.
4 – Underwater welders – these welders work underwater, and it means that they need to submerge their bodies in the water or diving in the water while working.
5 – Certified welding supervisor – they do weld and supervision at the same time. This needs a formal education to belong to this work.
What are the different types of welding to be used?
Different types of welding are used in different kinds of welding works, and the following are the list for it.
1 – MIG Welding – this kind of welding is easy for those who just started welding and for those who are just doing the welding as a hobby. This kind of welding is classified into two, the one that uses bare wire, and the other uses flux core. The bare wire MIG welding is used for thin metals, while flux core MIG welding is used for outdoors where flow meter or gas supply is not required.
2 – Stick Welding – this is also known as Arc welding. This uses a stick electrode welding rod.
3 – Plasma Arc Welding – this is used for aerospace where the metals are 0.015 inches thick like air seal or engine blade. The electrode here is released, and to create heat, the ionized gases inside the arc are used.
4 – Electron Beam and Laser Welding – this kind of welding require high energy welding techniques.
5 – Gas Welding – this is used on a rare occasion because this is already superseded by the other type of welding known as TIG Welding. This type uses oxygen and acetylene.
6 – TIG Welding – this kind of welding is very famous, but it is also a difficult type. These needs two people to do it, for putting the rod and holding the TIG torch.
This can weld most conventional metals like aluminum, steel, nickel alloys, copper alloys, cobalt, and titanium. An example of this TIG welding is the exhaust pipes.
How hard is it to Weld an exhaust pipe?
The exhaust pipe is the pipe that can be found at the back of the vehicle or in any type of machine wherein wastes gas escapes from the engine. Speaking of exhaust pipes, maybe you are asking this question in your mind, “how hard is it to weld an exhaust pipe?”
Well, the answer is it is not that hard if you know how to handle sensitive soft metal and if you know the basics of welding an exhaust pipe.
You can use TIG welding for it, but you can also use MIG, Stick, and Flux depending on your knowledge and skills, but the last three need much care because it has some cons on it.
Fast steps to welding an exhaust pipe
Well, to satisfy your curiosity on how hard is it to weld an exhaust pipe, then here are the steps on how to do it using TIG welding.
Step 1 – Clean the tubing. Make sure that there is no residue of oil, paint, rust, or dirt. You can use soap and water to clean it. You can also use acetone for those thick lube oils.
Step 2 – Get a tungsten rod with a 3/32 inch and a filler that is small in size.
Step 3 – Start welding. If you have all the needed materials, then you can start welding it. Remember to use the foot pedal so that you balance the heat that you will be needing.
Then that’s it! This is all you need to do to weld an exhaust pipe, and this is how hard it is to weld an exhaust pipe.
Precautions to consider
However, in welding an exhaust pipe or anything that you are going to weld, it is always advisable to remember the precautionary tips before starting the job, and here are some of it:
- Wear long sleeves apron that is not flammable to avoid the spark getting into your skin because this will be your shield for your skin.
- Wear earplugs to protect your ears from sparks.
- Have a face shield to protect your face, especially your eyes, from getting hurt by the sparks and to avoid inhaling some dangerous fumes.
- Put the fire extinguisher nearby, just in case it is needed.
- Keep away all flammables before working to avoid any untoward accident.
If you have this in mind, then everything will be safe while working.