Job weld test #2

[zardoz]

I am hopefully being put in for (yet another) weld test for a production MIG welding job, this week. Last one i did, they had 'forgot' to take off a 0.8 tip off the gun, and I was expected to shoot 1.0 wire through it. Fortunately after taking a wrong turn to look at the wire feed, I realized what it was. (Never got the bloody job though because of the worlds most anoying excuse "We like you, but you dont have the experience" arghh!)

Anyway onward and upward!. Fair enough, I know the score. If i cant diagnose a simple problem or set up my own machine then I have no business putting myself forward for the job in the first place. We have all heard the tales of people turning up with no helmet and ppe, or picking up the MIG gun and asking for a match to light the gas, etc etc.

I was wondering though are there any particularly sneaky tricks have been played on any Forum members in similar weld test circumstances ?

(from what I can tell this will be welding lots of short runs of mild steel bar less than 1/8" and 16 gauge tubing, so it is not going to be spray transfer. but thats all i know)

 

[Jim Davey]

Wasn't a sneaky trick as such but a client of mine set up two welding bays to test 10 potential candidates one Saturday morning, the test was an overhead butt on 6mm ally. Anyway, each test bay had a different make of machine in it and the guys formed two groups of five, each waiting their turn for the test.
To say one set performed grossly better than the other is an understatement, the spitting and popping that was coming out of the right-hand bay on start-up told me all I needed to know about which guys stood a better chance and after seeing two guys struggle and fail I quietly suggested that everyone who wanted a fair chance of a pass to move over and join the queue on the left.
I won't say who the client was or the makes of the machines in question, but all 8 guys passed on the machine I supplied (Left hand) and both dipped on the other unit.

It pays to give the set a good look over before you start and trust your judgement if you think the set isn't giving you what it should.

 

[Robotstar5]

Our weld tester was fair, all candidates were given a good welder with all the settings at zero, allowed a few practice runs to set up then a test piece which was macro'd. 90% failed to set the machine up!

 

[aametalmaster]

Some shops remove the gun, wire and set the machines to zero. Some guys can't put all the parts back together. I have seen one guy just walk away and never return when he saw what he had to do...Bob

 

[toddy]

the one thing i would ask...
if there is a wps... as i have seen people do a really nice weld in there tests, but fail because they didnt look at the wps.

and the wps should tell you all the ball park settings so allways good to ask.

 

[arceyered]

I just used to turn up put my gear on ask for a piece of scrap to set up don't dilly dally on setting up.
Ok ready, is there any weld proceedure you require ?
Answer questions politely don,t be a know all ,do the test and wait for the verdict pass or fail end of story.

Ps I only failed one and I made a right cock up of it --it happens

 

[Jim Davey]

One snappy dresser turned up for a weld test in hand tooled pointy leather shoes, a pinstripe suit and with no helmet, gloves or PPE. Needless to say he was politely shown the door...

 

[Robotstar5]

One snappy dresser turned up for a weld test in hand tooled pointy leather shoes, a pinstripe suit and with no helmet, gloves or PPE. Needless to say he was politely shown the door...

We had a welder who came to work every day dressed like that, with a briefcase too. He would change into overalls to work, all we could think of was he told his wife he had an office job?

 

[jonnyBMX]

^^ did no one think to question him?

 

[outofthefire]

We had a welder who came to work every day dressed like that, with a briefcase too. He would change into overalls to work, all we could think of was he told his wife he had an office job?

Did you have showers there or did he never actually weld because there is no way I could put a suit on at the end of the day and have anyone think i'd been working in an office all day

 

[Robotstar5]

Did you have showers there or did he never actually weld because there is no way I could put a suit on at the end of the day and have anyone think i'd been working in an office all day

I use the term "welders" loosely normally called "tackers" they inspected the parts coming out of robot welding cells and would add the odd blob where a weld was missed/poor followed by a quick lick with a linisher.
So not exactly a dirty job