zardoz
Old school Socialist
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Chetser, UK
Is O/A welding these days a waste of time to learn ? I will be spending a few night classes seeing if i can remember how i did it when i left school and did an engineering course 25 years ago. I thought it might be good practice for the Tig, and as all our Tig machines at college are being used, i thought the similar welding process of O/A might be worth doing.
But is it worth doing in itself these days? Due to what i consider daft and overly protective health & safety, and not to mention "terrorist prevention" laws These days getting an O/A set okayed at your place of work is a job in itself. In the old days, you had to show your premises was secure and that the bottles were either kept chained in a proper wheeled stand, or chained to the wall, and that your welding rig was in good order, and that was it. I mean what terrorist in there right mind (except maybe the "shoe bomber") would now try and rent some oxy/ace bottles. He'd have the bells ringing in MI5 headquarters like a five alarm fire. Much more likely he'd sneak out to one of these not so secure premises, where the bottles are left in the yard all night. (we've all seen them right ?)
So back to my original question is it a dying art, and not worth learning. Especially in the days of cheap mig sets. No more carpets in vehicles set on fire, no more apprentices standing by with a bucket of water and wet rags. No more paint blistered for inches above the weld.
What do you think ?
But is it worth doing in itself these days? Due to what i consider daft and overly protective health & safety, and not to mention "terrorist prevention" laws These days getting an O/A set okayed at your place of work is a job in itself. In the old days, you had to show your premises was secure and that the bottles were either kept chained in a proper wheeled stand, or chained to the wall, and that your welding rig was in good order, and that was it. I mean what terrorist in there right mind (except maybe the "shoe bomber") would now try and rent some oxy/ace bottles. He'd have the bells ringing in MI5 headquarters like a five alarm fire. Much more likely he'd sneak out to one of these not so secure premises, where the bottles are left in the yard all night. (we've all seen them right ?)
So back to my original question is it a dying art, and not worth learning. Especially in the days of cheap mig sets. No more carpets in vehicles set on fire, no more apprentices standing by with a bucket of water and wet rags. No more paint blistered for inches above the weld.
What do you think ?