Welding

Matthew Moulton 01/24/13 English 1060
Example essay The three types of welding are Mig, Tig, and Stick. All three of these welding styles have special purposes and are widely used in the world. Mig or Metal Inert Gas welding is the most common type of welding. Tig, or Tungsten Inert Gas, welding is the hardest method to learn, but it has the most satisfying finish welds. Stick or Shielded Metal Arc welding can be done under water, to repair large channel boats that aren’t able to be lifted out of the water. Mig welding uses a supply of argon gas, to form a shield around a solid steel wire. The steel wire is feed through a mig gun by pressing a trigger on the handle. As the wire comes out, a surge of electricity melts the wire. When this is done, a pool of weld begins to form and it connects two pieces of metal together. One more type of wire is called flux coated steel. Flux wire is similar to steel wire, just coated in a white flux casing. The reason for the flux is to promote the two types of metal to create a clean bond so the weld doesn’t snap under force. Also, this wire can be used without argon gas and is safe to use inside of a ventilated facility.
Mig welding is most commonly used on mild steel, but can be used on other metals such as stainless steel and aluminum. Items such as cars, trains, furniture, and anything that has steel can be welded.
An assembly line in the Detroit Michigan Ford factory can produce over one thousand ford f-150’s a day, using welders. Without this simple and common type of welding, cars and trucks that are sold today would be much more expensive to make. New jobs are created by this type of method because of all of the engineering involved. A high demand of welders is needed in the world. There are different levels of the actual mig welding due to the user’s knowledge with the welder and experience. Many certifications are required in order to weld in certain areas. Once you are certified, you can make the big dollars working for large corporate companies that need welding done in an area where highly explosive fuels are kept. The more dangerous the job, the more it pays!
Tig welding is much different than mig welding. Tig takes years of experience to produce the cleanest weld. Tig welding can be learned from many expensive classes that are offered around the world. Argon is used in this type of welding. In order to make a weld, an electrode is held in one hand and a piece of steel wire in the other. When the foot pedal is depressed, the electrode uses electricity to heat up the metal. Once the metal is hot, the steel is slowly melted and pooled to create a weld. If the angle of the electrode is off slightly, the weld will come out over stressed on the weak side of the heated metal. The great thing about tig welding is that it can be used on any type of metal and even some plastics. Another benefit of tig welding is that the electrode is smaller than the mig handle, so it can be used in confined areas.