It kinda adds up
I have been really busy with the welding stuff lately, so getting pictures loaded up and all that has kind of ground to a halt. Hopefully I'll get some of that squared away this week, hopefully.
What's been hitting me the last couple of weeks, though, is the cumulative cost of this whole thing. Sure, I could afford the steel sculpture workshop. After that I could afford the welder (provided I sold a couple of amplifiers). In addition to the welder, I had to get the argon tank, and that was 200 bucks. After that, well, I needed to buy some stainless steel, 160 bucks. Then I needed to buy a Student Pack of learning materials following the advice of another welder = $25. After that I needed to return my welding helmet to get a better one that was appropriate for the work I was doing - oh, and a grinding wheel for the tungsten = another 60 bucks. Then I had to buy some more plain steel, and while I was at it I picked up some other tools that I knew I would need - 98 bucks. I had to buy acetone to clean the steel with, that was 18 dollars. Then this morning I went to the welding supply shop for some better gloves, some tungsten, some welding rod for plain steel, a couple of wire brushes, and an abrasive pad...78 dollars.
I don't even want to add that up. *sigh* It's a little depressing. I guess I need to sell some more stuff. My credit card can take it, but I can't! I'm glad I'm keeping track of this, though. I can pay it off if I pay attention to it and make adjustments here and there with other things. It's when I ignore it (What? Like it's not going to be real if I ignore it?) that I look at my charge bill later and go, "Damn! How the hell did THIS happen?!" I know better. Sooner or later these expenditures will slow down, fortunately.
On the good side, however, I did get to do a lot of welding this weekend. Following the debacle that was Saturday when I realized I had the wrong welding helmet and might, you know, blind myself(!!!) I got that taken care of and got a little bit of welding done at least. On Sunday I had things squared away pretty well, and I cut a ton of steel up (92 pieces!) so that I could weld it together. That makes sense, right? I cut these 4' steel strips into 2-inch pieces so I could practice welding them together. I got to weld non-stop for two straight hours yesterday, and then again for another thirty minutes after I took a break to go so Wolfman with some friends (good, by the way).
Today I took in a few of my pieces to the welding shop. One was terrible, and the guy told me that it was probably an argon issue (flow set too low), which I said I had wondered about, and I'd adjusted the level after that. The other two I showed him were fairly decent, and he looked at one of them and said, "Yeah, that's good. That's pretty sweet right there."
Score! I've done about twenty of those things, and at least ONE of them is "pretty sweet!" Excellent! There's hope for me yet! Maybe after another twenty I'll be able to do them a little more consistently.
It's a bit of a learning process, this TIG welding, but once I get the hang of it I should be building some pretty incredible stuff. It's gonna be awesome, man, really, really, really awesome! I'm gonna build this stuff...it's gonna be HUGE, and complex, and completely nonsensical, and THAT will be awesome!
Seriously, have I mentioned that I want to build a rolling ball sculpture that runs through every room in my house? Or one that stands outside near the sidewalk that little kids can play with? That, THAT is the kind of stuff that I want to do! And once I get this down, that is exactly what I WILL be able to do!
Um, I just hope it doesn't keep costing me an arm and a leg every week to do it. Gah!
What's been hitting me the last couple of weeks, though, is the cumulative cost of this whole thing. Sure, I could afford the steel sculpture workshop. After that I could afford the welder (provided I sold a couple of amplifiers). In addition to the welder, I had to get the argon tank, and that was 200 bucks. After that, well, I needed to buy some stainless steel, 160 bucks. Then I needed to buy a Student Pack of learning materials following the advice of another welder = $25. After that I needed to return my welding helmet to get a better one that was appropriate for the work I was doing - oh, and a grinding wheel for the tungsten = another 60 bucks. Then I had to buy some more plain steel, and while I was at it I picked up some other tools that I knew I would need - 98 bucks. I had to buy acetone to clean the steel with, that was 18 dollars. Then this morning I went to the welding supply shop for some better gloves, some tungsten, some welding rod for plain steel, a couple of wire brushes, and an abrasive pad...78 dollars.
I don't even want to add that up. *sigh* It's a little depressing. I guess I need to sell some more stuff. My credit card can take it, but I can't! I'm glad I'm keeping track of this, though. I can pay it off if I pay attention to it and make adjustments here and there with other things. It's when I ignore it (What? Like it's not going to be real if I ignore it?) that I look at my charge bill later and go, "Damn! How the hell did THIS happen?!" I know better. Sooner or later these expenditures will slow down, fortunately.
On the good side, however, I did get to do a lot of welding this weekend. Following the debacle that was Saturday when I realized I had the wrong welding helmet and might, you know, blind myself(!!!) I got that taken care of and got a little bit of welding done at least. On Sunday I had things squared away pretty well, and I cut a ton of steel up (92 pieces!) so that I could weld it together. That makes sense, right? I cut these 4' steel strips into 2-inch pieces so I could practice welding them together. I got to weld non-stop for two straight hours yesterday, and then again for another thirty minutes after I took a break to go so Wolfman with some friends (good, by the way).
Today I took in a few of my pieces to the welding shop. One was terrible, and the guy told me that it was probably an argon issue (flow set too low), which I said I had wondered about, and I'd adjusted the level after that. The other two I showed him were fairly decent, and he looked at one of them and said, "Yeah, that's good. That's pretty sweet right there."
Score! I've done about twenty of those things, and at least ONE of them is "pretty sweet!" Excellent! There's hope for me yet! Maybe after another twenty I'll be able to do them a little more consistently.
It's a bit of a learning process, this TIG welding, but once I get the hang of it I should be building some pretty incredible stuff. It's gonna be awesome, man, really, really, really awesome! I'm gonna build this stuff...it's gonna be HUGE, and complex, and completely nonsensical, and THAT will be awesome!
Seriously, have I mentioned that I want to build a rolling ball sculpture that runs through every room in my house? Or one that stands outside near the sidewalk that little kids can play with? That, THAT is the kind of stuff that I want to do! And once I get this down, that is exactly what I WILL be able to do!
Um, I just hope it doesn't keep costing me an arm and a leg every week to do it. Gah!