Welding Merit Badge - stick welding

As of Feb 2012, there is a boy scout welding merit badge....and I think that is a very good thing.

I think scouting is a very good thing and it probably would have kept me out of trouble as a teen if I had been involved. I was a cub scout for a while, but did not go into the boy scouts.

I should have.

Instead, I fell into the wrong crowd and caused my parents a lot of pain.

Now as a parent, and grandpa, I clearly see the value of the Boy Scouts.

So I decided to make this video as a guide to help counselors and scouts in their efforts to achieve the merit badge for welding

Along with being able to fully describe the hazards involved in welding, some terms and definitions, and basic safety principles, and a few other topics, the scout selects a welding process and then performs the following steps.

** writing initials on a piece of metal and then trace with a weld bead.

** pad a 3 x 3 x 1/4" piece of metal with weld beads

** square groove weld done from both sides

**tee joint welded from both sides

**lap joints welded from both sides.

For this first video, I used 6013 1/8th rods ( I dont really like 6013 rods much other than for learning to weld)

I also used a Lincoln tombstone ac welder because I figured that was the most likely available welder to any scout anywhere.

It took about 150 amps to weld most of the joints but only 135 for the 11 ga 1/8" thick square groove weld.

I think the boy scout welding merit badge pamphlet and requirements provide a very solid foundation for anyone learning to weld.

So what I am planning is this:

more videos like this weeks with all the same joints and padding of beads , etc. but the next 2 videos will use a 115 volt mig welder using both bare wire and flux core. you know...hobby machines that are commonly in folks garages and shops.

Its been a long time coming and I finally have all the stuff to do these videos.

I hope all these videos are very helpful to counselors and boy scouts alike .

see more stick welding videos to help with the welding merit badge

in case you missed last weeks video....its right here.