Cameron Dekker
Author Archives: Cameron Dekker
Cameron grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a once-proud steel town on the Lehigh River, where he got a taste of TIG welding in his high school shop class. He holds certificates for Certified WeldingEducator (CWE) and Certified Resistance Welding Technician (CRWT) from the American Welding Institute. His interests include scuba diving, sculpture, and kayaking.
In past decades, stick welders did not have much information about gases with regards to welding. This whole concept changed with the invention of TIG and MIG welding machines and their constant rise in usage. Gas is now considered a common commodity in most welding workshops. But how much does welding gas cost? If you’re […]
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Among the essential items in a welder’s protective equipment kit is a shade lens. Having the appropriate shade lens will protect a welder from radiations, spatters, and sparks produced during welding. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission report, over 10,000 eye injury cases are reported in the USA annually. A large number of […]
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An undercut is a surface and subsurface defect resulting from grooves within the parent metal area. Like all other defects, instead of improving the joint strength, it introduces weak points that often propagate structural failure. At the microscale level, the micro-cracks are observed within the defective surface, meaning material failure is inevitable if not remedied […]
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There are a variety of welding processes that use different equipment. While ‘tack welding’ might seem like just one process among many, it is actually a specific application of any welding process. Without tacking, as it is commonly called, welding accurately and to proper specifications would be impossible. Tacking is essential for any welder, but […]
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You are often not consciously thinking about the numbers on a welding rod while you are actually welding. When you’re holding that stinger and laying beads into a joint, aside from your overall welding skill and knowledge of the machine, there are factors that determine the quality of the weld. It starts with the kind […]
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We all know welding includes hot hot heat, but how hot is the welding arc, really? On average, a welding arc is between 6500 and 10,000˙F. But a plasma arc can be up to 50,000˙F! Welding is a curious trade. Whereas the work involved with trades such as masonry or carpentry can all be observed […]
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If you’ve spent any time in a fab shop or a job site where there is welding, cutting, or brazing, you have likely seen a plethora of hoses of different colors. Hoses can carry water, compressed air, and gases. As it applies to welding, there are some important things to know about hoses and ways […]
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If you’ve carried out welding for some time, then you know that it’s the procedure of joining metals together using electricity. Welding is used in nearly every industry to form intricate structures and frameworks out of metals. Not only do you require knowledge on how to weld, but also how to remove the weld. It […]
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Slag in welding can be defined as “stony waste that is separated from metals during the smelting or refining of ore.” While we are not dealing with ore when we are welding, welding slag is also separated from the base and filler metals during welding. It is then chipped off and cleaned up later on. […]
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Resistance welding involves joining two metals by applying pressure and passing an electric current through them. The process is conducted for a specified period to heat the metals’ interface to the melting point. During the heating process, a clamping force is applied to hold the metals in place until the nugget solidifies. One of this […]
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