Hello from the UK

[Andrewmetcalf]

Hello fellow welders,

I am a complete welding novice - it seems as though most of you are Americans. I did live with my wife and kids (and we loved it) in Virginia (in Langley - we had the CIA for neighbours - great neighbourhood watch) for a few years in the 90s. I have just done my first sample weld having watched a YouTube video. I was welding 6 & 8mm rod to itself reasonably tidily after 3 or 4 goes. I have a Parweld XTS 143 MMA (maybe a UK only brand), helmet, gloves and rods which was recommended and supplied by my local fabricator - it seems great. I am initially interested in making garden products eg obelisks, climbing frames and plant supports from 6/8mm steel rod which seem to cost 4-5 times the cost of the raw metal made up in the UK. I am particularly interested in any recommendations for UK suppliers for such things as mild steel balls or spheres, part drilled with 8mm holes or pre-made rings around 350mm diameter (just to save me having to make them).

[CAVEMANN]

Welcome to WELDING WEB!

[yesindeed]

Hello fellow welders,

I am a complete welding novice - it seems as though most of you are Americans. I did live with my wife and kids (and we loved it) in Virginia (in Langley - we had the CIA for neighbours - great neighbourhood watch) for a few years in the 90s. I have just done my first sample weld having watched a YouTube video. I was welding 6 & 8mm rod to itself reasonably tidily after 3 or 4 goes. I have a Parweld XTS 143 MMA (maybe a UK only brand), helmet, gloves and rods which was recommended and supplied by my local fabricator - it seems great. I am initially interested in making garden products eg obelisks, climbing frames and plant supports from 6/8mm steel rod which seem to cost 4-5 times the cost of the raw metal made up in the UK. I am particularly interested in any recommendations for UK suppliers for such things as mild steel balls or spheres, part drilled with 8mm holes or pre-made rings around 350mm diameter (just to save me having to make them).

All those metric measurements are giving me a headache. I am too lazy to keep a google conversion page open, so I just think " I wonder what he's talking about, oh well, I hope it works out".

Its tough to get it at my old age.

[123weld]

welcome mr. metalf. i knew some real nice old folk in calif in the 80's, named mr &mrs. metalf. his pickup smelled like the cigars he smoked, and they were both avid golfers. anyway, that making of plants/landscape ornaments might be a good side gig, as the future lockdowns tighten and lengthen. from what i read, the uk is ahead of the us in that dept. last yr, our nursery/hardawre stores ran out of landscaping material/supplies, as may more people were doing more work on the yards and houses. this season, escpecially in the last month, i noticed our monopoly hardware stores (home depot/lowes), have hoard of potting soil,planrts, etc., so much that they extended the store into the parking lot w/ temp fences to sell display the stuff. i made a roller pipe jig to spiral a long length of stock into the the rings size i needed one for rings, then just cut length wise w/ cutoff wheel, and u got a bunch of rings. i'm not sure im understanding what steel is 4-5 times the price of what? what do u do for a living? i mean, like what kind of work, or what brought u too viginia, then back? living next to the cia headquarters would give me the chills, as half way knowing what they do. the second largest cia office that we know was located in new york, and it collapsed in sept of 2001, bysurprise unexpectedly. one of the real odd things about that, was your news/british broadcasting corp, announced its collapse 20 min. before it actually happened. anyway, i hope everything is a good as can be as expected over there, the royal family has been making alot of noise around here. sounds like andrew is trying to behave himself, and its amazing how healthy u guys keep the king and queen. i think i read that he is a 100 yrs old now, and she is still healthy too.

[Andrewmetcalf]

All those metric measurements are giving me a headache. I am too lazy to keep a google conversion page open, so I just think " I wonder what he's talking about, oh well, I hope it works out".

Its tough to get it at my old age.

Hi and thanks for the welcome and good wishes! I, and the UK generally, is stuck in some sort of half metric, half imperial transition. Don’t know what difference leaving the EU will make to the direction of travel over time? My kids generation and most professionals work and think in metric these days - my generation (I’m 70 in May) think in imperial but have to convert to metric to purchase - and make mistakes too often - We rate cars by their miles per gallon (MPG) but we buy gas in litres - go figure. The sooner we settle on a logical full metric system the better, the old schoolers like me will soon have passed on! Biggest change will be all of our old road signs, car mileage records and maps based on miles - and will I have to drink half litres of ale instead of a good old pint - it just won’t be the same!

[yesindeed]

Hi and thanks for the welcome and good wishes! I, and the UK generally, is stuck in some sort of half metric, half imperial transition. Don’t know what difference leaving the EU will make to the direction of travel over time? My kids generation and most professionals work and think in metric these days - my generation (I’m 70 in May) think in imperial but have to convert to metric to purchase - and make mistakes too often - We rate cars by their miles per gallon (MPG) but we buy gas in litres - go figure. The sooner we settle on a logical full metric system the better, the old schoolers like me will soon have passed on! Biggest change will be all of our old road signs, car mileage records and maps based on miles - and will I have to drink half litres of ale instead of a good old pint - it just won’t be the same!

I agree. I remember in the 1970's there was alot of talk here about switching to metric. it would be long ago done with, but i dont want to have to do it now. i am stuck already in the standard way. i always had american cars, and a harley from the mid 60's, so i never concentrated my tool purchases on metric. the new cars cant be readily worked on anymore, so i dont worry about tools. My lathe is a piece of american iron from 1953, so thou's is good. i have a metric tap and die set, and a few sets of gear wrenches in metric, so thats as far as my purchases will go.

i just have trouble with following the youtube fabrication videos from canada.