Sweet. Would love to learn welding and machining. Took a welding class a few years ago and loved it. Wish I had more time to take a few more classes. We only stick welded to start off. Dying to go back and learn to arc weld and maybe a little on the wire feed machine too.

 

I spent 27 years in electronic manufacturing and most of it building PC Boards. I started out as just an insertion operator. The engineers started showing me the programming, I pick it up pretty quick, and over the years it eventually was all dumped on me. Eventually I did all the programming and setup creations as well as being the lead worker in the department. Also programmed out conformal coating machine and when the engineer that programmed our labels retired I inherited that as well.

But the company was bought and sold several times. We build fire detection, suppression, and gas ignition systems. At one time we were part of Kidde and now owned by United Technologies but the Kidde name is still there.

UTC made lots of cuts (and still does) and my department was outsourced to China. Not long after that I was moved into a Quality position, and that position was eliminated and I was laid off after 27 years. The company has been cut back to about 1200 employees what I first started in 1981 to less than 400 now and maybe only 1/3 of that is manufacturing.

Spent a year and a half on unemployment, then my old boss who was new at the time heard I was still looking for work and got me back in as a temp. He was now the acting plant manager so he could do what he wanted. Did a few different jobs there for a year and half and then a position opened up for me as a punch press operator in the machine shop took that and have been back there now for almost another year and a half.

 

You can pick up a cheap ($350 or so) inverter off of eBay that will fit in a suitcase. That's what I did anyway.

 

If you buy a little wire feed machine, I wouldn't go for the cheap ones though. My cheap stick/tig machine has run flawlessly for the year and a half I've had it, but my 2 cheap mig machines have given me problems of some sort every time I use them.

 

some sort of problem

 

I need to take a few more classes. We only learned thick plate steel and pipe. Have no idea how to weld on thinner metals or different types of material. Might get back to it one day.