so what'd you make in shop class?

[wildchild]

let's see..... remember i was the kid who had no thought of college, all shop classes for me. I made a rocking horse for my cousin that she still has 25 years later. her daughter uses it now. cedar chest, large gun cabinet, rebuilt and painted two cars, camaro and dodge roadrunner. made a complete bandsaw. only thing i didn't make was the blade and the motor.
those were the cool projects anyways. a lot of little projects for less fortunate people. we didn't have to pay for material if we donated our projects so i did a ton of that stuff

[Antwanny]

bats to beat each other with, a few stamped shitty shurikens as well. Me and a kid made a person out of reebar in hs. about 7 ft tall was pretty detailed, then we cut him up after god knows how many hours of grinding and welding.

[Curb]

i only got 2 years of shop in middle school...the first year was a waste of time. i think we built a small wooden bi-plane. second year was a little better, we made wind chimes, the race cars and then we had a choice after that...i built this really nice organizer to hang on the wall. but nothing like what most you guys did. then in HS they cut the shop program all together

[Bluestreak]

I made several peices of furniture that I still use today, some better quality than others, and way too many baseball bats.

We had wood shop, and metal shop. I never took metal shop and now I wish I would have. They learned how to weld and made lots of really cool stuff. Welding is a skill I don't have but wish I did.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by Bluestreak

I made several peices of furniture that I still use today, some better quality than others, and way too many baseball bats.

We had wood shop, and metal shop. I never took metal shop and now I wish I would have. They learned how to weld and made lots of really cool stuff. Welding is a skill I don't have but wish I did.

Hey do what I did, buy a cheap welder and get some scrap somewhere and practice! Apart from figuring out some adjustments and stuff welding is more of an "art" than anything else imho. Most of the best welders I've ever met learned by doing rather than taking classes.

[Apoc]

Originally Posted by Tmall

Oh, in junior high I made a ring, bookshelf, race car.

In hs, I made a depth gauge, tore down and rebuilt and old Buick 350, and assorted projects on the lathe.

Were you in the Engine Repair class with me and courtenay and those guys? Or did you take it some other time?

I still have the wooden shelf I built. And the ring. I havent the slightest clue what happened to the racecar, may have broke racing it.

['73 H1 Triple]

Originally Posted by TIGGER

Hey do what I did, buy a cheap welder and get some scrap somewhere and practice! Apart from figuring out some adjustments and stuff welding is more of an "art" than anything else imho. Most of the best welders I've ever met learned by doing rather than taking classes.

Take a night course at your local vo-tech school to learn how to weld. I was a certified arc welder and took a vo-tech course to learn how to proprly set up and use a mig welder.

Not only were my start up setting incorrect, but 3/4 of the class that said they could "weld" were only melting metal together. Any type of stress on their welds would cause them to fail. Two of those melters were building street rods too

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had shop class in 8th & 9th grades and took machine trades in vo tech school during high school. Mornings at the high school and afternoons at vo-tech. I graduated vo-tech top of my class and have been a machinist for the past 32 years.

[Amber Lamps]

Originally Posted by '73 H1 Triple

Take a night course at your local vo-tech school to learn how to weld. I was a certified arc welder and took a vo-tech course to learn how to proprly set up and use a mig welder.

Not only were my start up setting incorrect, but 3/4 of the class that said they could "weld" were only melting metal together. Any type of stress on their welds would cause them to fail. Two of those melters were building street rods too

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had shop class in 8th & 9th grades and took machine trades in vo tech school during high school. Mornings at the high school and afternoons at vo-tech. I graduated vo-tech top of my class and have been a machinist for the past 32 years.

That's so funny because I always felt that you had to take a class to weld. When I first started, I used to beg my boss to finance such a class. His reply to me was simple, "Overhead Door and Building Specialties (his co's) have been installing doors, dock levelers, ect since the 1920s and not a single one of our employees has ever been certified to weld". I installed guillotine doors at the Devos Place that are 16' high and almost 60' wide and they weigh about 15,000 lbs. As far as I know they are still standing there today even though neither myself nor my partner has ever taken a welding class. I'm not saying that you are wrong, in fact for the most part, I agree with you. I just don't think that someone doing small projects around the house needs to take classes and whatnot. I don't have the expertise that you do but I spent 10+ years installing equipment that weighs hundreds/thousands of lbs, using a welder without ever taking one class. To this day, I can honestly say that I've never had a weld fail.

['73 H1 Triple]

Originally Posted by TIGGER

That's so funny because I always felt that you had to take a class to weld. When I first started, I used to beg my boss to finance such a class. His reply to me was simple, "Overhead Door and Building Specialties (his co's) have been installing doors, dock levelers, ect since the 1920s and not a single one of our employees has ever been certified to weld". I installed guillotine doors at the Devos Place that are 16' high and almost 60' wide and they weigh about 15,000 lbs. As far as I know they are still standing there today even though neither myself nor my partner has ever taken a welding class. I'm not saying that you are wrong, in fact for the most part, I agree with you. I just don't think that someone doing small projects around the house needs to take classes and whatnot. I don't have the expertise that you do but I spent 10+ years installing equipment that weighs hundreds/thousands of lbs, using a welder without ever taking one class. To this day, I can honestly say that I've never had a weld fail.

I'm "pushing" the schooling so you learn the correct way to weld before you learn bad habits/practices.

It is easier to learn on the newer mig welders than stick (arc) welding but proper techique and heat is important. More than a few of the people in the class thought it was better to "burn in" the weld for better penetration. Although it does go deeper, it overheats the metal to the point of crystalizing it. That makes it brittle and it will crack easier.

[Adeptus_Minor]

We made fun of the shop teacher's way of speaking.
It was somewhere between an Australian accent and some combination of speech impediments.


Ok ok... fine... Mom still has the pear spoon holder that I cast out of polyester resin. (but the shop teacher called it pawlee-asster raaazin )