How many hours a day do you weld?

[BillC]

I have really enjoyed Jerry's thread "Are You A Self Employed Welder or Fabricator?"

A question that begs to follow: How many hours a day do you actually weld? I guess if you are a production weldor you weld almost continuously all day. On the other hand, if you do repairs you may spend a lot of time fabricating and jigging, and maybe only weld for 10 minutes a day...

[Big Nate]

usualy half an hour or so each day,more on weekends. This weekend I will be welding almost 8 hours a day....... I am going to do a how to build a trailer in 2 days article. it will be a 6x10 single axle for hauling junk around and yes I will post pictures

~Nate~

[bjdenommee]

Depends on whats being done, I would say about 1/2 on 1/2 off

3-4 setup and maybe 2-4 welding.

When you can convince someone to do your setups, you could weld all day. However that seems to never happen.

Bernie

[waxer]

Nate,

Looking forward to your writeup on the trailer.

[trackwelder]

On normal work days five to six hours a day, but when afternoon defects are found its usually twelve to fifteen.

[Arc Burn]

Really depends on what i'm doing.Prep work ends up being 3/4 of most projects but if i had to put an hourly value on it,i would say an average of 4 hours of good solid welding.There are those days when everything is a go and 10+ hours is not out of the question.

[Jerry]

Thats tough to answer. I run a one man shop and my son helps out after school ( I had him work 30 hours last month and give him $6.00 for a 13 year old )

Welding is just a part of job like you said. There's sales, estimating, purchasing, fabricating, invoicing, repairing etc....

But welding can be on a tool & die job for 10 min. or 3 hours.
My production jobs I'll weld for 8-12 hours or till I want to stop. I have right now four jobs that fit this every month.
Fabrication jobs, usually the welding time is minimal to the whole project.

For there is sawing, drilling, fitup, weld, grinding, machining, stress relieving, sand blasting.

[Arc Burn]

Big spender aye Jerry?$6 for 30 hours work ,just kiddin,i know what you meant!
Your right about different variables though,i had one job were i installed pop-rivets for 4 days staight

[Jerry]

6 x 30 = $ 180 and part of the time he's eating all the junk in the frig or he's on my internet playing.

I'm trying to teach him to weld tig and mig and I have to say he's very steady with torch. Adding filler is going to take time to get the hang of it.

Right now he sets jobs up or works the saw, drill, chop saw or packages parts.

The 9 year boy old starts this week cleaning shop, I told him $10- 20 bucks for that.

Gotta get them boys going I have one more who's 6 and couple years I'll get him involved too.

[Guest]

Jerry...child labor??? I thought only the chi coms did that....

Teach 'em a good work ethic....shoulder to the wheel, nose to the grindstone, chin up, keep on the ball...and try and work in that position!

[Guest]

Re: How many hours a day do you weld?

Originally posted by BillC
I have really enjoyed Jerry's thread "Are You A Self Employed Welder or Fabricator?"

A question that begs to follow: How many hours a day do you actually weld? I guess if you are a production weldor you weld almost continuously all day. On the other hand, if you do repairs you may spend a lot of time fabricating and jigging, and maybe only weld for 10 minutes a day...

Bill...ya kinda answer your own question, which doesn't leave much room for me to answer...you're right on. Another question, I think, would be more valuable is: how can a weldor improve his craft, or become of more value to his employer: (Here's my answer)

First learn to do the job well...then learn to do the job well AND FAST!

[BillC]

Re: Re: How many hours a day do you weld?

Originally posted by Rocky D


Bill...ya kinda answer your own question, which doesn't leave much room for me to answer...you're right on.

RockyD, I was definitely thinking of you and your 260 lbs of wire in 4 weeks at 10 hours a day to spray arc the dies for the nacelles when I asked this question...
Just ****! is about all I can muster when I think of a job of that magnitude...

[Guest]

Yeah, Bill that job was a bit 'over the top' wasn't it?

[Jerry]

Rocky D , now thats a lot of wire chief. I do have a production job that when it comes through I bust my butt to get it done and I'll burn a 44lb.roll in one day. Thank goodness its only once or twice a month.