https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/americas-hs-students-to-compete-as-first-all-female-welding-team-in-contest-history Kizmet, don't say I never thought of you.
Long hair can be an issue and experienced welders typically keep it wrapped up in some way. It's not as big a deal with TIG welder because there really aren't many sparks but good ol' arc welding creates lots of sparks that love to jump into your hair. With TIG welding you can wear a lighter face shield and lighter gloves. Any exposed skim will get darker just as if you were at the beach. Flash burns on your eyeballs is a constant worry. It's like getting a sunburn on your eyeballs and as the cell layers slough off it hurts like hell. You have to get eyedrops to numb the eyeballs for a week or so. Welders at the shipyard work quite hard and the working conditions are not always great, welding while prone (or some other uncomfortable position) inside the hull of a ship, etc. Still, it can pay well and if you work to pick up the right certifications then you can move into jobs that are cleaner, more comfortable, etc. Some welding applications are actually done in a laboratory-like atmosphere. I've posted a photo of an electron beam welding machine as an example.
Another welding breakthrough: https://phys.org/news/2019-03-welding-breakthrough.html And it happened at DL pioneer Heriot-Watt University.
At first, these breakthroughs have only exotic applications but then, as people think about the possibilities, they become more common. I’ve never welded anything with a laser (that technology is far from rare) but I did once help to weld a piece of gold to a piece of stainless steel using an electron beam. It was pretty fun and I learned a lot from the guy who actually did the work.
meet Erin Aragon https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/apprentice-school-wrestler-makes-history-she-can-weld-too/ar-AAALyee?ocid=spartandhp
Big job opportunity for Kizmet! Building space ships! https://boards.greenhouse.io/spacex/jobs/4220454002?gh_jid=4220454002 Report from Nasaspaceflight from somebody whose friend interviewed for this: "A friend of mine just interviewed for the Starship tank fabricator/welder job a few days ago at 850 Cidco Road, Cocoa, FL. He said the interview was conducted at a plastic folding table with contractors running all around working on building the facility. He was told it would be SpaceX's new R&D facility for the SS/SH vehicles and will work very closely with a copycat facility being constructed near Brownsville, TX... Oh, and for anyone else who may be applying, the weld test they have you take is a flux core stainless on a 3/16" stainless butt-joint with a 1/8" open root in 2G, 3G and 4G. 2G and 4G may be different, but for sure he told me the 3G is welded from one side, then you flip it around, back-gouge it and run another bead on the backside and the material can not exceed 250 degrees."
Thanks, but I don't think I could make it work in Florida. As for the welding test, flux core is not an easy method. More sparks than TIG but not as much as regular arc welding. The electrode is a continuous wire fed through the welding gun. Unlike MIG welding, which uses a shielding gas (usually argon), flux core welding wire is hollow and the flux inside creates the shielding gas inside the arc. The G designations stand for Groove, the kind of joint setup. Flat, horizontal, vertical, overhead correspond to the numbers. Vertical can be done either up or down. The tendency is to get better penetration going up. Flux core welding is faster than TIG and you have to wear somewhat heavier gear because of the sparks. If you're making stuff at a workbench it can be a good job. Pretty clean, decent ventilation, and you can stand up and stretch whenever you need to. A job like that probably pays pretty well and if you're good at it then you can move up and learn more new stuff.
another laser welding breakthrough https://techxplore.com/news/2019-08-lasers-enable-weld-ceramics-furnace.html
