Any interested licensed mechanics out there?

Simon C said: All I know is that I have never in my life met anyone who could do 100% perfect welds without having some formal training and had to do school training before they would ever be considered for the real pipeline welders world. There was a man where I did contracting, who had done more than 100, 6-12 inch pipe welds and did not have to redo one after Xray checking. He was born with some real talent and then was trained by some other experts. Simon C Click to expand... A fello that was in moble maintance with dad and uncle in his spare time would weld dents in stainless trim off cars he finished his working dads at a nuc

Simon C said: All I know is that I have never in my life met anyone who could do 100% perfect welds without having some formal training and had to do school training before they would ever be considered for the real pipeline welders world. There was a man where I did contracting, who had done more than 100, 6-12 inch pipe welds and did not have to redo one after Xray checking. He was born with some real talent and then was trained by some other experts. Simon C Click to expand... A lot of pipelines will kick you off if you have more than a 10% failure rate, some are only 5%. It's very precise work and literally has to be perfect. The weld can't penetrate too much or be built up too much on the cap. It's not that hard to do roll welding pipe in a shop but a pipeline is done in position in all kinds of weather and ground conditions.

Truck Shop said: View attachment 364994 View attachment 364995 View attachment 364996 Click to expand... How to turn diesel fuel into noise?

Welder Dave said: How to turn diesel fuel into noise? Click to expand... Notice--no one is smiling in those photos.

The guy in the top pic. looks like he'd rather be doing anything else.

Poll , who here has had formal class room weld training? Not me, got a few tips along the way, friend of my dad showed me on his welder how to strike an arc. Next few days or so got a nice JC Penny's buzz box good ole AC and E6013, and learned how to weld with a 1/2 inch by 2 foot square asbestos board to put the projects on the concrete floor to weld on, maybe 14 or so then.

chidog said: Poll , who here has had formal class room weld training? Not me, got a few tips along the way, friend of my dad showed me on his welder how to strike an arc. Next few days or so got a nice JC Penny's buzz box good ole AC and E6013, and learned how to weld with a 1/2 inch by 2 foot square asbestos board to put the projects on the concrete floor to weld on, maybe 14 or so then. Click to expand... It was fairly common in the 90’s for a student enrolled in a diesel mechanic program to take a couple semesters or quarters of welding classes. Gas welding, cutting and brazing. Then, a class on SMAW. Many programs had AWS certification at the end. Usually 1G-1F and 3G-3F. Before sending them off into the real world. Whatever that is.

It's required in Canada to work as a welder but isn't that strongly enforced. For pressure work it is.

Coaldust said: Before sending them off into the real world. Whatever that is. Click to expand... For most, it's a life time of toil trying to get ahead, interrupted by a funeral in the end. * The name of this thread, {any interested-licensed mechanics}. A nation full of licensed drivers, privet and commercial and 50% are not competent. A common statement {he went to school for it}-----so. A few occupations should require a license---but a mechanic isn't one of them, next it would be licensed & bonded parts sales people and it's not hard to see how that would end.

No idea what the purpose of a licensed heavy equipment mechanic would be. I know a lot of large companies require operators to have a red seal to be hired. You have to be a licensed mechanic, automotive or truck and trailer in order to do a safety inspection or at least to sign off on it.

Truck Shop said: Shops years back farmed they're own. Many only ever worked for possibly two different dealers or independents in a life time. Job jumping wasn't a thing, and getting a job at one required someone retiring or they died creating a opening. They bought one house normally and stayed there, training was factory, the rest was on the job. Then vo-tech entered the scene and all of the above disappeared. Click to expand... Maybe but my brother went to mech in HS and the dealership, just up the road, put him in college. Got him an accociates degree and hired him full time, after that. He has spent 40 years there and just got promoted to service manager. Partly because they had no other candidates for the job and mostly, his body is ruined from the work but they can’t lose his knowledge. Still happening at that particular dealership. Granted, the program at that HS is an excellent one. I couldn’t get in the mech program, so I did welding.

A license is meaningless to me. In real life you either can do an excellent job or you can't. Some people thrive in a classroom and can easily pass tests but are no good in the field. Others struggle in the classroom, struggle with the tests, but are a natural when turned loose in real life. I know a guy that was a natural truck driver, competent, safe, everything you could wish for but when it came to taking the tests he froze up. Tried 6-7 times and failed and finally gave up. Meanwhile, the roads are filled with warm bodied steering wheel holders that can't tell east from north, don't know what a fifth wheel is, much less if it's latched or not, etc, etc, etc. We work on projects designed by licensed civil engineers, apparently at their desks at preschool using half eaten crayons... We had a project last year where the "engineer" literally gave up on it and told us to figure it out and make it work. That's not too say all civil engineers are incompetent. We work with some that do excellent work and actually know how to make the water run downhill.

Some very good power mechanics and metal shop teachers in my highschool, guess who had to teach the teachers? And fix their stuff on occasion? Most kids then had to party and what ever, I was either in our garage, or studying all I could find on the topics back then, real hard in those days the get good real information on any mechanical type topic. Well its about the same now with everyone on youtube that thinks they know something, and show everyone the wrong way to do the procedure.

Well on the subject of commercial driving there are many reasons why trucks are designed the way they are plus the caliber of driver attracted to the industry. {OTR in a nut shell---The life SUCKS}. Where else can you go to work on a timed schedule get paid for 11 hours and still responsible for the truck/trailer/load while off duty. Don't receive pay for dock time. Eat sh---- food everyday, put up with one jacka-- after another on the road, including other jacka-- truck drivers. Have to take a dump and the toilet seat is still warm from the last week long unwashed user. Hardly ever see the good side of a town, no it's mostly industrial with cardboard houses under bridges or open lots. Filthy truck stops with people {in most cases working there} that are not all that friendly. The list is long. The shippers/receivers/transport companies/brokers built that house of crap life style, so in many cases it doesn't attract the best of society to work in that climate. Oh, I forgot home life--there isn't much of that. Get sick on the road--your on your own, eat some bad food, you may not make it to a rest area. Yes there are some good companies to work for, but not many. It's hard to find drivers, the reason for AMT transmissions, it removes bad habits and achieves better fuel mileage, that simple. * Welding--yes it's a good thing to be proficient at, but in a shop dealer or independent if a experienced mechanic is over welding when there is mechanical work waiting out- side, that's wasting man power. Send it out or hire a flunky who can weld. I took a semester of welding at CWU in late 70's, can I weld do I weld have I worked as a welder-{yes}, but I'm not a welder per-se. * Mechanics--Sears sold a 199 piece mechanics tool set, I bought one of those. I especially like the clear/red striped handled screwdrivers, weren't very good quality but looked good in my $88 dollar tool chest.

Truck Shop said: Well on the subject of commercial driving there are many reasons why trucks are designed the way they are plus the caliber of driver attracted to the industry. {OTR in a nut shell---The life SUCKS}. Where else can you go to work on a timed schedule get paid for 11 hours and still responsible for the truck/trailer/load while off duty. Don't receive pay for dock time. Eat sh---- food everyday, put up with one jacka-- after another on the road, including other jacka-- truck drivers. Have to take a dump and the toilet seat is still warm from the last week long unwashed user. Hardly ever see the good side of a town, no it's mostly industrial with cardboard houses under bridges or open lots. Filthy truck stops with people {in most cases working there} that are not all that friendly. The list is long. The shippers/receivers/transport companies/brokers built that house of crap life style, so in many cases it doesn't attract the best of society to work in that climate. Oh, I forgot home life--there isn't much of that. Get sick on the road--your on your own, eat some bad food, you may not make it to a rest area. Yes there are some good companies to work for, but not many. It's hard to find drivers, the reason for AMT transmissions, it removes bad habits and achieves better fuel mileage, that simple. * Welding--yes it's a good thing to be proficient at, but in a shop dealer or independent if a experienced mechanic is over welding when there is mechanical work waiting out- side, that's wasting man power. Send it out or hire a flunky who can weld. I took a semester of welding at CWU in late 70's, can I weld do I weld have I worked as a welder-{yes}, but I'm not a welder per-se. * Mechanics--Sears sold a 199 piece mechanics tool set, I bought one of those. I especially like the clear/red striped handled screwdrivers, weren't very good quality but looked good in my $88 dollar tool chest. Click to expand... I still have a Sears ratchet and a few sockets. Probably if I went to my mother's I might find one of those screw drivers. I had a Sears shopvac, it was awesome and I'll never find one as good

Off topic but the best screwdrivers were the red striped, gold handled screw drivers. I only have a few left, that I have pretty much ruined. When they went to the red stripe, with the clear handle, the steel changed and they weren’t as good.