My new fab guy
just turned 4 years old -yeah I know I'm breaking labor laws , and all but who could resist he works for clothes/food , and shelter :D

Gavin-weldpros' son- you get it KID!

Thats great! Whats he making?

He's just doing GMAW fillet welds on 1/4" some are pretty decent actually but he needs alot of practice before I'll let him weld on the new buggy. Its so funny cause he concentrates so hard that his body is stiff & you can hear him breathing a ways away. He now asks if he can weld EVERYDAY so I'm using it more for reward plus I'm not at all interested in him having to know or want to do any of this UNLESS he wants to in which case I'll have no problems teaching him. I guess if I'm lucky he'll be into it , and with any luck he'll be as good a B>R someday!
:D
weldpro

:cool: I know my son (4yo) would be into it too, not sure what the wife would think though. Maybe I'll have to let him give it a try. "But Honey, Weldpro lets HIS son do it!" :D

Lately I've been letting him have at it w/ the cordless drill and a chunk of 6x12. Same thing- usually just as a reward, but sometimes to keep him busy and out of the way for a while. :)

I guess I need an extra mask so I can supervise, but I was gonna buy one anyway since the wife says she wants to learn too. :)

The family that plays together stays together:p

Easy

That's very cool. Wish I would have started welding at 4:D

HAHAHA very cool :) glad Im not the only one who does that. My daughters older though... so after she let it leak at school.. all the boys in her class wanted to come over and weld.. especially the kid whose dad is a lawyer :eek:

i wish i started welding at 30:zzz:

:)

Sure that's not Bob? :)

:beer: Oops never mind a little young for that.

:smokin:

That kid is gonna be the tiger Woods of the fabrication world!

This can't possibly be good for his eyes. I would consult an eye doctor before allowing this. Chances are you will be buying him eye glasses for his 5th birthday.:confused:

Get him a Bridgeport for his 5th Birthday! He can start carving out steering arms!:D

Wicked cool !!

My lad is just 2 and has just mastered the plastic cordless drill / driver and the little toys that you take apart and re-assemble.

Just have to get him to stop eating the plastic bolts !

Body goes stiff....hilarious, he does that too....it is soooo cute when they try so hard.

Rocklimo- (2)Eye docs have said if its ok for adults its ok for the kid! , he wears a shade 11 which is one shade over what I would for given electrode & amperage.

Bridgeport-well that will be for MY birthday.

As far as this being safe for him the most he would suffer is from errant sparks , and such. It is funny but most people would think this would be sooooooo dangerous but that is really not true.

1. - arc welding IS low voltage high amperage vs. input power which is HIGH VOLTAGE LOW AMPERAGE -----HIGH VOLTAGE KILLS. keep your hands away from the socket!

2. OXY/ACE welding cutting is way dangerous he does not touch these set ups (if he does well he knows).

2. I don't let him touch ANY power tool (grinders, chop saws,etc.) way too easy to get hurt. too much torque in those electric motors. I amy start letting him use a low power pnematic die grinder with sanding heads (ie 3M roloc discs) I do belive that this would be safe as those things can be stopped easily.

3. Whenever he is in my shop HE MUST WEAR EARS, AND GOGGLES no exception.

4.He is also supervised 100% of the time , and has TONS of rules to follow.
Will this protect him from everything NO of course not , and I dont expect it to. I am a very responsible person, and of course my son & daughter are the most important people in my life (wife included), and I surely would not do something that would harm them.

Almost forgot when my Daughter (2yrs.) looks capable If she wants to try I will most definately let her. Oh , and Gavin did'nt just start doing this he's done it a few times between 3-4 yrs.

One more thing - I did not just hand him the torch , and let him go. I showed him how the machine works etc he also has been
doing this since 3.5 years.
weldpro

VERY cool, I guess its never to early to learn.:usa:

HEHEHE!!! That is cool.

thats really cool!

My son wants to start welding, he just turned 5.

he has helped me outback the last 2 years by using the air 90 and rolocs as you said, I turn the pressure down to about 40 and he sands some of teh 4x4 blocks I have hanging around, he also uses an old cordless drill I handed down to him, he drills holes, then sands, I put those scotchbright pads on and he polishes whatever scrap steel is back there.
he gets the powerwheels jeep and sticks it up and blocks and works on it while I work on the CJ project, they are so damn cute.

Im gonna grab your photo and show him, He will be having a cow to start!

cool

What a great dad...you adopting?

Being and old pro jeweler/smith caused my young boy (he was about 10) to become enamored with my (then) new Smith Mini (Oxy/Act) torch.
Especially with something that looked HIS size it didn't take him long to learn the correct way to adjust the mixture and start heating and brazing/welding away! Under Dad's watchfull eye, of course. He learned a healthy respect for the heat the equipment he was producing and how it is used to create things.
I tried to teach him everything I could, from that to basic house wiring and plumbing, car maintence, engine and gear case rebuilding, carpentry skills, etc.
He still doesn't take my culinary skills lessons well but over-all engaging him in all those things helped give him the best basic education I could provide. And, with very good results!
Way to go, Dad. Keep it up ...
;)

That's awesome, you guys are great dads. Wish mine had done the same for me :( I had to learn everything on my own.

That is so cute.

I was about that age when my dad "allowed" me to come into his garage. He started me off by letting me hand him tools and gettin a little greasy. Hence the nickname he gave me "his little grease monkey." Stayed his grease monkey till he passed away. : )

How long before he is pulling a section 9 test (6G on 9Cr-1Mo)??

Josh89xj - no worries my dad had no idea when it came to this stuff I had to learn myself also- It makes for a slower learning curve but shows heart. I respect the self leaners alot! Keep on gettin it. Oh your sig is funny too my wife & I laughed a bunch.

4x4grrl= you met Gavin when we picked up the 4runner in fact the picture was taken just after that day! Oh , and congrats for all the 4x acheivements you have made lately- you definately get it!!!

Jasonmt - I am seriously thinking about doing a AWS 3G GMAW spray arc. I can administer the test at our local JC where I have access to a friend who is a CWI III & CWE . I dont know if I should though since I dont want any of this pushed on him & I just want him to have fun.

somebody once asked me how i ever learned to do so much mechanical stuff. after i thought about it for a few seconds i had to answer i never learned i already knew when i was born. actually i still have the kmart drill my dad let me use to drill holes in 2X4s when i was three, im 45 now and the drill still works. thanks dad it paid off.

DUDE, thats JUST too damn cool, ok, time to get my 5 year old out there doing it, i know he wants to, then we can have those cool fights, will my son can weld better than yours,lol..

And welcome to POR hip, took ya long enough :D

Damn. Little tike can prolly weld better than me already. :eek:

I got screwed. My (12 yrs) older brother ruined it for me, he built a bunch of 4x4's and musclecars in my dad's shop. By the time I was old enough, my dad was sick of losing tools, rod, the mess etc, and wouldn't let me use his shop.

Bought myself a 4x4 ranger @ 15 and started buyin tools. Never looked back. I'll try anything now.

Way to go dads, hook 'em up. By 16 they'll have sweet rides

:smokin:

Back when my kids were little I couldn't get my son to spend anytime in the garage with me, but his little sister would hang around there any try to do anything I'd let her. She would hand me bolts and came in real handy for retrieving dropped tools and bolts from under the car. I was into Sports Racers then and still have pictures of her at four years old holding the steering column in place for me as I bolted it in. She loved to use the chop saw.
Her brother didn't come around until I bought him a XR 75 Motorcycle at five and he found that mechanical skills would keep it running. He was the only kid in Jr. Hi with a Honda 750 for school transportation. Oh yea, he rode it to the State Basketball finals, and to his High School Basketball Banquet where he was named MVP in his Senior Year.
He's now a sucsessful Buisnessman and father of two. His Sister is engaged to a Lawyer and she does all the maintenance on their BMW. Including changing an occasional flat tire and brake pads while he watches with his mouth open.

Bring em up right and they can be very interesting independant adults.

My Dad was a Jet Engine Mechanic and my brother and I couldn't get him to show us anything. But he did join a flying club when we got older and would rent small planes and pilots for us to fly with. I never got my Pilots Liscense but my younger brother did. We still love to fly together when we can. I fly ultralights every chance I get, when I'm not 4 wheeling somewhere.

Showed the Picture of your son to my wife.:eek:
Her reply was, "You Damn men are all alike".
CJ

crash wrote (And welcome to POR hip, took ya long enough)



been here a while now but you know me, the quiet lurker type. just read and learn. im getting there though.

Post back if he does take the AWS GMAW spray arc 3G and passes. It is always nice to have a cert. and not need it. My Journeyman ticket paid my way through university quite easily. Was not working for minimum wage a McMorons like some of my other buddies in school.

Hey weldpro, I forwarded that picture to my girlfriend who is away at college, here is the e-mail I got:

Josh,
That picture of the little kid welding is adorable (I saved it as my wallpaper) =)

She is in an all girls down (thank God) and they all came in and looked at it. I believe that the general concensus was a resounding, "Awwwwwww...how CUUUUUUTE"

That is one of the coolest pics i have ever seen, way to go...

Starting them off young with a shared interest is a great way to get them interested in something to keep them out of trouble and learn valuable basic skills like mechanics, physics, etc while having fun together. Ever try just sitting down over a coffee table and trying to explain basic mechanics or assembly or fabrication (or anything for that matter) without ever doing it with them. In one ear and out the other.
One of the best things I ever did was get interested in go-karts with my son when he was 7. Soon afterwards, we each started racing go-karts together and had to learn many things together. How to tear down and blueprint engines, convert and flow carbs, re-gear and re-jet based upon changing conditions, adjust toe-in, stagger, and air pressure, experiment with different setups, etc.
At 12 we got into quads and other ATVs together doing much of the same stuff described above. THen at 16 we got into 4x4 trucks. He's evolved into the experimenter and master fabricator. He experimented with different setups and once he found the right combination I put it on my rig also. I gave him a 30 minute welding lesson at 16 and not long afterwards he was welding better than me. Now he designs and fabricate many things for many different people.
Because of always having productive interests to share with dad throughout his developing years, he stayed out of trouble and turned into a fine young man. The biggest problem I had with him was not being able to find my tools (cause he didn't put them back) or frequently making trips to get welding wire and gas when I wanted to do a project cause he used it all. I'll take these minor annoyances any day compared to the many more serious problems that could of occurred.
Your doing alright and starting your son off on the right track!