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I'm relatively new on the Welding and Fab stuff as well, Doc. I have signed up on a welding forum to help me learn and grow with my new habit to learn.... I recommend all of the guys who are interested in learning Welding find a similar forum for JUST THAT..... I visit Welding Web forums.... and for others who are into body and metal working, maybe the meatlmeet forums.... killer stuff on all of them including complete builds of almost anything, from scratch.

I am an old car guy, a powder coater, mechanic, Welding newb, Metal forming wannabe, and a VolksRodder.... and each one of those has it's own forum. I can't imagine this one carrying all of the needs of every person. But I do see where an occasional conversation could be brought up without needing a whole new forum for it.... spread your wings folks.... find it on the web! It's likely already there.

I started this thread over 5 years ago. I for 1 don't want to go else were to work on my VW. I don't want to have a password to remember, or make more friends. I spend more time here than 99% of other members. I think a forum dedicated to welding and fabrication should be added to Tools/Tricks/Techniques/Shop Theory. Instead of the info scattered though out all the forums.

I'm with both of you. David's idea of a subforum in T/T/T is not a bad idea (but doesn't present on the front page, so rename the forum?) and Scott's suggestion regarding the worth of other technical forums is a fact.

Other ideas?

doc

doc wrote:I keep reading this and I am sensitive to the issue. Fog may have hit the nail when he referenced "being easy to find". These are all way common topics for many of us. Me too, as a relative novice on the weld and fab side.

However, our forums are already big. We have a lot of forums and a big home page. Adding to it is always problematic. We recently combined forums under Engine Management, where there is a lot of interest, and although it focused the topic(s), I'm not sure it made things any easier to find.

Point is, there are tradeoffs here. I am willing to change, but would like to think it through. I am always less worried about the long-term STFs than I am the newbies. the pros will find their way. The new guys, not so much.

Even after 7 pages and no action, I am interested in all ideas.

doc

Still not a big fan of the mods to "Engine Management" though I have learned to work through it.... Its just more mouse clicks and more back and forth through menus....

Action... I see at lease 10 threads started in T/T/T/ST in first three pages of forum... Yes some are quite old, but there is action....

I would like to see welding forum here, but the technical aspect of welding covers so much more than just car stuff..... I have recently purchased a MIG welder, and so far built a cart for welder (not zactly car stuff) and made a front bumper for my lawn tractor, and am working on gold recovery equipment and lastly building a engine stand (finally something actually VW)...

http://www.mydune-buggy.com/forum/viewt ... f=14&t=448
http://www.mydune-buggy.com/forum/viewt ... f=14&t=476

Found a really good welding site at HOBART ...

http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/index.php
http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/s ... th-New-MIG

But that does not preclude me participating in a welding forum/threads here ... Would be nice of it were "one site fits all needs", but it may not always be practical (its actually a Admin decision), on my site also (yes I spend quite a bit of time here and on the Samba).... Also with my "mydune-buggy.com" site...

Dale

I like the idea of a sub forum, but since the TTT subforum is already pretty dead, I think it's best not to break it up till this one gains a bit more traction. I am very guilty of posting tool related QUESTIONS in the ORF, cause I know folks will see it and I might get a usefull answer if herbie is still asleep. When I post info about tools I try to put it here for folks to find, but untill people start frequenting this forum I am torn as to what to do. I don't want ot Xpost and be a jerk, but I do wnat to find the answer I need and I put that priority above putting it in the right foru sorry that does make me part of the problem, but the ORF is both busy, active, and I know the folks who answer so I know whose opinion to trust more. Also folks have the same interest/goals as me so theier advice is more tailored to my needs than a random user answering here.

again, I try to keep it in the right forum, but when the answer is really important I need to get that answer. maybe I;ll ask a mod to move all my older, inorrectly located posts for future searchers.

also I agree with the notioin that if you have important welding questions, go to a welding forum. post here too, but also in a real welders forum. Welding is important and often a saftey issue, so you want good answers, not my answers!

i would not have time to moderate but i be more than happy to be a contributor ,, im well qualified.. 32yrs exp welding at 45 and a bonified vw nut and rod n resto professional 20+yrs ;.......................long live the STF ............START THIS STUFF UP.......... Fabricator John ..
BUY A MILLER ITS WHAT YA WANTED ANYWAYS ..

Agreed..... Buy a miller! (I don't have one yet, but that's on the "wish list")

that is about my only piece of advice w/ welding as well! get name brand. You can't fix cheap (when it comes to electronics{usually})

fabricator john wrote:i would not have time to moderate but i be more than happy to be a contributor ,, im well qualified.. 32yrs exp welding at 45 and a bonified vw nut and rod n resto professional 20+yrs ;.......................long live the STF ............START THIS STUFF UP.......... Fabricator John ..
BUY A MILLER ITS WHAT YA WANTED ANYWAYS ..

Welcome to the STF.

Last time I checked, machining is a form of metal fabrication.
If you want to include machining in this, possible, forum, then I'd be willing to help with advice when I can.

Devastator you are on spot that gave me an idea. Why not just rename this forum to Shop Talk and go from there.

david58 wrote:Devastator you are on spot that gave me an idea. Why not just rename this forum to Shop Talk and go from there.

I think I see your point, but I hesitate to offer machining advice as most guys on this forum don't have machining equipment. If, however, someone is having trouble drilling a hole, for example, I'll usually chime in...if I see the post.

Yes we need one of these forums badly.

I don't know that it needs another section. Having it separate makes sense to keep things ordered, however, it is more specialized and not VW specific so it won't get as many visitors which would keep the response rates down most likely. I think it is good to have metal working and tool discussion on this forum because you can get a VW based answer to a VW based question rather than going to a non-VW forum for that trade where the users would give an answer based on completely different (and possibly irrelevent to VW) experience. I have questions about welding air cooled VW heads which I could ask on another forum, but they probably will not be familiar with the mass, quality, alloy, heat treatments (if any), and other VW specifics that could be a big issue that I do not know about yet.