Lincoln electric's version

by pete
(Cleveland Ohio)

I had a chance to operate one of these contraptions at a state level welding competition for high school students in which I was a judge. It was sponsored by lincoln and the reps brought out one of thier new virtual reality welders to show off at the booth.

What a marvel of technology but what a false reality at the same time. It was different in the fact that you had plastic weld coupons ( fillets, grooves and pipe) and you could choose between Solid wire mig, gas shield flux core and stick welding with 5p or low hi. The one realistic thing was the stinger would actually mimic burning and retract the rod as you welded. Other than that it was nothing like the real thing. It was very difficult and cumbersome. Couldnt make a weld that scored higher than 80% in a flat fillet haha. Then I tried 6" pipe in 6g with a 5p root and what a joke.

According to the machine I burned holes all through the the damn thing. Looked like swiss cheese. In real life I do this for a living! No fire raining down, no sticking rods. I do not know how they can market that as a training tool but people were sure interested in buying them. I do believe they are selling at 40-50 thousand bucks. Yes thats for real... And schools have been ordering them up. Just goes to show how much money schools have been hoarding and ripping people off that they can afford multiple machines at this price. Buts thats a different topic for another day.

It might be usefull as far as introducing someone to welding who has never seen one before. But to train someone to weld on one of these is like playing a war game on Xbox and sending them into a war zone in Iraq with a gun. Not gonna work to well.

Happy Welding
Pete
Boilermakers 744

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Pete,

well said....good post...i agree 100 %

jody