Welding and it's portrayal in games

[DemodiX]

      You know welding or the sparky-sparky magic sticks guys? I know some of them, it's me and I have a problem, an itch, with how welding portrayed in games and how its always miss in "hit or miss" decisions. 

 

      Let me shortly explain what's welding is for people, who don't know. Welding is a process of combining pieces of metal together by heating it to melting point by gas (propane, propane-oxy mixture or acetylene-oxy mix) or by electrical arc with electrode (the most common one) and creating a seam between parts to join them together. (You can watch more of it from YouTube, if you care to understand my point).

 

      My problem in PZ that it's almost got it right. You have welding rods, the mask and propane with torch, problem is that's still wrong, you can solder with propane torch, but not weld and while you can weld with a propane-oxy torch with use of flux and specific metal rods, you have much more chances to find an actual welding machine (google welding inverter for reference, there is different ones, but i put an example of simplest one) in someone home than a propane welding kit. Welding inverters usually a small boxes (~50x20x20 cm) with 3 cables attached to it, one on the back that can be powered by just your in home outlet, the other two is a cables for reverse and direct polarity (don't think about it much, even if you attach it wrong you can still weld) with one you attach to material you want to weld and with other, the one, with electrode holder, you strike electrical arcs with electrode in order to weld two pieces with no gas needed, because coverage of electrode provide safe environment for metal to actually weld pieces by melting and evaporating to CO2. That comes with very bright arcs, that are actually brighter than sun (the more you know!) and produce a lot of ultraviolet light and a lot of sparks that potentially can cause an ignition of flammable materials, so you have to wear at least gloves, long sleeve shirts, mask and pants to not burn your skin and eyes by UV light or sparks, and should mind that arcs can ignite stuff that laying around as well.

      You may ask, "Okay, welder guy , but what about existing propane torch and propane accessories", "Easy", may i say, you know what actual torches (the ones with attached two hoses, i don't want to talk about the "wireless" ones) you usually see in all these games and movies actually used to cut metal and they don't produce bright light like welding and sound more like loud gas stove? You can repurpose propane torch to make it a fast metal cutting tool. Problem is to make a stable flame that able to heat and cut through metal you need oxygen (separate oxygen tank) and propane mixture that torch creates by adjusting valves on it, and actual cutting is happening by adjusting "blow valve" with oxygen blowing away the hot metal from material. But where can we get pure oxygen in zombie apocalypse world is a good question, maybe medical clinics, car repair shops, metal-rolling factories, scrapyards? Probably, but oxygen is not shelf-stable gas, so, it will eventually run out and bottles that hold it most likely will deteriorate, so, there is a solution that you can find in a home with a guy who have welding inverter for sure and you probably know it, it's an angle grinder with cutting discs, that requires only electricity and discs to cut metal, not that fast as propane torch, but more reliable, less needy and relatively less dangerous, also comes with loud damn noise and sparks, lots of them. You can also use it to work with wood with different discs as well, but that's different topic.

 

      And that's kinda my point, i just wish that PZ could be the first game that actually can represent welding right and not just go by the stereotype trope.

 

edit: i cant answer anything in thread because my posts is hidden and it takes apparently 20+ hours for moderator to approve it.

Edited June 30, 2022 by DemodiX
to communicate

[ZombieHunter]

So I looked up a little history for it

 

The First Welding Inverter ( Hilrac 400 ) was shown off in Essen Welding Fair in Germany 1977 

 

Edit

Zomboid is set in 1970s 

 

So it wouldn't have actually been in the U.S until probably 1980s. 

Edited June 29, 2022 by ZombieHunter

[DemodiX]

I thought PZ was set in 80-90s. Oh well. But there was welding transformators, generators and alternators at that time, because first arc welding machines invented in 1880 as far as i remember.

Edited June 29, 2022 by DemodiX

[Papa Juliet Whiskey]

70's?

Nah bro, 1993 is the games date.

[ZombieHunter]

1 hour ago, Papa Juliet Whiskey said:

70's?

Nah bro, 1993 is the games date.

 

Ah then ignore what I said

( though the history part is accurate ) 

 

All the cars and houses looked so old school I figured it was the 70s

Edited June 29, 2022 by ZombieHunter

[Wren]

vhs tapes and player/recorders weren't really common until at least the mid-80's.

[getstoopid]

Okay, welder guy *g now I see your point but what do you propose as actual improvement to realism and still playable solution?

[DemodiX]

1 hour ago, getstoopid said:

Okay, welder guy *g now I see your point but what do you propose as actual improvement to realism and still playable solution?

Having welder inverters with electrodes and not a weird contraption of torch, propane and electrodes, that definitely would add some immersion at the very least. Also you can add skin burn by UV light, if you weld in clothes that don't cover your skin, maybe add a chance to set something flammable (papers, junk, wood with lesser chance) on fire if it's in 2 meter vicinity while welding. There is also actual welding generators, that acts like your usual generator, but have outlets to attach welding cables.

[EnigmaGrey]

Still annoys the heck out of me that it's a propane tank being used straight instead of combined with oxygen or not a full A/O cart.

[DemodiX]

1 hour ago, EnigmaGrey said:

Still annoys the heck out of me that it's a propane tank being used straight instead of combined with oxygen or not a full A/O cart.

There is propane only torches used for soldering with tin and brass, but it's not welding, obviously. And anyway you usually don't weld with oxy-propane torch, because it's much colder flame, than oxy-acetylen that was used widely before for welding. Oxy-propane kit was used mostly for cutting metals and welding was performed with welding transformators/alternators and electrodes like 30 years ago, where i live (not US). My opinion, that it wouldnt hurt the gameplay if for welding we only need a welding machine and electrodes, but for disassembly we need a torch or grinder.

[Papa Juliet Whiskey]

To the OP author, I've a slightly related question.. 

 

Hammering and folding iron onto itself on an anvil blacksmith style, is that what forge welded means?

[DemodiX]

2 minutes ago, Papa Juliet Whiskey said:

To the OP author, I've a slightly related question.. 

 

Hammering and folding iron onto itself on an anvil blacksmith style, is that what forge welded means?

Yes, it's a forge welding, it's how it was performed in medieval times.