Who has gone through Forbos installation training? I am seriously considering this because trying to make a good living doing everyday work has become very difficult beacuse of the big box stores. I have only ever worked for mom and pop shops and would never stoop so low to go to them for everyday work. They have no idea what quality workmanship is and I cannot work for them. I doubt that they would ever get into or would have the qualified installers to work with this product. I just recieved an application and it is quite inexpensive. The Associates certification is $150. They provide hotel and meals for four days. The Masters is $200 and the same applies. Has anyone gone through it? I know it is more difficult to work with but that does not bother me. I was trained back in the 70's with the corlons, brigantines and santa cruz that Armstrong had. As far as I can find there are very few Forbo certified installers in my area.
Been there done that. Why go for anything less than the Masters'? It's a full 6 days but I didn't mind. They say only about 30% who try for it make it. If you know what you are doin' it's not that difficult. They have two schools the one in Pennsylvania and one in Vegas. Any other Q's? JD
In the email that I recieved they tell me that I have to go through the associates before I go for the masters regardless of nearly thirty years of resilient installation. I guess the only thing that I would not have experience in would be the welding portion. I have never done welding but have always wanted to learn.
I could do some research but if I remember right you sign up for both for the same week. The associates is 3 days and the masters another three. I could be wrong about that but that's the way it use to be just a couple of years ago. I had done very little welding before I went and had never installed any Forbo. Our Local had a one niter welding class where we welded on Lino; so I had some practice before I went. Ebay is a pretty good source for welders. I would definitely get a Leister, try for a newer model as the handles are slimmer. I've bought several for around 225 (for co-workers). Once you get going you'll also want one of the smaller black ones. Probably one of the best pieces of advice for welding would be to get a tip that you are comfortable with. you eventually will need a few different ones but you'll end up using just one about 90% of the time. W.C. Tingle is a very innovative supplier out of NY, I have one of there customized tips that I would not weld without. Have fun JD
Chris it is a great school, but you will have to go through the associate course first I belive before you can take the master course, it is a pass or fail course but is one of the best schools I have gone to, its worth the time and moneyI think there is a school in Reno,NV, I attended the one in San Fransisco in 95. Hey Jim, can you find a link to those tips you speak of????? I use the turbo tips but am always looking for something better
Here is 2 pics of my favorite welding nozzle. For those of you that don't weld the reason for 2 pics is that the second shows the amount of pre-heat area. In most cases I use one mm larger than my rod size (thread size). This is a 5mm nozzle since a lot of the rod I use is 4mm. If you want pic of other stuff let me know I took some time off for tomorrow. We are about to start 10 thousand yards of 4' rubber, don't know if part or all is epoxy but there will be lots of welding. I don't go by the book on everything I do but if you want to see how I weld rubber I can do some pics, let me know. For those of you that do weld rubber how do you like it?...........Ain't it a trip! Nothing fancy Bryan sorry to disappoint. Can you post a pick of the turbo tip? Is it the octopus looking thing? Sorry, it's not W.C. Tingle it's Winkelman Sales Inc......http:/Winkelman-Sales if you don't see what you want just call them it's a family type business. JD
heres the tip I use Jim, the little preheat hole actually works, I can weld with a much higher heat, and still have a very strong weld That rubber sheet welding is a little different , but it sure is nice to cove
Action shots and welding is kinda like jumbo shrimp. The funny thing is that welding is probably the most boring part of the installation. Not only is it boring but you have to pay constant attention to what you're doing. And the worst part is sometimes you'll get a little smoke, the rod is like a dust magnet which gets in the nozzle and can burn. Or some types of rod will build-up inside the tip and burn slightly making a very nasty .........?smokey gas?. It's lethal! So what happens after a guy learns to weld is he says "Hey, this is cool." Then by day two "Hey, this is boring." and his mind starts to wander then he starts making mistakes; usually skips from momentarily going to fast or a burn from stopping. To me welding is 10% technique and 90% concentration. Seriously though, find someone that welds and you'll pick it up in 15 min. Since you recommend that tip Bryan I think I might get one, and try it out! Thanks JD
Wow! Thank you Bryan! I never know my schedule, Monday and Tuesday vinyl with welding, Wednesday doctors appointment, today patterned carpet, Friday laminate flooring. We have 2 very large vinyl and rubber jobs comming up so I could give you a heads up in about a month or so. I have to take some time off work for an operation, so I'll be out of the game for awhile. When I get on a big job I'll deffinitly let you know. What a guy! Do you know what a "poor man's outside corner scribe " is? When I'm off I could make up several and send you one; even post pics of how they are used. I have many scribes including the Crain OCS, but I perfer the simple one. I don't even use a scribe to mark them with anymore. I always had to decide whether to leave part of the scratch line on or not. So now I just mark them with a mechanical pencil against the simple jig. No more deburring. JD
Always like learning tricks,sounds great. Let me know when you want to try the tip, I have several so no biggie on the time frame. Thepoor mans scribe I have is a 4"x4" piece of nora rubber tile with a scribe needle pushed in it 1" in from the edge for direct scribing, though not as effective as my bar scribe,hehehe
Re: Forbo Training/Jim Jim you say you have to have surgery. Nothing real serious I hope. If it is knee I have had 4 of them piece of cake. Wasn't orthoscopic though. Good luck with the surgery Daris
