Originally published at: "Fake" YouTube welding videos denounced | Boing Boing
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It’s so bizarre to me that anyone even has a reason to fake videos like this. MIG welding is already one of the easiest types of welding to do and can be done pretty quickly. It takes far less practice than TIG, Oxy-Acetylene or even stick welding. Using a spot welder to connect sheet metal together is probably the only easier welding technique.
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Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown the internet.
New/fun/quirky → Views → $$$$$
Same with the fake cooking videos that have been all over the place:
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What is the claim being made in the fake videos? My understanding from this video is that the fakes simply show Stitch welding with the frames between each stitch edited out.
Do the fake videos claim that the “Cold MIG” technique results in a proper joint? Are they saying that if you move quickly enough, stitch welding heats the base metal sufficiently?
Ann Reardon is an Ozzie saint. Her deep dives into viral cooking videos are really excellent, especially the one where she tried to find out who was behind so many of them:
Her cook book is brilliant as well.
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I’ve seen enough of the Crafty Panda videos to know of the technique. I think the implied claim is that the weld is as strong as a real MIG or TIG joint (and thus the base metal). For some of what is being produced the stitch weld is fine, but they have produced things were the weld will eventually be the weak point due to lack of proper penetration.
We do plenty of tack welds were I work, but that’s just to hold parts in place for a real MIG pass by robot or hand. Even a 5 or 10mm weld we do has better penetration than these stich welds.
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Honestly, I don’t think there really is a claim.
These kinds of videos (and I know the type because YouTube shows me similar things for woodworking) are “maker porn.” They aren’t watched by experts, they’re watched by crafter-hobbyists, wannabes, people who dream of doing this stuff, and people who just like to watch people make things.
Like a cooking show, the viewer wants to watch the end result appear out of a minimum of magic-seming steps and think to themselves “I could do that.”
Having thought “I could do that,” the viewer is left with the nice fuzzy feeling of having done that. I speak from experience. It’s similar to how writing a to-do list makes you feel like you’ve done the stuff.
So I think the key is that it looks cool, easy, smooth and professional. It makes you admire the maker, while still fitting in 30 second and making you think you could do it if you ever got around to buying yourself that equipment.
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The video shows that these are full-penetration stitch welds, which are then video-edited in such a way to make them appear fast, while leaving any expert scratching their heads and saying they can’t be full-penetration.
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The ridiculous “chef/cooking” videos get under my skin. The lack of even the slightest sanitary precautions is alarming and I have seen the most egregious proteins “cross contamination”, give ya the collywobbles and likely a nice case of diarrhea.
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Don’t forget the terrible knife skills. My reaction ranges from “y’know that’s probably not the best knife for the job” to “good god, that you tuber is going to cut their fingers off!”
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Oh yes yes yes, safety be damned in these vids, some good flash point moments with over heated oil, nothing like burnt oil to elevate the flavor of your dish.
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My daughter watches a television show with a collywobble character in.
Made me laugh thinking you’d turn into an eccentric clay character.
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I don’t watch youtube welding videos. I saw this video. Is Rob spying on me, or does youtube just recommend us the same stuff?
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“Fake” YouTube welding videos denounced
Why the scare quotes around “fake”? They really are fake; that’s the whole point of the video.
Someone is spying on you, but it probably isn’t Rob.
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That video was great.
I have never understood these fake how to videos. And I am really suprised that these crap videos are coming from a Russian content farm that has been Involved in propaganda…
Maybe I shouldnt be suprised.
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Oftentimes the weld is on something structural, that WHEN it fails it will pose an immediate saftey hazard or is part of a larger project that could bring harm to the end-user. I’ve seen the texhnique used on tubing benders, axe heads(!), wood fractal burning kits (super yikes), and other scary things. Equally as bad are the videos that show wiring “techniques” that subvert all common sense and safety.
I actually watch them with morbid curiosity. All I know for sure is that if I see that tecnique used on crafty panda or 5 minute crafts, I know NOT to use that technique.
In fact while watching I have a picture of dr. Nick narrating and lionel hutz doing the “have you been injured” commercial in my nind…
Or cornballer
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What makes this type of fakery gross is the false impression it gives of what welding looks like. That quick, rythmic, tapping is an aesthetic of competence contrived for these viral crafting/maker videos, but it would result in a much worse weld than seen in the video.
If you emulated this, you’d end up with the superficial appearance of a weld that might hold up when lifted or struck lightly as one might do to “test” something, but the first real force on it and it’s gone. Bad video!
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I especially despise the videos where they show people planting random kitchen scraps and growing market-ready vegetables.
Or planting a tomato seed in a banana skin and watching as a pepper plant grows from the seed
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