How hard is welding & where do I start?

[priobe]

hello All,

I was thinking of getting into Welding but dont know the first thing about welding.

I would like to purchase a welder that I can grow into so that I dont find myself buying a sec one.

Some of the projects I see in the near future are:

Make my own side pipes mild steel and stainless
Possibly the biggest project I see might be doing a scratch build (chassis)

I am not sure if I should look into a Mig or Tig welder.

Can someone educate me on this please.

[Three Peaks]

If you have a community college in your area, they usually offer adult education classes and welding is always a popular subject. You may also check with your local welding supply store and see if they have a lead on where you can get some classes to learn welding.
If it were me, I would start out with a nice MIG welder and move up to a TIG later if you decide you would like to.

Bob

[Kramer]

Priobe,

I am in the same boat. For now, I simply purchased a Lincoln Electric Welder for now to experiment with for now. I also checked out various schools and the like, but nobody had any night courses so effectively I am teaching myself. I you are lucky to have some night training (assuming you work during the day), I would say enlist as soon as possible.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...3+90401+503465

Also, no doubt there are a lot of smart people here that should respond, however go to this site to learn more about welding. There are a lot of experts there.

www.garagejournal.com

Kramer

[patrickt]

If you Google "welding videos" you'll see there are quite a few of them on YouTube, ExpertVillage, and the like.

[2006GT]

Originally Posted by Kramer

Priobe,

I am in the same boat. For now, I simply purchased a Lincoln Electric Welder for now to experiment with for now. I also checked out various schools and the like, but nobody had any night courses so effectively I am teaching myself. I you are lucky to have some night training (assuming you work during the day), I would say enlist as soon as possible.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...3+90401+503465

Also, no doubt there are a lot of smart people here that should respond, however go to this site to learn more about welding. There are a lot of experts there.

www.garagejournal.com

Kramer

I have the same welder. Works great for what it is. I do agree, start with Mig and work your way up to Tig. I use to do some welding in shop class a long time ago! Migs great for utility type welding , but Tig gives you a really pretty weld.

What I did to practice was to build a welding table. Two birds with one stone... got to practice and got a table.

[ENTDOC]

Miller will send you a very extensive collection of books on welding for a small fee. I would also suggest a MIG welder to get started, they are simple and you can be welding with good results in an hour or two, 220 volt if possible and use shielding gas. have fun.

[mickmate]

All good advice so far. I would recommend a little time on the training section of the Miller web site. I would also consider a name brand MIG to get going for parts service reliability etc. Make sure you get a package that can handle a backing gas as well as a flux core wire. Make sure your polarity is correct for whichever of those. 220 is more efficient and capable of heavier welding as well as lighter gauge. If you can swing it a plug for a spool gun is a nice feature if aluminum is in your future. Good luck with it, once you've learned some settings you'll really learn by doing. Push on lighter stuff, pull on heavier stuff!

[63mercury]

I agree with all that was said but the one thing that makes a good welder is LOTS of practice. I started back before mig was available to the little guy and learned to stick and oxy-acetylene weld first, tig is almost like oxy-acet, but it all takes PRACTICE. I have a Lincoln 225 stick and a Snap-On mig unit.

[Paul F]

You will want both MIG and TIG. If you say you want to get the right one the first time, get a name brand; Miller, Lincoln. Get 220V with at least 150amp capacity. Do not get 120v unit.

Books and videos are a waste of time for me. They tell you the very basics and in fact, I have found them to be misleading. You just can't explain what's going on in a book or a video. You have to see it and do it first hand.

Go to a junior college or, practice yourself and when you get stuck go to a local welder and hire him for an hour to show you what you are doing wrong. This is definitely learn by doing. For TIG, I think a mentor is very helpful to get you some fundamental knowledge you may never figure out on your own.

For smaller projects, if you are going to fabricate on the floor or your bench, get a sheet of metal to lay everything on. Very handy to just put the ground electrode on the metal plate and then lay your project on the metal sheet. You can tack your project to the sheet to steady it or position it if need be.

Buy 2, 3, 4 cheap 4 1/2" grinders from Harbor and set them up with cutoff wheel, grinding wheel, and 80grit and 120 grit wheels.

Like everyone has said, practice, practice, practice.

[xlr8or]

Mig welding is easy. Doing it right and having it look good requires practice, practice, practice.