Welding For Beginners?

[Jerzy Woking]

I'll soon be sorting my garage into a bit of a workshop, just to fiddle about with stuff. Never thought about it before, but a welder could come in handy, especially when I start to move into ownership of right shiters. And watching Vulgalour progress with His Princess had got my interest.

 

I've never welded before, but know I won't ever do anything complicated (i.e.Project Binky standards). So, where do I learn? On my own, "playing" about with a welder or do a course. Or find a welder that will show me the basics? I realise that it will take a lot of time to get even slightly proficien.

 

What type of welder should I be considering, seeing as I think I will just be working with steel?

 

Your thoughts are appreciated

[phil_lihp]

With my own little garage coming along soon I'm also interested in what people suggest. Project Binky is an inspiration, not to mention the welding heroics on this forum.

[derskine]

You want a mig welder, avoid gasless ones. Ones that do both gasless and gas shielded welding are fine though.

Clarke produce a range of good hobby welders, the Clarke 150te is more than enough to weld a car for example.

Cheaper migs are plagued by poor wire feeds which make welding an absolute nightmare. 

[garethj]

I think you'd learn a lot quicker being shown by someone who can weld.  Youtube videos are alright but you need someone next to you, telling you what's wrong with your weld and how to correct it.

 

After that, it's practice and getting the metal clean before welding.

[Bren]

A course is a sound investment.

 

Something to be aware of - single phase machines that you use at home will not deliver the same results as a 3 phase machine that you may use at college.

 

I used to do it for a living - only this week I had to knock up some brackets for the roof of my conservatory. I could not buy the broken items as they were bespoke - made out of plastic, I replicated them in steel. Job done.

 

Have a go - you will never look back.

[John F]

Have a go - you will never look back.

 

^ Absolutely.

 

The 'red' Clarke welders are fine for occasional hobby use, but they have a fixed torch that might not be long enough for some jobs and can't easily be replaced in the event of a defect. More 'professional' welders usually come with a detachable Euro-Torch.

 

Have a look in the forum on http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/, you'll get loads of advice on the best welder to buy.

[AlabamaShrimp]

I went to college to learn. They had big single phase machine and it was easy to learn, they cost about £1000 a piece. Got quite good but then bought a cheap welder from ebay made by Ryas or some such. It's a bag of shit with with bad wire feed and makes it look like it absolutely no idea.

 

Think in the end the best thing it to get the most expensive you can afford and practice a lot and you will just get it. Does help to have someone to show you though. My main problem was seeing the shapes I needed to cut in the new metal instead of trying to cover the whole thing one giant bit

[brickwall]

The government can give you 200 notes towards evening classes. Anyway, it's all about practice and experimenting. I'm more or less self taught after getting a few pointers and being able to ask some questions.

 

Welder: buy as good as you can afford. I bought a real cheapo and the wire feed is like a machine-gun which messes up  many welds. Clarke, as mentioned, do a fair hobby/car  welder. Gasless is a waste of money, but having gas/gasless is good in case you run out of gas with only a wee bit left to do. Gasless also burn hotter and can be difficult on thin metal.

 

If you can afford to sploodge out, get one of these:  http://www.r-techwelding.co.uk/welding_equipment/Mig_Welder/Mig_Welder_R-Tech_IMIG180

[danthecapriman]

I'd also recommend the Clarke 150te, nice home type mig set, and not too expensive either.

 

My mate tought me to weld, having someone there to show you and point you in the right direction really helps. Once you've picked up the basics it's down to practice.

Get a load of scraps and off cuts of metal and just spend a bit of time laying welds onto metal, getting the machine set up and working on technique. Then start trying to join bits of metal together in various different ways.

It's all about spending time practicing, and getting the work piece clean enough to weld.

It's a great skill to have and it can really come in handy sometimes.

[wuvvum]

Have a look in the forum on http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/, you'll get loads of advice on the best welder to buy.

Aye, but that's a bit like asking on here what's the best car to buy.  Plenty of advice alright, but you'll probably end up more confused than before you started.

 

My welder is gas / gasless, but I use it with gasless wire - mainly because I have nowhere indoors to weld a motor and welding with gas is almost impossible outside when there's any kind of a breeze (which there usually is round here, being near the coast).  It does splutter and fart more than a decent gas setup, but it gets the job done.

 

My welder is a Wolf 135A job that I bought secondhand off a mate.  I've read mixed reviews of them, but I've not had any issues.  Unlike some cheap welders it has quite a wide range of power settings - it can be dropped down to 30A, great for welding the tinfoil that old Renaults are made of - and an infinitely variable wire feed speed.

[New POD]

You want a mig welder, avoid gasless ones. Ones that do both gasless and gas shielded welding are fine though.

Clarke produce a range of good hobby welders, the Clarke 150te is more than enough to weld a car for example.

Cheaper migs are plagued by poor wire feeds which make welding an absolute nightmare. 

 

 I have a secondhand gasless mig. Nothing particularly bad about the results. (Once I threw away the old wire which was rusty and got a new nozzle.

[D Spares & Tyres]

You don`t need any more than a 130 for car bodies

 

Make sure its a turbo though. Sounds daft I know but without the fan it vastly reduces your working time and stands more chance of overheating it

 

Depends what you want to do exactly. You don`t need to be a decent welder to do car bodywork. just stick patch on and gradually `join the dots` otherwise you will get it too hot and warp it all

[dieselassist]

a course is worthwhile if you are a beginner  - it will show you the basics.... if you cant afford/haven't the time to go on a welding course; MIGwelding forum on its 'front page' gives some basic tips, re penetration/ laying down a weld etc, n as mentioned above - you tube vids can be useful.

 

My advice if your 'starting out' if try to get the basics right - a clean, see through mask, with new glass that isn't full of splatter pitting, good quality gloves, fire extinguisher/bucket of sand, leather arm socks. Don't be tempted to 'close eyes' n spot weld as you see the American chopper oafs or whatever do -  the arc light is strong from a welder, n will easily penetrate eyelids - arc eye is very, very painful - at this time of year, driving or being out in the sun after a mild dose of arc eye will be impossible; you'll be allergic to white light after arc eye.

 

when your welding, if your right handed, weld right to left n try to look at the bead 'ahead of it' while your laying it down - don't get too close. I originally learned 15 years ago, using a 10 year old SIP 130 I bought for £100 - many older MIG machines are superior in quality to the newer ones IMO - I have a Clarke 160 T now n for the money paid, Im not that impressed; fan cooling is constant- while the machine is switched on - the old SIP had a thermostatic switch to kick the fan in, theres no 'on' LED behind the switch.... just because a machine is new, doesn't make it better - the old machines had hard to understand settings, but once these were 'mastered' - no probs - the newer hobby machines have easier to fathom settings, but the quality has suffered - all my own opinion...

[lisbon_road]

Just a thought but do not dismiss resistance spot welding.  It requires a lot of preparation and is limited by what you can get the arms around, but the results are superb and there is very little skill - just patience preparing everything.

[scdan4]

I've been tempted to learn for a long time, and will do a course down the local college when the time and inspiration occur to me at the same time.

 

Based on nothing other than my own prejudice I'd decided that gas welding (with oxy bottles and everything) must somehow be "better " than electric welding, so if I'm going to learn to do something I may as well do it properly and learn that.

 

But thinking about it, I'm now not sure that's true, but don't know why.

[Station]

Buy the best one you can afford, don't buy gasless.

Just keep practicing and don't pay any attention to the welding nazi's.

[Taff]

another vote for the Clarke 150 here. I'm on my second, the first one lasted 17 years, this one ten so far.

 

Clean metal! mig thrives on clean metal, if your metal isn't clean, the mig will burp & fart all over the place, so make sure your metal is clean. If you can invent a way to weld mud to rust, you will become a millionaire over night.

 

Did I mention clean metal?

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

It is a very useful skill. I wanted to learn to weld a while back so I could repair my car (welding is a good thing to be able to do when you have an old Jag), so I enrolled on a course. The course seemed to be pretty good, but sadly it was cancelled due to a lack of demand. There were only a couple of people who wanted to do it.

 

If I decide to learn to weld in the future, a college course is how I would do it. 

 

Good luck with your welding whatever you decide to do. It is an invaluable skill for people who like old cars.

[jonny69]

Another vote for the Clarke 150. Mine is nearly 15 years old now, bought on recommendation and it's been great. Never lets me down. Get the blue box one over the red one.

[nisfan]

If your looking to weld up snotters its best to start on cars with good metal, ie Any datsuns, alfas. fso's etc.

My first foray into welding was a Vw polo, i then then moved onto a stanza which has metal  that is microns thick, it did improve my welding though.

[Craig the Princess]

I've been looking to do this over the summer using out local welder chap as a teacher. Mrs the princess did the course a few years ago but really doesn't enjoy it. It does mean we got a welder however.

 

Will hopefully start soon, just bought an automatic welding mask from the local factors for £35 (down from rrp of £160).

[theshadow]

taught my self to weld on a moggie minor,major rotted out,have used no gas clarke welder for few years,doin mot repairs on cars,just cut out all the rot,have now moved over pro kit comes with goggles £136.00 great portability for work on the farms etc,

[fordperv]

I taught myself to weld, i bought a welder, played with the power settings laying welds on a sheet of steel, then when I got the basic settings i began to weld offcuts of steel together, checked for penetration then destruction tested them with a bfo hammer, this helped me find my groove and I then set about cars, my best tip for welding is spend time on your prep work, get back to nice clean steel, make sure you have a good earth then zip away, if you skimp on the prep you will have shit welds

[catsinthewelder]

Find someone who knows how to weld and get them round when you try out your new welder.  Theres nothing as frustrating as blebbing away,  blowing holes in the metal and getting the wire stuck in the torch with no idea if it's you or the welder thats at fault.

[Jerzy Woking]

Thanks for the info-a mate is an ex-welder so, having been inspired by several members on here, I'll buy a gasless Clarke welder in the next few weeks, get a load of old steel, and get my mate to run through how it all works.

 

Sound pretty much like everything else-prepare properly and the results will speak for themselves. Whether this will see me buying a rusty, but otherwise sound, piece of four wheeled chod in the future remains to be seen

[catsinthewelder]

If you've got a garage to work in it's really worth spending the extra few quid on a gas cylinder and regulator.  The fumes from gasless welding are bloody horrible.

[twosmoke300]

Clarke , yes . Gasless, no !

 

You will put yourself back in ability and confidence

[DodgyBastard]

Gasless= Outer shield, inner death...

[Grundig]

It's all about clean metal & practice 

[Honey Badger]

I'd like to join a welding course but none of the local adult learning centers offer anything of the sort, flower arranging or colouring in for beginners are available but nothing of any practical use.

 

Similar situation with auto electrics which is another interesting area but has no evening classes available.