How to start welding?

S

spyder10

Joined
Dec 19, 2005
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Hi, I have very little experience in any type of metalworking, but I have been lurking in this forum for a while. One of the things that I have always wanted to try is welding, but I have never gotten around to it. I was planning on taking a class at the community college but I always seem to have conflicts with the dates. So my question is, how should I start? I was looking at the hardware store and say a small oxy-mapp torch setup that said it would weld 3/16 sheet steel, and was only $50. Is this a good rig to start with? I wanted to try stick welding but that looks to be more expensive and harder to teacher myself. Or am I mistaken?
Thanks for all you help in advance.

P.S. I have absolutely no need to learn how to weld, this is only for fun.:D
Edit-Forgot to add, absolutely no acetylene. I have herd horror stories about how dangerous that is.
 
I've been welding for about 25 years. The small oxy-mapp torch setup will work, but requires much more skill and practice to learn than a mig set up would require.

I use a small Lincoln 110-volt set up that uses flux cored wire. This type of machine is very easy to use and the learning curve is fairly quick. These small machines can be purchased for not much more than an oxy/gas torch setup.

The most important thing with welding is safety, no matter what method you choose to use. Some thoughts on welding:

  • Protect your eyes at all costs! Do not skimp on a welding hood or welding goggles. Get the best that you can afford.
  • Do not neglect your skin. The ultra-violet rays will burn your skin and can give you a nasty sunburn. Too much exposure to these rays can lead to skin cancer down the road. Most welders protect their arms from these rays with long sleeves and long cuffed welding gloves. The most neglected area of the body is the neck. I've had many burns from the rays on my neck at the v of my shirt.
  • Taking a class is always a great idea. It will expose you to many different welding techniques, such as MIG, TIG, stick, oxy-acetylene/MAPP, etc. It will better enable you to make your decision about what kind of welding equipment to purchase.

Thoughts on welding:
  • Pay close attention to the settings on a MIG, TIG, or stick welding machine. Use the correct settings for the type and thickness of metal that you're welding.
  • A quality weld requires good penetration. Do not be afraid to turn the machine up, if the job requires it.
  • Always chip away slag between each welding bead and wire brush it well. A good weld requires that you not burn any old slag into the next bead.
  • Practice, practice, practice. Get some scrap material and write your name on the surface. Use scrap material to make some metal sculptures. Play around and have fun.
  • Learn to make overhead welds and vertical welds, not just flat welds. The more positions that you can successfully weld a joint in, the more versatile you can be in your creations.
  • Have fun. Welding is an art form all of it's own.

Ickie
 
Flux core :barf: :barf: :barf:


:D I've had nothing but trouble with people wanting me to do welding for them and all they have is one of the cheap harbor freight flux core welders. Give me stick or TIG anyday. :thumbup:
 
Jared Stenoien said:
Flux core :barf: :barf: :barf:


:D I've had nothing but trouble with people wanting me to do welding for them and all they have is one of the cheap harbor freight flux core welders. Give me stick or TIG anyday. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I never used flux cored until I purchased this one for home use. I've used mostly stick and TIG when I worked in the steel mills. I agree with you, but......

for home "backyard/minor job/tacking together/ making little jigs/ playing around" it's hard to beat the simplicity of a flux cored wire welding machine.

Most of my welding now is:
  • welding rebar onto 52100 rollers
  • tack welding my canned damascus up
  • making little jigs for my anvil
  • making other small tools

with such simple requirements for a welding machine and the convenience of running of 110-volt, I love my little machine.

Ickie
 
I didn't mean to knock it in any way, just haven't had too great of an experience with them. :) Also I'm not sure what you've heard about oxy-acetelene but it's not so dangerous I wouldn't have one.
 
Stick is probably the easier and cheapest to start with. My tig welder does stick, and I find myself using the stick function for most things. It's forgiving an versatile.
 
You can get a used Lincoln AC255 ("Tombstone") for $50-100 pretty easily if you watch the classifieds. It's a stick welder and can handle any thickness of steel you're likely to run in to. I'm totally self taught and find stick welding really satisfying.

...of course I have the luxury of saying this with a MIG and TIG machine sitting next to the tombstone, but still I find myself using it all the time :)
 
You may not have a need at present, but who can say what you might need in the future.
If you want to learn how to weld, then go for it. Take a class. Purchase a stick or mig setup. You never know where this might lead. It is a very useful skill to acquire.

I have tig, OA and stick welding in my forge. I use all three,
depending on the need. I am self taught. It can be done.

Best of luck, Fred
 
- on $50 HD/lowes Oxy torch - it is to be avoided like plague. The O2
cylinder is tiny and won't last longer than 2-3 minutes

- Thanks to PROC (aka China), hobbyists now have access to quite an
array of really affordable welding equipment. $200 MIG, $200 "scratch" TIG/Stick are some of examples of dirt cheap stuff one can buy @ HF. Both work just fine.

MIG lays most amt of metal in a hurry. It also has most splatter etc. Stick
is next closest to metal deposit rates, is much simpler , as there's no wire feed mechanism. Splatters a lot.

TIG welders are "Cadillacs" of welding : they will weld practically anything (including metals that should not be welded w/o proper masks, like zinc-plated stuff, so one has to be careful) and when fully equipped, can cost $4000+ .

Thanks to PROC, excellent TIG can be had for $500 (search for TIG @ Grizzly).

TIG don't splatter, will weld anything from razor blade to 3/8" plate. Metal
deposit rates are low, it requires a bit of hand-eye coordination etc. Also
most TIGs also double as stick welders.


Oxy setups are still out there, but they prolly have limited use in a KM's shop.
There's nothing like an oxy torch when one wants to cut 152mm howitzer's cannon in half :) or quickly reduce WWII battleship to heap of scrap metal :)
 
I just bought a Thermal Arc Fabricator 190. Its a MIG (wire feed).
With auto darkening helmet and full argon bottle it set me back $1300. I havent even used it yet, CAnt WAit!
 
Welding is a lot of fun!!! At this point, you have no idea what to even ask..simply because you don't have any experience.

So, get some experience!! If you get a chance, just get a plate of steel and start laying down some beads...one after the other...heck, fill the entire surface with weld beads...then turn it 90 degrees and do it again...

After you get some helmet down time, start reading a text book for high school level welding shop.....then go back a weld more beads..read more weld more. Each session will start making more and more sense and you'll start searching the book with specific questions.

Welding takes a craftsman's touch with a technician's mind. There is some science and physics involved...but little can replace plain ol' "practice, practice, practice". You need to get a feel for what's happening.

If I've been away from the welder for a while, I'll spend a few minutes "practicing" on scrap before jumping into the real work. This helps get my "touch" back and gets me warmed up for the task. It also lets me make any adjustments to the welder as needed.

MIG,TIG, STICK, Oxy-A, ...whatever...just get started with anything and let the learning process begin!!

Have fun!!

-Rob
 
I like MIG, it's fast and really easy. Welding is a pretty big deal down here, what with the oilfield construction & such. Can't drive more than 10 minutes without seeing a flatbed with a Lincoln on the back. I didn't do stick enough to get great at it, and the guys who do it for a living will toss a rod if it doesn't arc on the first attempt. I'd go through a 10 lb box pretty quick that way :D But nothing like running a bead with LH and having the slag pop off in one piece. Haven't tried TIG, but thinking about getting one of those TIG/stick machines to practice, I have immediate access to two MIGs if I suck at it.
 
I have been working in welding inspection/NDT for about 8 years now. It has mostly been in construction/steel erection. I have seen many people weld moment welds with both stick and flux cored machines. I have heard some say flux cored was not as good, but I havent seen much difference. Was there some early difficulty with flux core that has led to a bad reputation? I dont have as much experience with TIG because its not used as much in field welding. The most I've seen was some poor souls having to weld a kiln back together after it cracked. The kiln was about 8 feet in diameter and over an inch thick, and was a nickel based alloy, so TIG was used for the root pass, then MIG for filler. One thing about flux core is the new welding codes have increased the toughness requirement for filler, so the price of wire is going up and some welders have trouble with the wire until they get used to it. A good portion of the people I see on jobs are probably self taught, maybe 10% or so, so it can be done. However, I would think even a rudimentary class would speed up the learning curve greatly. One thing I will mention, if anyone has a certification for O/A welding pipe, advertise it. We looked for 3 days to find someone that could weld a fuel line in an area where arc welding couldnt be done.
 
find your nearest community college type place , more likely then not they have night classes in welding .. give you a chance to play around and maybe try a few different set ups ,,and they will give you a good start on how to weld ..after that its practice and experimenting.
 
Thanks for all the great replies
Jared Stenoien said:
I didn't mean to knock it in any way, just haven't had too great of an experience with them. :) Also I'm not sure what you've heard about oxy-acetelene but it's not so dangerous I wouldn't have one.
Click to expand...

A leader from my old scout troop, who was a mechanic, said that his insurance company wouldn't cover his house if he had an oxy-acetylene rig in there. Not sure if it is true but it scared me out of acetylene for life.

warrior24 said:
Do you have 220 in your shop?
Click to expand...
Don't have 220 and don't have a shop.:D

Which bring me to my next question, where should I weld? Are there toxic fumes from mild steel? Can I weld in the basement or should it be outside? If I can weld in the basement then I may have access to 220.

shaker said:
find your nearest community college type place ..
Click to expand...
As I stated, I meant to take a class at the local community college but the dates never seem to work out for me. So I decided it would be easier to teach myself.

Also try to keep the price low, I can probably do around $100 for the welder plus maybe $30 or so for safety stuff, but I don't want to skimp on the safety stuff.
Double edit-I don't want to sound cheap but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on something that I may or may not enjoy.
 
I doubt most insurance companies would cover a house with industrial hazards. If you had a shop, they should insure that.

As far as hazards, welding fumes can be toxic. Galvanized steel has a bad reputation for making people sick. Nearly all weldable steels of the carbon variety (not sure about stainless) have manganese in them, which causes damage to some. Most of the guys I work around weld outside, but you dont want the fumes being blown toward you or rising under your hood.
 
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