UKC

i'm interested in learning how to weld (and get my own equipment). which welding method would be the best to learn ?

ideally
*relatively easy to learn
*not too costly to get setup

In reply to lost1977: Probably arc or oxy-acetalene, imagine.

In reply to lost1977: what are you wanting to weld?

In reply to lost1977: my friend did a evening course at a college to learn the basics. it was cheap and I think they supplied everything. Are you looking to teach yourself?

In reply to lost1977: You want to learn welding with wire, mig welding or Tig welding.Mig is a gun fed with wire and is easy to learn...it's not too hard to learn to weld with stick (tongs and welding rods) stick is easier to set up but harder to get quality.

In reply to Oli:

had a casual look around and arc looks the cheapest to start with

In reply to johnj:

would love to be able to make some of my own strongman training equipment, but would also like to learn as i want to change jobs in the future and this looked interesting

In reply to lost1977:

hire shop will hire arc welders for about £30 for whoel weekend they'll also provide rods

In reply to rock waif:

haven't managed to find a course locally so if it is possible to self teach

In reply to lost1977:

Mind you don't flash yourself too much, painful!

I found arc welding bloody hard, but then I didn't try for too long.

In reply to lost1977: there are courses at most local colleges if you're still in London:
http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/Welding-courses/hc2_browse.pg_loc_tree...

I have no idea, maybe you don't need a course, although if you want to get qualified, if could help you get course credits to continue. Me know nothing.

In reply to lost1977: maybe for welding heavy steel, oxyacetylene would be the best bet, you can use it as a gas axe as well, as for a trade it would probably be best to go on a course c&g maybe to get the relevant tickets

The easier way for welding steel as a starter is; stick(arc) or maybe slightly cleaner welds with mig(gas shielded electric arc), I've done some car thickness steel with this, its quite easy to pick up

probably depends on what you buy for new would be something like 100-3/400

hth

In reply to johnj:

alot of the time the steel isn't actually that thick but the joins just have to be strong

In reply to rock waif:

thanks for that

In reply to lost1977: something like 5 to 6 mm max with mig

In reply to lost1977: go for mig. Easiest to learn and equipment and consumables cheap. You can self teach also. Ideal for what you want to make. You need tn open a boc account to get oxy bottles which is expensive for playing about type stuff

In reply to woolsack and johnj:

thanks guys, sounds like mig is the way forward. going to go to bed now and start reading up tomorrow

In reply to lost1977: mig is the easiest to do and get tidy,arc is also very easy to do, but quite difficult to do well without making it look like seagull shit, and tig needs a fairly steady hand, but leaves a fantastically neat weld, however tig is hardest to learn on your own, i know this because i taught myself to pipe weld with mig at college as the tutors wouldnt teach me.if your doing it with the idea of maybe taking it up as a career later on id have a think about which is going to be most benficial towards the job, if you want to do pipe wwelding, learn tig, if you want to general fabrication work, or car body work, learn mig, and if you jsut want to dabble at home in the garage on your mates exhausts etc, buy yourself a decent arc set.dont skimp with welding gear, as its frustrating having to weld, grind back and repeat over and over, or trying for 10 minutes to strike up an arc, finally doing it and blowing a hole through the metal.and dont buy a gasless mig welder, theyre shite

In reply to lost1977: I just learnt how to mig weld, I'm no pro but it took me about two days to learn to do it to a reasonable standard. I use the term reasonable quite loosely...

In reply to lost1977:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/ - loads of good advice there.

Mig welding is probably the easiest, and most versatile method for a beginner. Try and avoid the temptation to buy cheap s/hand kit, as it will cause more problems that it's worth. The Clarke range by MachineMart are pretty much the pick of the bunch for budget welders - even the bottom of the range 90 amp unit is a very useful little thing, as long as you're not expecting to weld anything over a few mm. Spend a few quid on a reactive helmet - it makes learning a million times easier if you can see what you're doing to line the work up. And avoid anything with a live torch like the plague.

Gasless MIG sets can also be a good thing. Firstly, you can usually easily convert them to gas operation so you get the best of both worlds, and secondly, if you're welding outside there's less chance of the shielding gas being blown away with gasless.

In reply to lost1977:
From the replies it´s obvious all the welders on UKC are in bed!
If at all possible go on an evening course or find a welder to teach you,there is more to welding than just sticking metal together.

Easiest to learn is mig but the welders are relatively expensive and they give (generally) the worst weld, but for rusty cars and general work this is the way to go. As someone commented, don´t go for the flux (gasless system).

Arc gives excellent welds but is a bit trickier but you have the choice of infinite types of filler rod and the welds are stronger. Don´t buy a cheapo diy welder, you either want an incredibly heavy old type welder or buy an inverter one. They allow you to start the weld much, much easier.
When you are buying one of these type you might as well get one that does tig as well as its not that much more and you can buy the cylinder etc later. If you think you will want to weld aluminium later then make sure it has this capability but really we are not talking cheap or easy by now.

Oxyacetylene is pretty well extinct.

A good source of free books to download and information is
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/bookspamphlets.html

Have fun and don´t forget when you accidently pick up something too hot and drop it quickly you say it was too heavy.

Jim

In reply to lost1977: Obviously, a course is best. Are there no agricultural colleges near you? our local one does a very good intruductory course - no good for you as it's in scotland. As a poor substitute, Halfords sell a booklet called 'teach yourself MIG welding' (or similar). Worth reading up a bit then hire a welder and have a go.

In reply to jimtitt:
>
Given what he wants to weld together that is probably the best advice on this thread.

It is possible that the steels used may well be very different to the stuff used for car panels, simply squirting weld metal at the joint from MIG welding might well have some unpleasant consequences. One might imagine that getting good fusion and penetration would be a requirement as would control of toughness/cracking in the heat affected zone (HAZ)due to hydrogen. Failure to do so might well result in things falling apart quite quickly and/or some time in the future due to fatigue crack growth. MIG welding might be "easy" but it is equal easy to get poor penetration, fusion and make a mess of the HAZ and pump it full of hydrogen.

In reply to lost1977: I did TIG welding for a few years when I left school. Very easy to learn. Not sure of its over all unfullness though.

Take into account the amount of BAD SHIT you breath in when welding. That was the reason I stoped.

In reply to Richard Bradley: use not un! Told you it has bad side effects!

In reply to graeme jackson:

You got any details on that? It's probably my local one too...

The mig-welding.co.uk site mentioned earlier is probabaly the best resource going for tutorials, advice, and there's also a bloke on there who sells the Clarke machines cheaper than Machinemart do.

In reply to Anonymous:

Oatridge college - ecclesmachan. course costs £120

http://www.oatridge.ac.uk/short_courses/workshop_skills_courses/basic_weldi...

In reply to Richard Bradley: They didn't fume use extractors then?

In reply to Horse: Last time he was trying to cut holes in gas bottles, I have a mental image of a huge spiky pile of bird poo at the end of a steel rod with the imprint of a gas bottle in

In reply to woolsack: Not in my day young man! . Even with extractors there is a fair amount of crap, some of which is nasty.

In reply to woolsack:

One of the side effects is Yodaism!

Chasing the blue dot.........welding is one thing I wish I was good at for dabbling in the back yard, but no effing way I'd consider it as a job. I think most of our welders would agree.

Most of them are half blind and have dodgy lungs!

In reply to woolsack:

Perhaps he now wants to fill the hole with weld metal!

In reply to Horse:


cutting the holes was a lot easier than i imagined it would be from the replies on that thread, managed to mount the loading pins ok using metal epoxy putty. but i guess welding them on would be better long term