Welding Setup?

[Gizzygone]

My small “shop” is geared towards woodworking and storage… So walls are all Plywood… Workbenches are plywood… and tools are all woodworking tools.

But, I’ve been interested in learning how to weld for a while now. I purchased a welder about a year ago, and finally got around to unboxing it.

I’m quickly learning I’m going to need a few more tools/a bit more gear in order to learn (Attaching a ground lead to some small pieces of scrap metal isn’t ideal.

I’m curious:
1: What gear do you think is ”bare minimum” when it comes to starting off (I have the machine, a hood, and gloves)
2: What should I be looking for for work surfaces, keeping in mind my budget is low and storage is really becoming scarce (a welding blanket tossed over my wood benches, with a Klutch or Dewalt table top Over it?… A harbor freight cheapo-table that I can bring outside? A slab of steel that I can lay on cinder blocks? Or **** it up and weld on the floor?)

 

[Renegade1LI]

There’s no downside to a hf welding table, they fold up and are light, i use mine a lot. I usually set up outside my garage, if i have to work inside i can roll some equipment out of the way and set up the table inside, use adjustable supports to hold long stuff. At the minimum a good shield, gloves and a canvas or leather welding jacket, chipping hammer, wire brush, grinder with assortment of wheels and brushes. If you have a local place to take a welding class that would be a big help to get started, save some time over trial and error. Once you get started add some steel clamps, magnetic angle blocks, you really don’t need that much to weld, just need to learn good techniques and lots of practice.

 

[racecougar]

For starters, what type of welding are we doing? SMAW, FCAW, MIG, TIG...?

 

[Jswain]

Welding on the floor *****, so much that it will deter you from wanting to pull out the welder & take your learning to a crawl.

Welding cart on wheels, with storage for most of your essentials, and a welding table on wheels or easily folded up makes it a quick job to use so you will likely use it more often.

As for bare minimums if you have the welder, gloves, hood already...purchase an angle grinder with thin cutoff wheels & thicker grinding wheels & either soapstone to mark or a carbide scribe. A small pack of welding magnets will help for fitup of small pieces, and a proper pair of welding pliers to help you cut the stickout at the same length each time.

If you are using fluxcore or stick welding you will want a chipping hammer, wire brush, and probably a knotted wheel for your angle grinder as well

 

[Gizzygone]

For starters, what type of welding are we doing? SMAW, FCAW, MIG, TIG...?

I’m going to start with FCAW for now (trying to avoid investing in tanks/gear right off the batt)

Welding on the floor *****, so much that it will deter you from wanting to pull out the welder & take your learning to a crawl.

Welding cart on wheels, with storage for most of your essentials, and a welding table on wheels or easily folded up makes it a quick job to use so you will likely use it more often.

As for bare minimums if you have the welder, gloves, hood already...purchase an angle grinder with thin cutoff wheels & thicker grinding wheels & either soapstone to mark or a carbide scribe. A small pack of welding magnets will help for fitup of small pieces, and a proper pair of welding pliers to help you cut the stickout at the same length each time.

If you are using fluxcore or stick welding you will want a chipping hammer, wire brush, and probably a knotted wheel for your angle grinder as well

The Klutch welding station looks like it would check a few boxes (rolling cart with a table on top). I’d just need to cut a few inches out of the height to let it roll under one of my wooden benches in the shop…

 

[jrsavoie]

I like an aluminum welding top. Good grounding easy clean up

 

[racecougar]

FCAW is absolutely fine to learn with. If you're welding anything 1/8"+ it's cake. If you learn how to weld sheetmetal with FCAW, you'll be really good at it by the time you switch to gas.

Minimum equipment to make it worthwhile, IMO: decent hood, a few pairs of leather welding gloves, a welding cap, a denim long sleeve shirt (welding jacket is better of course), a 4-1/2" grinder with grinding, cut-off, and wire wheels, a few magnets and clamps, and extra tips for the gun.

 

[Jackfre]

For years I used the Makita abrasive saw. Now here in CA I don’t dare make those kind of sparks. That applies not only to outside, but I too have a welding station in a corner of my wood shop. I run Metabo and Makita small angle grinders. You need one with assorted blades and wire wheels. A few years ago I picked up the 14” Evolution chop saw to replace the abrasive saw and it is excellent. As a noob, getting a good fit-up will help you weld better. That goes for the pros as well. Also, get some of the magnetic angle guides. I don’t care for flux core. Yes, it works but it is dirtier and harder to see what you are doing as a beginner. When you can, as soon as you can get the tank so you can run bare wire. It is just so much easier to see your tie ins and such. Try to find a heavy plate to use as you welding table top. A few good projects are welding machine cart, table and a pair of solid saw horses. I make mine out of 2x2x.019 with a 1.5” channel top. Then, practice, practice practice. Oh, and fire extinguishers1

 

[tarmy]

Make a table. Go on Welding Web and look around. A lot like this site for welders. My first big project was this table.

 

[hkd76]

Nice Table.

 

[mcbane]

Try to keep your FCAW welding away from sawdust and fine kindling wood. Ideally, take the welding work outside. If you do need to weld near all of your wood working stuff, it is a good idea to hang around for a while after the welding is done to make sure nothing is smoldering.

 

[Gizzygone]

Make a table. Go on Welding Web and look around. A lot like this site for welders. My first big project was this table.

It seems like a nice project: but I literally have 4 minutes of playing around with a welder under by belt…. No other experience, and learning just from YouTube videos here: I’d love to think a project like that would be feasible, but It’s out if my league.

Try to keep your FCAW welding away from sawdust and fine kindling wood. Ideally, take the welding work outside. If you do need to weld near all of your wood working stuff, it is a good idea to hang around for a while after the welding is done to make sure nothing is smoldering.

Good points. I was thinking a welding blanket to lay over my wood bench would be needed if I weld indoors.

 

[racecougar]

It seems like a nice project: but I literally have 4 minutes of playing around with a welder under by belt…. No other experience, and learning just from YouTube videos here: I’d love to think a project like that would be feasible, but It’s out if my league.


Good points. I was thinking a welding blanket to lay over my wood bench would be needed if I weld indoors.

Welding blankets certainly help, but do not consider them impermeable devices. Slag/sparks do burn holes through them over time.

 

[nadogail]

I suggest you check your local community college for a welding education program, you will receive instruction and get the use of their tools and equipment for what should be a very small cost.

By trying out their tools you will see what works for you.

Avoid being the kid that walks into the tool truck and says "sell me what I need too learn"

 

[Aaron_W]

I was able to get a chunk of 1/2" steel plate, about 2x3 feet from the drop racks of my local metal supply. I just lay it on some old metal shelving I had and it works for my welding table until I make something better.

I weld outside, besides the sparks welding creates a lot of fumes. When welding outside do make sure to weed wack the area well, and keep a garden hose handy. When it is dry I wet down an area outside my welding spot, just in case. Dry where I'm welding, but a ring around it.

 

[LeeG]

My 4' x 3' welding table is also the outfeed table for my table saw. When welding, I cover the saw table with a piece of 1/8" aluminum sheet. I never weld on that sheet, it is just there to protect the cast iron saw from weld spatter and to keep sparks out of the interior of the saw.

I sealed up my saw pretty well to keep sparks from that dusty interior, and I keep the entire garage clean as a general principle. I will rig a welding curtain around the perimeter of the table when grinding to keep bits of molten steel contained.

As mentioned above, the harbor freight welding table is a pretty good buy. I still use mine quite a bit, and there are some threads on here where people have improved them. I keep my garage door open most of the time I am out there so fumes are not much of an issue.

 

[brownbagg]

i made a table out of a old manhole cover I found

 

[brownbagg]

two saw horses and a grate

 

[tarmy]

It seems like a nice project: but I literally have 4 minutes of playing around with a welder under by belt…. No other experience, and learning just from YouTube videos here: I’d love to think a project like that would be feasible, but It’s out if my league.


Good points. I was thinking a welding blanket to lay over my wood bench would be needed if I weld indoors.

Get a good grinder with lots of flap disks….that will be your best friend when welding!

I had exactly 20 minutes of real welding experience when I did that table. Did lots of research and went at it…couple of screw ups but I learned a lot in the process. I did it with an ole Miller 180 and just got at it. Welding is all about trying stuff and practice. I weld intricate and complex stuff now years later…

Go for it OP…

 

[MongoTA]

I’m curious:
1: What gear do you think is ”bare minimum” when it comes to starting off (I have the machine, a hood, and gloves)
2: What should I be looking for for work surfaces, keeping in mind my budget is low and storage is really becoming scarce (a welding blanket tossed over my wood benches, with a Klutch or Dewalt table top Over it?… A harbor freight cheapo-table that I can bring outside? A slab of steel that I can lay on cinder blocks? Or **** it up and weld on the floor?)

Bare minimum?
You have the things to weld (machine, hood, gloves) now get things to pre and post clean up your work:

1) Metal brushes for whatever you are welding (carbon steel brush for cleaning up steel, etc), And for brushing welds when complete. That's the minimum. Better would be an angle grinder with flap/cutting/grinding disks. An angle grinder will also cut your stock to size. Angle grinder would be much better at cleaning up mill scale or dirty metal as needed. It'll make fabrication go faster with better quality and overall it'll enhance your time in the shop.

2) Something to weld upon. My first 'welding table' was a piece of 1/4" plate. Maybe 12" by 48". I put it on my tablesaw table and hung it about 6" off the end of the table. I'd put my work clamp on the overhanging plate. If my work was larger than the plate, I'd place pieces of 1/4" scrap plywood on the tablesaw table to hold the work even with top of the 1/4" plate. I did a LOT of work on that before I fabbed up a true welding table.

3) Markers. I've used everything to mark my work. I've used sharpie markers to make layout or cut lines. I have red and silver pencils. I have soapstone. I have a carbide scribe. Pick up things as you go along.

4) Clamps. I got good at tacking things, measuring and adjusting, tacking, checking, adjusting, tacking, and then welding off. And then you finally get a couple decent welding clamps (I used my wood working clamps for a while) and a few magnetic 45s or 90s and life is so much better.

5) Awareness. Doesn't cost a dime but it can save you dollars. When grinding metal, know where your sparks are going. When cutting metal, watch your drops. When welding, tell others in the house. I'll tell them when I'm welding in case someone decides to visit me while I'm running a bead and they happen to pop in, instinctively look at the brightest light in the room, and get blinded. My wife has her business workspace on the other side of the shop. I have a curtain between us when I'm welding, but I also call out "WELDING" before each bead.

You don't need much to get started. Your projects and your skill level will dictate future purchases. My next thing was a metal cutoff saw as I had to cut a lot of tube and angle to length. A carbide blade on a low speed saw? It's like cutting through butter. Faster, cooler, without hot sparks being thrown all over. Evolution has a nice line of starter saws that perform well.

One of the best home skills I ever picked up was learning to weld. Makes DIY life easy, and opens up so many venues for fabrication.

Enjoy!

 

[jack stand]

I've welded many projects on a pair of wooden sawhorses. Always go back into your shop a few times and a few hours apart after finishing up for the day. Look and smell, lights on and off. I don't get overly excited about fire, but it's on my mind the whole time minding my spark output (mostly grinding/abrasive cutting), gas tanks and anything gaseous.
Even oily rags will smoulder and give you warning and I've never seen anything just burst into flames. Situational awareness is important all the time.
A little welding flash never blinded anybody.

 

[Gizzygone]

I’m curious how well one of the HF hydraulic lift carts would work as a welding table?

 

[dffay]

All good advice.....there’s a rule (written somewhere) of staying in the immediate area after welding, cutting, grinding, etc., for 30 minutes in case some errant spark is growing. It’s best judged by one beer consumption time.

 

[LeeG]

I’m curious how well one of the HF hydraulic lift carts would work as a welding table?

I have one of the HF Lift carts. I use it all the time to bring projects up to a comfortable height. I think you would run into problems clamping items to them if you were just using it as the primary weld table. Better than welding on the floor, but I'd still go with the little portable table - a copy of the Stronghand Nomad table.

 

[brownbagg]

you havent live till you crank the mig welder to level 8 and the wire speed at 72

 

[lkjk]

What kind of stuff are you going to be welding? like furniture, shop stuff, etc?

 

[Aaron_W]

Make a table. Go on Welding Web and look around. A lot like this site for welders. My first big project was this table.

That is a nice looking and useful table / cart adding the photo to my ideas folder, thanks.

I’m curious how well one of the HF hydraulic lift carts would work as a welding table?

Seems heavy, expensive and still not that great.

The idea given of a piece of steel plate and some saw horses is fairly cheap, effective and simple.

 

[quickfarms]

I would go to school for welding, check the local adult education and community colleges

I have always welded outside, both of my welding tables are outside the shop.

It would help to know what you want to weld, material and process, and size of projects.

Equipment
Welding helmet, get a good auto darkening one. I use a FR canvas bib to block the sun
Welding gloves
Leather mig glove for your dominant hand.
FR welding shirt or jacket
FR apron
Safety glasses
4.5 angle grinder, I use 3, one with flap disc, one with cutoff wheel, one with grinding wheel

 

[Gizzygone]

I have one of the HF Lift carts. I use it all the time to bring projects up to a comfortable height. I think you would run into problems clamping items to them if you were just using it as the primary weld table. Better than welding on the floor, but I'd still go with the little portable table - a copy of the Stronghand Nomad table.

I’ll have to see if the top is even bare metal: but my thought would be a dual purpose item in the shop: a portable welding bench AND a lift for getting heavier items around. (I’m a sucker for dual-purpose tools)

What kind of stuff are you going to be welding? like furniture, shop stuff, etc?

Right off the batt? Just scrap so I can get a feel for things. Then maybe some furniture/fixtures or for repairs around the house/on the cars.

That is a nice looking and useful table / cart adding the photo to my ideas folder, thanks.



Seems heavy, expensive and still not that great.

The idea given of a piece of steel plate and some saw horses is fairly cheap, effective and simple.

Certainly heavy and pricey, but on wheels and could be used for other reasons around the garage (assuming, again, that it has a bare metal top, and not painted…)

I would go to school for welding, check the local adult education and community colleges

I have always welded outside, both of my welding tables are outside the shop.

It would help to know what you want to weld, material and process, and size of projects.

Equipment
Welding helmet, get a good auto darkening one. I use a FR canvas bib to block the sun
Welding gloves
Leather mig glove for your dominant hand.
FR welding shirt or jacket
FR apron
Safety glasses
4.5 angle grinder, I use 3, one with flap disc, one with cutoff wheel, one with grinding wheel

I’ve looked into classes locally, but there aren’t many that are geared towards hobbyist’s (Plenty of full day courses for those looking to pick up a trade, but no evening/weekend class options).

 

[CraigStu]

I TIG so this may be a little different but I have my little 24x24 welding table at about elbow height. I don't do long enough welds to need to sit but being able to rest my forearms on the edge of the table makes for much nicer welds. Initially I made my little cart maybe 20x20 w/ casters on the bottom and a couple of posts to strap the argon tank to and a bit of a cage over and around the regulator/gauges. Then I picked up the 24x24x1/4 piece of scrap steel. Extended my posts, added two more posts, and welded it over the cart. Not pretty enough to show a pic but this has my whole welder, table etc in a space 24W x 24D x elbow tall

 

[Gizzygone]

I TIG so this may be a little different but I have my little 24x24 welding table at about elbow height. I don't do long enough welds to need to sit but being able to rest my forearms on the edge of the table makes for much nicer welds. Initially I made my little cart maybe 20x20 w/ casters on the bottom and a couple of posts to strap the argon tank to and a bit of a cage over and around the regulator/gauges. Then I picked up the 24x24x1/4 piece of scrap steel. Extended my posts, added two more posts, and welded it over the cart. Not pretty enough to show a pic but this has my whole welder, table etc in a space 24W x 24D x elbow tall

I’m starting to like the idea of a plate over a dedicated table: I could tack a piece to the plate instead of using clamps (that I’ll also need to find homes for).

I have a few calls out to yards around here to see if any have remnants that would fit the bill. We have a metal supermarket about 40 minutes away, but their online tool says $200 for a 2’x2’ plate (not sure if that’s really the going rate?)

Roughly how much does a 24x24x1/4 scrap weigh?

 

[racecougar]

Roughly how much does a 24x24x1/4 scrap weigh?

40 lbs.

 

[MongoTA]

Roughly how much does a 24x24x1/4 scrap weigh?

If you're hot for the HF lift as a dual use table and lift, you can still get that but I'd recommend still placing a piece of plate over the top of it. That way you can tack/grind/splatter on your nice flat plate versus having to mess with the finished surface of the lift.

While racecougar already answered, a good number to remember is steel weighs a little over 10lbs per square foot for each quarter inch thick of thickness. So 1" plate weighs about 40lb/sqft. 1/8" about 5 lb/sqft.

Carry that over to square tube, a simplified example is take 3" square tube, it'll 'unfold' (4 sides at 3" wide) to about 12". Actually slightly less due to corner geometry, but good enough for estimating weight. So a 1' long piece of 3" square, 1/4" thick steel tube would theoretically weight about 10lbs per foot of length. Although reality would bring it in at slightly less, around 9.25 to 9.5 lbs per foot length. Again, an estimator.

Surplus steel around me for DIY pickup goes for around $1 a lb, at least it was last year. Probably more today.

 

[lkjk]

I'd vote get a bottle and ditch the flux.

Welding table is a good idea but the problem i would point out is you don't know your needs yet. I made a welding table/cart as my first project. I cut it up and remade it a couple times, and a few weeks ago got a proper welding table because my original wasn't big enough. When i first made it i thought that's all i would ever need, that was only 3.5 years ago and i'm also a hobby welder only

 

[ipgenie]

I use my Harbor Freight lift table all of the time for small welding projects. I removed the rubber sheet on top and clamp the ground to the project.
Its great to raise the work to just the right height and when I'm done it's often used as a tool cart for whatever other project I'm working on.
One of these days I'm going to slice a piece of 1/2 plate to sit on it for a little bigger work surface that will be easy to clamp to, but I haven't taken the time. Gotta get the shop finished before I get to some of those extras.

 

[ipgenie]

I picked up this vice for $30 on CL and grabbed an old brake drum and scrap tubing to make a stand. I used the lift table to raise things up and down as I built it. It makes things easier on the ruptured disk in my back.

 

[nadogail]

I have done a fair amount of welding using a fiber cement backer board for a table top.

The Harbor Freight Lift Table caught my eye, but the operating lever for the pump is higher than I can comfortably raise my leg.

 

[brownbagg]

my welding table is about 30x30 but i like my table about 40 inches so I dont have to bend over, I like welding standing up. when you bend over the fumes enter the hood and i do have a diy extractor

 

[bobabuee]

3 harbor freight cheapo grinders bunch grinding, cut off and flap disc, and cup wire wheel keep all 3 loaded
good full face shield and a heavy cotton or welding jacket.

harbor freight or vevor lift cart wil work fine just need to put a bigger worktop on it.

some clamps and angle magnets

a good thing is a harbor freight portable band saw with good blade for cutting stock i didn't say chop saw because your wood worker so sparks are bad thing but if welding and grinding you know the two dont mix.

 

[racer8432955]

I've welded many projects on a pair of wooden sawhorses. Always go back into your shop a few times and a few hours apart after finishing up for the day. Look and smell, lights on and off. I don't get overly excited about fire, but it's on my mind the whole time minding my spark output (mostly grinding/abrasive cutting), gas tanks and anything gaseous.
Even oily rags will smoulder and give you warning and I've never seen anything just burst into flames. Situational awareness is important all the time.
A little welding flash never blinded anybody.

^ this fella is putting out some great advice.
I always stay in the shop for a absolute minimum of 1/2 hr after making any kind of sparks or flame. 1 hr if mig welding.
I do the same thing, look - smell - lights off too. I'm paranoid, i'll admit it. but i'm guessing you never come out ahead even with good insurance after a fire. Besides, who want to lose the sentimental things...

this extra 1/2 to 1 hr is good beer drinking and / or clean up time.