FCAW / Mig welding - Are most self taught?

[petee_c]

Got a used Hobart Handler 120 last year. Came with a bunch of accessories, so all I needed was the nozzle gel, and chipping hammer.

Came with almost a full 2lb spool of FCAW wire. I've been messing around, built a sled jack for the snowmobile. (one weld has failed twice now)

Where did u guys learn welding? are most hobbyiest self taught? Our local community college doesn't offer a hobbyest course on welding, and I don't want to take a 60 hour course on it...

Some good videos on you tube.....

P

 

[davidj]

self taught pretty much. had a buddy of mine give me some help when i first got my welder. its really not that hard to flux or mig you just have to figure out how to dial in your settings.

 

[robwizard]

Dad showed me the basics then I just practiced on some old car doors.. some tube steel.. and now I practice on my car lol

 

[gorilla]

I got a lot of on the job training before I took classes at the local junior college. I found out that alot of what I'd been tought was wrong. The classes tought me the proper methods and procedures so I could do a better job. I was also taught what a goog weld should look like and how to test a weld. later in life when I managed the shop I alwasy tried to hire people who had formal training because I knew that they were more skillful.

 

[rockwithjason]

I took classes and it was the best thing i ever did. there is no guess work to my beads now.

i have a great video on mig welding. pm me for a copy

 

[Jack Olsen]

The better welders I've seen either took classes in high school or tech school, or went in for a course at the local community college or tech school later in life. The classes are cheap, and you get to try out all sorts of equipment and get free consumables while you're learning.

The not-so-good welders (and I include myself in that group) were self taught.

At a bare minimum, rent some of the Ron Covell or Steve Bleile videos from Smartflix and/or go to the Lincoln or Miller sites for their instructional kits. Better still, work with someone for a while who knows what they're doing and is willing to teach you. Especially with MIG or Flux Core, you can have a weld that looks awesome that's still not going be a strong weld.

I've been welding for a few years now, but still wouldn't be comfortable doing jobs where a failure in the weld would put people in danger. So no car stuff (outside of exhaust) or trailers or structural stuff for me.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

UA Certified 6G.

 

[Vicegrip]

Self taught but seem to have a knack for it. The methods and machines make sense to me and I like to work on new methods and materials.

Miller's website is a great resource for information and access to printed materials. You can purchase a student pack for little money from Miller and take your own training. Good in depth material and guides. won't give you any certs but will give you what you need to hone your skills to a level well beyond the "Burn away until it looks good" method of learning.

 

[reinhardt]

i work in ship repair as an outside machinist. i am surrounded by welding all day, everyday. i have asked a million questions of the welders and a couple how to's. i can lay a decent bead w/ my 110 fluxcore, but i am unsure of their strength. i am in the same boat as Jack, i wouldn't weld anything structural. when i get some time i plan on taking a couple courses at the community college. i figure a couple side jobs should pay for the classes.

ben

 

[crewchief888]

self taught mig welder.

my dad was a welder and taught me how to stick and o/a weld when i was about 10 years old.
had some formal instruction in HS, actually i think my dad taught me a little more than i learned in school.

 

[BigSteve63]

Learned stick from my grandfather, bought a mig and taught myself through trial and error (mostly error). Wound up taking a class at a local community college vo-tech at age 40. Learned more there in 16 weeks than I had in the previous few years. As Jack noted, great way to try a lot of equipment and the consumables are free!

Steve

PS - Just picked up a used Lincoln tig a few weeks ago. Same result as trying to learn the mig on my own. Ugly welds, decent welds, ugly welds, etc. Still working on the hand/eye/foot coordination. Will probably go back to class - I really want to be able to lay some beads like some on some of the welding sites.

 

[GTVi]

A lot of good information in this thread...I hope to get started very soon with MiG welding.
But I would agree that there really is no substitute to professional training for learning how to get things done right.

 

[rsanter]

from my dad and then learned some more from friends
and then lots and lots of practice

bob

 

[JimDon]

A lot of people think FCAW and MIG are the same and as easy as using a hot glue gun. They are not the same, and there is a lot of difference from them and using a glue gun. Take some classes somewhere some how. Or befriend a real welder and have him show you some basics. Then go practice beads, and then do it some more. And then ask him how the HAZ should look like on a good weld. And practice some joints to have yours look like it. And in the meantime, find out what HAZ is and why it is important to know how it should look.
Cheers,
Jim Don

 

[Travis E.]

Self taught and then I started asking questions as jobs began to get more complex and important. I don't think i would do it any other way.

 

[PAToyota]

Went for years on being self-taught and didn't do too poorly - or so I thought. Wanted to get some more information, so I took a couple courses from the local community college. Learned quite a bit more than I expected and my welding made a marked improvement pretty quickly.

 

[HSURDDY]

The course will be the best 60 hours you'll ever spend... small investment for a start of a lifetime skill....

I've been welding for 30 years, and maintain my certification as a 3 position AAR welder, and even though I don't do it for a living anymore, it's the most relaxing way to spend a few hours welding in the home shop...

 

[gsport]

check this site out... one of the best i've found
http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/tig-welding-machine.html

 

[petee_c]

The course will be the best 60 hours you'll ever spend... small investment for a start of a lifetime skill....

Too busy right now....

Problem is I've got 2 young kids (their sports/swimming/piano lessons), wife (and her honeydo list) and my own beginner hockey school this year....

I looked the course is 12 weeks (6pm to 11pm) on Mondays which won't work out this summer...

There is a 1 day 6hr Saturday course in Toronto (75mins away) that is intro to Mig welding.... might look into that.... other than that, it'll be books and videos I suppose.

P

 

[palestar]

I've found a few very good YouTube videos that go over the basics, etc of MIG welding. I'm just starting myself and just actually welded for the 1st time today after doing lots of reading and research.

It went a lot easier and smoother than I thought, once the machine was setup correctly I was laying pretty decent beads within 10 minutes. I know there is still tons to learn and technique to master but to just get started I'd say go for it!

 

[toolman1967]

Self taught, read a LOT of books (How to weld damn near anything is OK ) Then picked the brain of a pro welder and finally took classes. By the time I took the classes I could pretty much do everything but the instructor did teach us to OXY/Acc weld which came in handy when bought my TIG welder.

 

[mike13u]

You will be able to melt two pieces together no doubt. But, to get to any decent level you will need someone to show you. How will you know if you are going too slow, fast, too hot, etc? How will you know what the MIG's 'crackle' sounds like when its set properly? Will you have something to compare your welds too? I would buy the books, videos, etc, get all the knowledge you can. But, at the end of the day, your going to have to have someone that knows what a good weld looks like work with you. Even if its for a limited time.

 

[cal67ss396]

I worked in a heavy structural steel/misc steel fab shop for almost 11 years. And prior to that I worked at a semi trailer manufacturer for 1.5 years, basically where I learned how to weld they put me through a company run welding school. While working at the steel fabricator I was good enough that they made me a lead fabricator which required me to train some of the FNG's on how to weld and I can honestly say there are some people just born with the ability to weld and there are some people I am pretty confident that no amount of training or experience would have ever helped them.

I am really suprised by the amount of people on here that are unsure about their welding abilities. I have seen some of your work in your posts and its pretty good.

I just finished modifying a small motorcycle trailer for my father in-law and it has been rather enjoyable since I love to fabricate and weld. I now work in a office everyday and miss just banging and welding.

 

[HSURDDY]

Too busy right now....

Problem is I've got 2 young kids (their sports/swimming/piano lessons), wife (and her honeydo list) and my own beginner hockey school this year....

I looked the course is 12 weeks (6pm to 11pm) on Mondays which won't work out this summer...

There is a 1 day 6hr Saturday course in Toronto (75mins away) that is intro to Mig welding.... might look into that.... other than that, it'll be books and videos I suppose.

P

been there 20 years ago (in Whitby) and understand completely... the one day course in TO sounds like a good alternative...

 

[PCO6]

My Dad taught me how to braze and arc weld in the late 60's. He also got me started with a torch and steel rod but all I remember him saying was ... "don't use coat hangers". In the 70's I built several off road race car chassis from scratch. One of the guys on our race team was a welder by day and helped me along quite a bit with my stick welding. I've done a lot of auto restoration and taught myself how to mig weld. Having stick welded I picked that up fairly easily. I took a panel beating course in the 80's and was taught how to hammer weld sheet metal - basically a O/A torch and NO rod. I find this to be the most satisfying type of welding. It's a lot easier than you would think when properly taught how to do it. I have a spot welder and enjoy that too ... very straight forward to learn. I have never tig welded but I hope to get into that one day.

 

[durallymax]

A lot of people think FCAW and MIG are the same and as easy as using a hot glue gun. They are not the same, and there is a lot of difference from them and using a glue gun.

amen to that. Going from solid wire MIG to flux core is a whole nother animal. Settings dont adjust the same, puddle looks different and the thing I hate is the sound. With MIG you have your nice Crackle, with Flux Core it just sizzles. Plus its smokey and dirty, fortuneatley I dont need to use it much.

I first learned by playing around with a 110 Hobart FCAW when i was in 6th and 7th grade. Played with that and a Lincoln 225 Stick, then sophomore year I was told to build 30 gates for our farm. So I went down to the neighbors fabricating business and learned more than I wouldve ever expected. I came out of that thinking every bead I ran that didnt look like a robot was junk, and to this day I still think that if I have an off day and cant keep them picture perfect. He also taught me precision and cleanliness. You never ever dared to weld something without degreasing it and deburring it. And if it was off by over 1/16", start over. I mean I was building cattle gates, but to him 1/16" was unacceptable.

Get schooled by a picky person who knows what they are doing. It helps a lot. Precision is key.

Equipment also plays a big role. I think learning with Junk at first teaches you how to compensate and adjust to varying conditions. I remember how much of a pain it was with that little Hobart. Now We have a 252 Miller in the shop and without much effort you get a nice weld, very smooth machine.


Learning how to do it correctly is key. I remember teaching the local HS shop class some MIG techniques, and kids would run their vertical welds downhill and think they ran a perfect bead. They looked pretty, but a smack with a 10# hammer showed how poor their penetration was.

At a very minimum, get some books and DVDs.

 

[woodbutch]

I learned o&a welding from vo-ag teacher named John Minor in early 70's. Gas weld no filler, break it apart, do it again. When you had it right, you went to filler. all the way to heli-arc. After you know what puddle is supposed to look like, you can weld most any thing.

 

[Orangestang]

I was taught mig/tig welding in apprenticeship school (sheet metal) and was later certified.One of the company's I worked for I welded for about 8 years. I have lots of experience welding 24ga to 8ga metal.

 

[1930case]

Self-taught stick on a AC-225/DC-125 Lincoln about 20 years ago (and still use that handy buzzbox though I have other machines).

Took a welding course in 2007 and ended up running the toolroom and maintaining equipment (until the funding ran out this year).

If you teach yourself, weld MANY coupons, grind 'em clean, do destructive testing, and post pics for critique.

Learning how to do it correctly is key. I remember teaching the local HS shop class some MIG techniques, and kids would run their vertical welds downhill and think they ran a perfect bead. They looked pretty, but a smack with a 10# hammer showed how poor their penetration was.

That's common, and the reason our course taught nothing but uphill for vertical structural. "Burn in the walls and the center will take care of itself".

 

[PeterA]

Yeah, I do think a lot of people are self taught. If you are the DIY type and good at using your hands to make stuff, like a few million people are there is a good chance they have learned it by them selves.

Those little mig welders are cheap to get these days so that is why I guess so many people are having a go themselves.

 

[tig]

I want to learn how to weld. I've looked at local community college curriculum and I'm not sure what courses I should take. For example, this program (WELDING FABRICATION & MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY) at Lake Washington Technical College.

If my goal is to become proficient at doing fabrication for my garage and sheet metal work on cars what is the MINIMUM set of courses I should take?

Do I really need 60-75 hours of courses or are there programs that can get me a solid foundation in ~10-20 hours?

 

[justanengineer]

A lot of people think FCAW and MIG are the same and as easy as using a hot glue gun. They are not the same, and there is a lot of difference from them and using a glue gun. Take some classes somewhere some how. Or befriend a real welder and have him show you some basics. Then go practice beads, and then do it some more.

Best advice in this thread. I was "taught" the various forms of gas welding/brazing/cutting in the Army as well as the basics behind stick, mig, and tig. Got out, bought a large Miller mig, read everything I could find about welding, practiced my *** off and thought I was doing pretty good. Then while going back to school for engineering I took a few classes in the machine trades and welding. Spent a full summer 5 days/wk, 8 hrs/day welding and got good enough to pass the NYS DOT and AWS certs. I also learned (thanks to a welding instructor who seriously knew metallurgy and weld engineering) how to properly design joints, technique, as well as a raft of other things I wish I still remembered. I too advise everyone that owns a welder to get some formal instruction unless they are mainly making lawn art.

Forget the mig unless youre running production, buy a good stick/tig combo and learn properly. I would begin with at least a full semester class (3-4 hrs/wk) in gas welding, one in stick, and one in mig or tig.

 

[rocklobster]

Wow very good advice in this thread. This makes me want to go do a college course as well!

I bought a lincoln 175 mig about 7 years ago ant the thing has been incredibly useful, it paid for itself many times over in body work jobs... My training has been limited to a summer mig welding job at an auto factory then buying the Mig welding instruction DVD at princess auto and watching it a dozen times, and practice, practice, practice. I welded alot of coupons then destroyed them, and had my welds critiqued by a certified weldor friend of mine. I would say that I am competent enough to weld and fabricate some minor things but no where near the ability of a pro.

To the OP it sounds like you are in Canada, so I would recommend the Mig video at princess auto, although it mainly focuses on GMAW it will still give you practical hands on instruction which is better than going it alone.

If your machine has the capability I would get gas as it is sooooooo much better than flux core.

 

[sberry]

I haven't seen much on utube worth watching but I rarely look at it either, probably some decent stuff but it would be hard for a newb to know what was good and what was not.

 

[jhn9840]

Took Welding classes at the local community college back in the mid 70's. Don't know what they do now a days but back then you started off with O/A. Get the basics for that and you have a solid begining foundation. O/A may sound boring but it's were to really learn your welding if you are just begining and want to learn from the bottom up. Then it was off to Arc or stick welding. Learn proper welding technique with an elctrode and then go on to Mig. With the O/A and stick under your belt Mig is easy to pick up. Tig is still just welding it takes a lot of practice to get good at. If you can weld with a stick you can learn to tig.

jhn9840
John

 

[sberry]

There are some things to consider,, you want to build some stuff or be a professional welder? With a lot of the general and auto work a guy might become fairly proficient on his own with a few tips. I watch a minute of one today where the guy was demo the rod, it was fairly clear he was self taught or never really learned the correct way where the technique is understood and can be improved on, a lot of self taught hits the wall, can get only so good and all the practice in world wont help a lot.

 

[Ozwelder]

They are truly deficiencies in skill and understanding of the two separate processes amongst many self taught folks as far as I can see. I am an ex tradesman who later became a welder /fabrication instructor in trade colledges, and base my observations on people who come to night classes and tell me they can weld and from just talking to those who have purchasednew machines and can't get the best from them.

I see so much rubbish written by certain people on internet how to weld sites that is plainly incorrect as they write the site information on the basis of their own self taught experience or just cut and paste the incorrect ramblings of others.

Not all of these are bad ,but so many people must get taken by "experts"

There are a lot in the Diy fraternity that simply do not understand that FCAW is not the same as MIG. FCAW is a separate process defined by the action of the flux contained in the tubular wire as against a lack of flux and a gas cover in MIG.

Most of the problems relate to lack of understanding HOW TO SET THE MACHINES to get the best advantage from optimum voltage and amerage settings. FCAW settings in particular are quite sensitive to getting the correct voltage settings.
When you see a box airconditioner fall off a wall frame and narrowly miss someone you can understand that some untrained welders are truly a hazard to the rest of us.

Many newbies are taken in by salespeople who lead to beleive that FCAW can do whatever a MIG can do and blah ,blah does not need expensive gas.

Yes FCAW can do some things a MIG can do , but not those things people buy MIG for sheet metal easily and filling gaps.

Anyway thats my 2C worth.
Oz

 

[Ozwelder]

They are truly deficiencies in skill and understanding of the two separate processes amongst many self taught folks as far as I can see. I am an ex tradesman who later became a welder /fabrication instructor in trade colledges, and base my observations on people who come to night classes and tell me they can weld and from just talking to those who have purchasednew machines and can't get the best from them.

I see so much rubbish written by certain people on internet how to weld sites that is plainly incorrect as they write the site information on the basis of their own self taught experience or just cut and paste the incorrect ramblings of others.

Not all of these are bad ,but so many people must get taken by "experts"

There are a lot in the Diy fraternity that simply do not understand that FCAW is not the same as MIG. FCAW is a separate process defined by the action of the flux contained in the tubular wire as against a lack of flux and a gas cover in MIG.

Most of the problems relate to lack of understanding HOW TO SET THE MACHINES to get the best advantage from optimum voltage and amerage settings. FCAW settings in particular are quite sensitive to getting the correct voltage settings.
When you see a box airconditioner fall off a wall frame and narrowly miss someone you can understand that some untrained welders are truly a hazard to the rest of us.

Many newbies are taken in by salespeople who lead to beleive that FCAW can do whatever a MIG can do and blah ,blah does not need expensive gas.

Yes FCAW can do some things a MIG can do , but not those things people buy MIG for sheet metal easily and filling gaps.

Anyway thats my 2C worth.
Oz

 

[Stuart in MN]

Do I really need 60-75 hours of courses or are there programs that can get me a solid foundation in ~10-20 hours?

I took a continuing education night class at a local vo-tech school a few years back. It was a two hour class, one night a week for ten weeks, and I thought it was very useful. I wasn't going to go out and get a job as a welder afterwards based on what I learned, but I learned enough for doing hobby work at home.

 

[bw77]

There is a private welding school in my area that offers 1-day courses in your choice of mig/tig/stick/oxy/brazing. Cost is 200/course, 6 hours of instruction and practice. byo equipment.

Is that a reasonable cost?