FCAW / Mig welding - Are most self taught?

[neutral]

I spent 8 weeks with 8 hours a day in the booth at weldding school and let me tell you you learn alot and its worth it. I am a structural welder at a "rail road" and we weld on a lot of **** so u can throw most of what you learn at school out the window. However i still think its important to at least have someone who knows what they are doing ie certified look over your technique and check your welds for proper penetration and porosity. Anyone can learn to put a tack or a fillet down and even if it looks real pretty it may not be fuseing the two metals together properly. I learned that. The other thing is learning the other postions. I bet most self tought guys arent doing 3g or 4g. I'm not trying to be critical or discouraging. quite the opposite. I urge you to take even a weekend class at a voc school or something and it will open a world of different things you can do by giving you the skills and confidence to attempt them. I love welding and i hope u do too. Almost everything i do is big heavy and rusty ****. one learns to weld through the paint and garbage. I'd rather not but as the saying goes, we're not building a piano. granted when its my own stuff and preffer the make it clean and strong method

 

[78Bird]

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?

IMO, no... I took several courses at my local community college, they were less than double the cash for a whole quarter of classes and labs, and you used their gear.

$200 for 6 hours and you bring your own gear? No thanks

 

[powerplant]

Started out in a high school class learning how to stick weld. After high school I went after an A&P licence which one of the courses is oxy/gas welding. I then worked in a widget factory and learned MIG on my own. This gave me about 7-8 years of experiance at this point. I then went to work in a coal fired electrical generation station. I remember them asking me in the interview if I knew how to weld and I said "yea, I know how". Boy was I wrong.... after about 10 years of working as a millwright I can now truely say I know how to weld. I hold quite a few certifications for different processes and positions. I get a kick out of people who say "I'm a certified welder", as far as I'm aware you can only be certified for certian processess and positions. I'm now with about 20+ years of welding experiance.

I see a lot of folks on the interwebs who think they know how to weld but they really don't. Scary when you see people building hot / rat rods when they think they know how to weld. I've tried warning folks that their welds look like isht but they usually become defensive. I always tell folks who aren't quite sure to weld on stuff that won't kill you if it fails.

It's always good to know what you don't know if you know what I mean.

 

[brianh]

My motor Sargent sent me to a welding course when I was in the army.

Hank, The instructor there gave me advise that covers all types of welding, pay attention to the puddle.

 

[Lugnut64052]

I haven't read the whole thread, but here's my two cents:

I recommend taking some kind of course, somehow, some way. I took an 8-week course in the evenings at a local high-school. We spent the first four weeks doing oxy-acetylene, and the last four doing stick welding. It was very beneficial. Can't count the number of times over the years where knowing how to weld has come in handy. It's a life long skill you'll be glad you have.

Knowing how to stick weld (properly) will make you a better Mig welder. When you understand the concept of weld puddle and penetration, your Mig welds won't look like chickensh!t stacked with chopsticks. And they won't break.

 

[jcabbbang]

Friend that is a professional welder helped me get started, and then basicaly self taught mig, learning by doing. I enjoy building things out of steel, have good equiptment and have a nack and can weld pretty well.

 

[sberry]

powerplant hit a lot on the head, big difference between thinking you know something and actually knowing. Not uncommon for guys to even make it thru a career like that, i get some fair mechanics work for me, a couple have said,,, wish someone would have taken me aside and shown me that 20 yrs ago.

 

[HSURDDY]

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.

this is a pretty good source... you can also subscribe and receive email links when new videos are posted...

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

 

[Jzytaruk]

UA Certified 6G.

Red Seal Journeyman from Alberta.. Proficient in most processes. Good to see another brother on here. I am also a member of the UA (488)

 

[hofferwood]

I learned by makin these

At Whitehead and Kales
Chuck