Where / How did you learn to weld?

[z28snksknr]

I asked for a used mig or stick welder for Christmas this year. Since high school shop class passed me by without learning how to weld, what's the best way to get off the ground?

 

[ghnl]

I took some adult classes at the local technical high school. A few hours one eveneing a week for a few weeks. That let me play with different machines & techniques with an instructor to guide me. After that it was practice, practice, practice...

 

[drive em]

The best way is to get some scrap steel and start burning some rod or wire. Start off with small projects like plant stands, ornamental stuff etc. and then when you get the hang of it, move on to gates, work benches etc. I never went to school to learn how to weld but I can weld circles around people who did go to school. Practice, practice practice.

 

[z28snksknr]

I took some adult classes at the local technical high school. A few hours one eveneing a week for a few weeks. That let me play with different machines & techniques with an instructor to guide me. After that it was practice, practice, practice...

How much were the classes?

Where do you source your stock from? I saw some small selection at Lowes, but I'm sure there are much better places.

 

[bimmer1980]

See if you can shadow someone for a little while, and have them tell you what they are doing and why. Then you just need to try it and practice, practice, practice.....

The mig would definitely be easier to learn on than the stick. Stick isn't that hard... get some 6013 rods and go to town.... Just make sure you have it turned up high enough so that it doesn't stick as bad.

One tip, take a vice grips and lock a pencil in on the eraser end. Then hold the vice grips and practice making little circle lines on paper. This simulates the motion required for stick welding. Try to make the circles about 1/4" in diameter and then travel so the circles overlap. Once you can make nice consistent circles in a straight line, you will be much better off when attempting to weld. Then you just have to get use to feeding the electrode and you're good to go....

Of course, once you learn a few things, then you realize how much more there is to learn!!

 

[zmotorsports]

I was fortunate enough to have my dad show me the basics when I was about 12-13 years old on and old stick welder/buzz box. During high school I bought an older Mig welder and started to play around with it. I would constantly alter my with technique and settings.

After doing fairly well for about 6-8 years of welding odd jobs for people as well as my own stuff I found a book that was quite helpful. It is called "Performance Welding" by Richard Finch. I read it cover to cover and made lots of notes along the way. From there I started to Tig weld about 10 years ago and fell in love with Tig. I can honestly say once you start to learn just keep practicing.

When welding try changing positions, settings, styles etc. and find what works for you. You could have two weldors weld with the same welder and have totally different results because of different sytle or technique. Remember theory is probably about 5-10% and the other 90-95% is practice. If you have problems don't keep doing the same thing and getting discouraged, try something different. Good luck, Mike.

 

[bimmer1980]

go to a steel yard and ask to get their drops from the saw. In out high school welding class, we would just weld scraps together until we got good.

One project was a 4x4" pad with a handle welded on. The objective was to lay beads on it until you fill the whole pad with perfect beads. Most of us had at least 3/4" to 1" or more of weld on the plate until we finally got it perfect. Then we progressed to doing flat but welds, then T-welds, V-welds, horizontal and vertical welds.....

Practice, practice, practice. I don't recommend trying to build a project with stick until you are competent to lay a decent bead. you will just get frustrated trying to lay a nice bead on a project.... especially as you burn a hole in the material.

I would get some 3/16" and 1/4 flat plate to practice stick welding and 1/8" to 3/16" to practice mig welding... this is all dependent of how big the welder is too......

 

[bimmer1980]

the other thing you can do is go to a good welding supply store and ask if you can try out a couple of welders.... some of them have a small shop in the back and they might let you try one or two of their machines.....

Just be cautious of who is buying the machine and where they buy it....

Many of the machines at the big box stores are on the small side. they also do not have the infinitely variable heat settings. usually just a 4- position setting.

If you go stick, try and get a good Lincoln or Miller that also has AC/DC. that will set you up for long term......

Ideally, you will need a 60amp 240 circuit to run a decent welder....... hopefully you have that.

If you are stuck with a 120 circuit, hopefully you have at least a 20amp outlet.....

 

[bimmer1980]

for learners, a good autodimming helmet would also do wonders. it makes it tough when you alwasy have to flip your helmet up to see what happened.... I learned with the regular helmet, but the auto dimming would have been nice.....

also check out the Miller Welding website. they probably have some good quick guides and how to's... THey also have a pretty decent forum.

 

[bimmer1980]

for what it's worth, most of the drops and misc steel at a steel yard will be sold for $.20 to 50 cents per pound..... Lowes, Home depot and TSC will totally gouge you for buying steel.......

 

[Motofixxer]

I also took a mig class at the local technical college and I am very glad I did. I believe it teaches you good theory and beginning principles. We laid some beads then broke them to inspect and learned what makes a good bead. I believe that beginning knowledge is very beneficial. As well as the access to the different machines. We got to play with a plasma cutter, acetylene torch, large shear, tig machine as well as other misc tools. We also learned about all the different gases used and got to experiment with them, as well as the flux core wire. It was an excellent and fun learning process with a good teacher with about 30 yrs of experience in welding. I think the class was 2 nights a week for 2 hrs each for 6-8 weeks. And the cost was about $120. It was well worth the cost.

 

[z28snksknr]

Wow, lots of good help here guys- THANKS!!

I'm limited currently to a 110V outlet but do have a 20amp outlet to use. Is a 110V unit going to limit me to thin gauge work?

I will definately look into some better equipment for the future. I was just looking to get a cheap used unit (whatever i can get my hands on) so I can start learning.

 

[bimmer1980]

My second welder was a 110 Century welder with the gas sheilding. We ran this for years off of a 110 outlet.. You will be somewhat limited on thickness.... But, we were able to do up to about 3/16" with a multiple pass. It did 1/8" like a dream! and sheet metal was straightforward as well...

I would definitely try to get a mig with the shielding gas. It will definitely be way more enjoyable to weld as compared to the flux core.

 

[bimmer1980]

I just checked out your garage redo.... it looks like you might have space in the panel for a 2-pole 60amp breaker...... and it looks like you could router a hole in your plywood below the panel and set in an outlet for a 60amp plug.... for about a $100 (give or take) in materials, you could have an outlet for a full size welder......

 

[mrpowderkeg]

just start to practice, join the message forum at millerwelds.com, and http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/ Miller has online videos etc... they really support the welding industry, I suppose because the more people can learn the more they are going to want to weld.

 

[fordcragar]

I took some evening classes at the local vocational school, about 40 years ago; started out with gas welding and several years later took a class on stick welding. If you learn gas welding, everything else is easy. Different jobs I've had over the years have given me an opportunity to TIG and MIG weld.

 

[dmw56]

I grew up on a farm, learned from my dad.

Check out your vocational or community college for classes. Check a scrap/salvage yard most of them sell steel as well and a lot cheaper than Home Depot or Lowes.

 

[jamesemery728]

When I first started looking around I found a lot of the welding supply stores did not exactly welcome a newbie with open arms. If you find one that is friendly and willing to spend some time talking to you take advantage and learn and ask questions. I never bought any of their equipment but this company has a pretty good video that explains most of the MIG basics:
http://www.htpweld.com/ and their customer service people are willing to talk to you on the phone even if you don't buy anything. If you have a machine shop that you use they usually are willing to sell you metal out of the scrap box also. Home Depot and Lowes are pretty expensive, try to find metal at yard sales or the flea mkt, I used to pick up stuff on the side of the road even. Buy something at a yard sale and tear it apart for the metal just to practice with. Good Luck

 

[z28snksknr]

I just checked out your garage redo.... it looks like you might have space in the panel for a 2-pole 60amp breaker...... and it looks like you could router a hole in your plywood below the panel and set in an outlet for a 60amp plug.... for about a $100 (give or take) in materials, you could have an outlet for a full size welder......

You, sir, have just convinced me to look into this. My box is full, so I guess I would need 2 double breakers to free up the 2 spots for the 2-pole breaker? I get a little nervous around the box since that is outside of my knowledge, but I guess it's a good time to start learning.

 

[VegasBruce]

I learned at work. Its 10% book learning and 90% practice. Just get everything hooked up and practice. You can use whatever scrap you can find to weld up. Get in good with a supply house for your consumables. A good supplier will work with you to get the right supplies. Post up pics of your welds and people here can help you out.

 

[blackice]

a combination of trial and error, and advice from others...

 

[PCO6]

My Dad taught me the basics of brazing and arc welding when I was about 14. After that I spent a lot of time reading and even more practicing. Between auto racing, restoring cars and building things around the shop I got a lot of practice. I took a night course on panel beating about 30 years ago when I was in my mid 20's. Along with learning how to use an English wheel we learned how to hammer weld sheet metal by simply using a torch and no filler rod. After a lot of practice, I find this to be probably the most enjoyable type of welding, for me anyway. When a lot of us started welding there was no You Tube! Don't over look that as a source of information.

 

[cwstevens92]

Learned from my dad, on the job, practice, the Lincoln School, on the job, practice, practice, practice and i still learn everyday. Still read everything i can still watch all the videos i come across and of course still pratice practice practice

 

[speed bump]

I started out by programming robotic welders, then did some self taught welding, welded a little while doing NDE work for a welding company, and took some adult ed classes.

 

[ZRX61]

When I first started looking around I found a lot of the welding supply stores did not exactly welcome a newbie with open arms.

They will once you go in there & drop a couple of grand on blue boxes

 

[mjb]

They will once you go in there & drop a couple of grand on blue boxes

Funny how that works.

 

[tcianci]

I learned from my dad and in school. I learned arc and gas welding, brazing and cutting. Now I also have a little Century Mig, very handy. Practice is the biggest thing you can possibly do. I decided since I could already stick weld, I went straight to my first MIG project... a home made pressure blaster. Looking back at it I had certainly decided to stack all the odds against me...1st MIG attempt, creating a pressure vessel (and one that was formerly filled with propane gas!) So I filled the old Propane tank with water to displace any remaining gas, emptied it and started welding my fittings and accessories to the tank. Then I ran it out behind the garage with about 75 feet of hose on it, connected it to the compressor, hit it with about 120 lbs and waited for the explosion. Thankfully it didn't happen and I'm still using that old blaster to this day!

P.S. Old discarded bed frames are a great source of angle iron for practice or projects and they're free.

 

[akdiesel]

I was and still am self taught for the most part at work.
Make sure you have a appropiate table/platform to work from instead doing it on the floor. Also you can join two pieces together end to end and at an angle and if you have a vice test your welds by trying to break them by bending or hitting them with a BFH and you can get a great idea as to how strong the bonds are.

 

[z28snksknr]

I'll definately be looking into some adult ed. classes for welding and metal fabrication, probably this summer. Lots of really good advice here guys, thank you.

Now I can't wait to start!!

 

[djjsr]

I set my pants on fire during a stick welding class at a local tech school about 35 years ago. Still, it was a good class and I'd do it again (the class, not the fire).

I learned mig from a guy that welded nuclear reactor systems. He welded like a machine.

 

[dlewis]

Where you live there are several places.Try Gloucester county vo-tech or Gloucester county college in Sewell.County residents get a discount.If your looking for steel go to Fazzio's on Glassboro-Cross Keys Rd. & Pitman Downer Rd. They have all kinds of steel and just about everyting else tool related.

 

[z28snksknr]

Where you live there are several places.Try Gloucester county vo-tech or Gloucester county college in Sewell.County residents get a discount.If your looking for steel go to Fazzio's on Glassboro-Cross Keys Rd. & Pitman Downer Rd. They have all kinds of steel and just about everyting else tool related.

Awesome. Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be spending the rest of my slow workday looking at GCC classes.

I assume you are also in the area?