Learn me: learning to weld

So I magically have some money for college classes (long story on GI Bill's) that I didn't know about, and I have to use it within so many years and it's only like 9 months worth of funds, so I can't add to my degrees with it.

Anywho...

My local Community College has a pretty kick-butt welding department (industrial steel town) and offers some pretty awesome sounding classes like, "Intro to Oxy-Acetylene and Plasma Cutting". Berkleying awesome.

I want to know how to weld. I've always wanted to know. Plus, then when the zombiepocalypse hits I can build stuff like ZAV's and plows. Steel is priority, especially sheetmetal (hello Jevelin...), and then tubing (hello rollbar), and then aluminum.

So, knowing all of that. What should I do? There's more classes then I could possibly take, so I want to choose the right 3 (one per quarter for 3 quarters). Should I be sticking with stick welders? TIG? MIG?

Anybody need a bracket poorly ham-fisted together that I could use for homework?

Stick == intor to MIG, Oxy == intro to TIG.

Explain that you will not be doing it for a living and so you would really appreciate it if you could maximize your time on MIG because that is the cheapest most useful one for smaller home/car projects and progress to TIG for aluminum.

I just started teaching myself last year.

Personally, I'd say you want to start out on MIG - it's easier than stick and the machinery is much cheaper than TIG. It's also applicable to both steel and aluminum if you buy the right parts and set it up correctly. It's the most usability for the least money. Stick would be my next choice, but I still can't stick weld for crap.

oxy-acetylene would be on my list - Already have a mig welder. TIG is nice but not really necessary for most car stuff - for that matter, aluminum by torch is less brittle than tig.

Ah, thanks Purple! I forgot to mention that they have non-degree, non-certification classes that are 1 weeknight per week. So they will be max-practice, just learn-how classes.

I MIG. I started teaching myself last year and im doing OK. If I could just keep my friends mufflers from flying off... or maybe he should have hung it like I told him to. Each time I weld, I get a little better, so practice, practice, practice... on other peoples E36 M3 of course!

Explosive Welding

This looks like a fun way to weld.

id love to take classes - was the goal but with twins on the way, I will have to stick with self learning mig 101.. good luck!

You won't believe the amount of things you can fix once you can weld.

MIG is the least demanding form, equipment is not too bad. a 110volt GOOD mig from Hobart or Miller is under 600.00. A low-buck stick buzz box will be 300.00, but nowhere near as useful. Please stay away from HF, Century, etc. Take whatever classes you can. You will have fun, meet interesting people, and learn on somebody else s equipment. I had a lot of fun taking these courses. Night classes generally have adults, and the teachers are delighted to have students that WANT to learn.

The normal progression would be stick, MIG then TIG. You should learn basic oxy/ ace and some plasma cutting in any weld class as you'll most likely be cutting your own steel for your welding lab. If not, ask to use it. Shears and a lotta grinding too.

Stick is a good place to start but not that useful in automotive work or when MIG is available... although my cousin did weld two halves of a VW together w/ stick. Stick is about mandatory for commercial or industrial field work if your job requires it. But once you MIG, the stick will sit in the corner collecting dust. MIG will cover just about everything in car guys shops. +1 for MIG class.

TIG is great to know and would be well worth taking the course. You will find projects to build just so you can play on the TIG, you'll luv it.

oldtin wrote: Explosive Welding This looks like a fun way to weld.

They did that crazy E36 M3 to build the Coast Guard Cutter I commissioned! The wheelhouse and all structure above the main deck was aluminum, everything from there down was steel. The stanchion bases were the 1/2 steel / 1/2 aluminum blast and they corroded BIZARRELY after a bunch of sea time. It was some sweet stuff to watch happen though, that was for sure.

Also, they built the boat upside-freaking-down for like 90% of it (which makes sense I guess).

I started welding with an oxy actylene torch in a muffler shop. It's probably the slowest form of welding and you really learn heat control. I believe if you master oxy-acetylene welding, everything else is a piece of cake. To me stick welding is for bridges and buildings. A good MIG & TIG unit will weld anything automotive related.

Ok, correct a welding dope here, but my dad was a welder (among other things) and he always used an oxy torch. But his flux was always sticks of whatever the hell is used..... what's the difference then between stick and oxy? For some reason, i keep thinking they're the same.

IMHO, MIG is super easy- it's about clean'ish, close enough set up, and not moving too fast. It's pretty easy to teach yourself.

As I've heard (never done it) stick is a little harder- mainly in the start up. After that, I suppose it's like mig as long as you keep feeding the stick. Stuff is cheaper, for sure.

But, if I were to pay to have lessons, it would be for gas, for sure. There seems to be a lot more technique to learn than MIG, and it can be very flexible. So, if it were me, I would pay for a gas class first, then TIG. Between the two of those, you should learn enough about good welds, and how they look that picking up MIG on your own is possible.

Now if you can take a class that covers all of it, well...

Mig is easy to do, but not always easy to do right. You can lay down a beautiful looking bead that has no structural integrity, and many people do. Stick is the most versatile, IMO. I used to hate it, but now I use it more than anything else. I do exhaust work with a stick, and can weld heavy structural, and even corroded surfaces. Good luck doing that with your mig. I think stick is the way to learn.

Keep in mind that welding is welding. You are joining two metals with a filler metal. One is generally not superior to the other.

Javelin wrote: Ah, thanks Purple! I forgot to mention that they have non-degree, non-certification classes that are 1 weeknight per week. So they will be max-practice, just learn-how classes.

This is what I did. My class was mainly MIG but we also spent a few nights on TIG. It was one night a week, the cost was pretty minimal we had a good instructor and there was plenty of time spent at the bench actually welding - if I remember correctly, each night there was about a half hour of classroom time followed by 2 1/2 hours in the shop.

Generally, classes will want you to start with gas. You will learn many important basics about heat, weld puddle, penetration etc. All are important to learn to become a real weldor. After you master gas, TIG is much easier. That being said, if you want to stick things together nicely, the MIG machine will be your friend. I wish I had spent more time learning gas.

Look to see if your local CC has an intro or generic class in welding geared towards students in heavy equipment repair/diesel tech. I took the comprehensive one semester one night a week class that is offered as part of the Diesel/Heavey equipment mechanics degree it covered the basics in oxy torch cut and braze. stick, mig, tig, plasma cutting, we even dabbled in carbon arc cutting (I think it was called). It was geared towards giving you the basics and tons of practice time on excellent equipment. I learned a ton and it was a pretty fun class for me because I was just there for the ride and to learn. The focus in a welding class geared towards a welding degree might be a bit more than you want to endure with alot very sepcific information a professional welder would need and a enthusiast will never need and would likely farm out if they had to do it.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Stick == intor to MIG, Oxy == intro to TIG. Explain that you will not be doing it for a living and so you would really appreciate it if you could maximize your time on MIG because that is the cheapest most useful one for smaller home/car projects and progress to TIG for aluminum.

Yup. Stick ==> MIG will get you through 85% of what you could ever want to do.

Oxy and TIG are supposed to be great for body work and sheet metal. I've never done oxy or TIG, but I hear they have a smaller Heat Affected Area, which means less shrinkage and/or oilcanning. Also, I've read that the seam from Oxy welding is a LOT softer than a MIG seam, making it easier to do further metal shaping.

mndsm wrote: Ok, correct a welding dope here, but my dad was a welder (among other things) and he always used an oxy torch. But his flux was always sticks of whatever the hell is used..... what's the difference then between stick and oxy? For some reason, i keep thinking they're the same.

"Stick" welding (a.k.a. SMAW/MMA). The "stick" has a metal core and a coating of flux. The end of the stick is held in a "stinger" and an electric current passes through it. (Everything you need to weld is being held in one hand, although many people use a second hand for stability.) The arc at the tip between the stick and the workpiece is hot enough to melt the tip of the stick away. Your goal is to deposit the molten metal in the seam between the two base metal parts of your workpiece. The flux coating of the stick is turned into a gas that displaces the air, thus preventing oxygen from corroding/contaminating the weld you are creating.

Gas welding uses a "rod" of metal. It doesn't have any flux. You'll probably fill this need by putting flux paste on the workpiece. (I say "probably" because I've never done gas welding.) There's no electricity or arc because the heat comes from the combustion of gasses. Oxy (like TIG) is a two hand operation. One hand holds the rod, and the other holds the torch which is used to heat the base metal and melt the rod. Again, the molten metal is used as filler in the joint of the weld. The flux paste vaporizes and displaces the air.

mig is easy and you can mig almost anything
as said above, after the classes, work on laying beads on anything and everything you can lay your hands on
work on all kinds of angles too, round to flats, round to rounds at 90 and other angles, butt welds, sheetmetal tacks, everything. get to know your machine and what it likes to weld at for each material thinckness, and you will slowly get better and better.
I need to buy a welder so I can keep practicing too. It's fun, useful, and can be VERY profitable as well.

I'd love to take a class... I'd prob want to start with oxy... you can cut and weld and it's cheapest setup to get (heck I wouldn't be supprised of my late grandpa in law has the full set of bottles and torch in his garage... i'll have to look)

the welding shop I got my scrap metal from to make my 1/4" plate for my s10 motor mounts used a torch to cut the metal...

I wouldn't be supprised that you could do proper brazing and soldering with the right tip and change of gas... (I did a little brazing with MAP while I worked at a A/C manufacturing plant)

MIG I found pretty stinking easy... I have an old harbor freight 220v 120a wire feed/MIG... I run it as wire feed (flux core in the wire so no gas needed) and with a little practice I've got better looking welds then many I've seen and plenty strong... like I said it's older and made in italy which is supposed to be a big difference between the newer made in china stuff...

I have access to a 220v stick (again in my late grandfather in laws garge)... never used it and with the mig I don't see a reason to learn it...

donalson wrote: I have access to a 220v stick (again in my late grandfather in laws garge)... never used it and with the mig I don't see a reason to learn it...

Thicker stuff. (....although, to be honest, I have a stick and I still used my MIG to build my engine mounts and modify the station wagon leaf spring mounts. to fit the other car.)

I even used it to join the dakota frame rails to the locost-ish rest of the frame:

In the latter case, it was a matter of taking the easy route: the MIG was in the garage with the frame, and I didn't want to try hauling the heavy stick unit out of the shed.

Just saw this on another forum...great, almost unbelievable deal on a Miller MIg.

Don't know what shipping will be, but I don't think the price can be beat:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MILLER-MIG-Welder-1TKC5