Learning to weld

[MtB]

Being able to weld seems to be a jolly handy skill, one which I do not have. As a teenager I bought a mains powered arc welder that turned out to be less than useless. Or it might have been me.

 

Anyway I'd like to learn to weld. How does one go about it? Is it just a case of buying an arc welder, having a bash then starting to ask the long stream of questions?

 

And are the 13A arc welders one can buy these days any better than the one I had all those years ago, or should I be looking at getting a diesel powered welder, or some gas kit? Or what?

 

Any advice most welcome!

 

MtB

[Paul C]

If its going to be canal boats and stuff, then arc welding is better. I'd not bother with gas, or a diesel powered rig unless you're definitely going to be doing stuff without mains power available. I taught myself MIG welding but not used Arc welding stuff. I can give a bunch of tips on MIG welding if needs be but unsure how relevant they'd be?

[stagedamager]

I bought one of these

 

http://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=W1002903

 

Its a great little bit of kit. There are welding courses available but cost a fair bit. The mig welding forum has a great section on arc welding techniques, I reckon save the cash and self teach.

Regards

Dan

[Taslim]

As a kid I bought a 90 amp welder the size of a shoe box, probably a size 5 for £15 It worked but only had a 5mins work, 15 mins rest duty cycle. Didn't stop me building the space frame for a go-cart. Weld a bit, measure & cut a bit, weld a bit......

 

The learning (pre internet days) involved a trip to the library for the facts, a variety of rods as recomended by the local supplyer and a visit to the scrapyard for a bunch of offcuts then go and make sparks.

 

There are some serious ark guys on this forum. 'Phaps you could tap them for info.

 

Don't skimp on your mask. Sitting in casualty at 3AM with ark eye isn't the best way to end your day.

 

taslim.

[bigste]

Done plenty of welding with an arc kit. The secret is in the rods you use. A good rod will almost do the job for you whereas a cheap rod needs more skill. Buy your rods from a specialist welding trader. A diy transformer will work fine but if it's air cooled they are limited to a few minutes as mentioned above. Oil cooled will run all day. Basic welds can be very easy to do to a good standard. Bear in mind that a 13amp supply will only do smaller jobs.

Edited May 11, 2013 by bigste

[LEO]

I purchased a 'Haynes' manual from Halfords - quite useful.

 

Be careful welding if you have a pacemaker fitted as the high electrical fields can cause the pacemaker problems.

 

I am 100% Pmaker dependent so am careful with things like this.

 

L

[gazza]

Shakes head, wishes I had another few quid for the money jar :-(

Weldings easy, thickos do it.....

[saltysplash]

Im currently bidding on a welder on ebay as Ive also decided to have a dabble, nothing fancy just a basic outfit. There are a couple of good instructional videos on youtube

[Grace and Favour]

Shakes head, wishes I had another few quid for the money jar :-(

Weldings easy, thickos do it.....

You know how to make friends quickly, don't you Gazza?

[bizzard]

Welding is not easy for some. It requires a steady hand, regular practice, deep concentration watching the weld pool and with no interuptions for a start for a good neat, strong weld with deep penetration.

[Grace and Favour]

I purchased a 'Haynes' manual from Halfords - quite useful.

 

Be careful welding if you have a pacemaker fitted as the high electrical fields can cause the pacemaker problems.

 

I am 100% Pacemaker dependent so am careful with things like this.

 

L

Ah! Good point - =- so am I, (100% dependent) - - I'll have to research how far the electrical fields can reach - and whether I can wear anything over the little beastie that will help protect it ( like an xray vest maybe??)

[bizzard]

Welding is not easy for some. It requires a steady hand, regular practice, deep concentration watching the weld pool and with no interuptions for a start for a good neat, strong weld with deep penetration.

Most welders weld ok even cheap ones. If your having trouble its usually you. Don't blame your tools.

[gazza]

You know how to make friends quickly, don't you Gazza?

Puzzled?

Not after making friends....

Mike, as a gas safe engineer I am sure your first piece of advise to anyone wishing to learn your trade would be get to your local college and see what courses are available.

Welding is no different. I am yet to meet a hobby welder who knows what they are talking about or can produce genuinely sound welds.

Monkey wrench and a grease gun don't make an engineer....

[Ray T]

Any good?

 

http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/Welding-courses-in-West-Berkshire/hc2_search.adv_col_do/16180339/0/search_category/XE./qualification/Z,Y,Q,R,T,U,V,C/p_county_id/701/page.htm

 

Alternatively Bim Simcoe NB Arcangel is a welder he may help.

 

I believe he is involved with the chandlery at Wilton 01327 844 639

 

Or Graham Reeves now at the Laughing Dog business estate A45 near Dunchurch

Edited May 11, 2013 by Ray T

[bizzard]

Welding is not easy for some. It requires a steady hand, regular practice, deep concentration watching the weld pool and with no interuptions for a start for a good neat, strong weld with deep penetration.

The different forms of electric welding have the same idea but different techniques . Gas is very useful for brazing, hard soldering and heating things and the occasional welding of certain jobs.

[Arthur Brown]

While you can carry bottles along the towpath you can carry a transformer but can't plug it in! The average generator or inverter will not take a welder load -it may even die.

If you want to go from boat job to boat job in your boat then weld generator is the obvious answer but welding rods take up moisture and then they can blow steam holes in the weld.

 

Can you do a college course in welding then take their advice about types and makes and vendors

[gazza]

Try this link http://www.hotcourses.com/uk-courses/Welding-Evening-Classes-courses-UK/16180339/0/XE./Z,Y,Q,R,T,U,V,C/A2,A22/UK/UNITED+KINGDOM/course-refine.htm

 

Intro to weld courses are great value, if you only want to nail brackets that are held by slag and hope there not for you. If you want to learn the fundementals of a branch of engineering then its for you. the lectures and workshop techs will have a huge amount of knowledge and will have worked or are still working in industry. They normally are only too happy to expand on the course syllabus for those interested.

[Arthur Brown]

Chicken shit tacking is easy but useless. Real penetration welding takes time care preparation and practice. Get two pieces of thick ish plate grind the but joint to a vee then steadily fill the vee with weld. Let it cool then grind across the weld to see what the penetration is really like.

 

A welder with a 20%duty cycle will do lots of jobs because you have to do lots of prep work before you get to fill a gap with weld.

[ridders]

Hi Mike, funny you should mention this, i've had hobby welders for about 30 years (mig and stick) , was self taught on car repairs etc, but never had any proper training, and always had various degrees of success.

In a casual conversation recently heard our local college was running welding taster courses for £5, so i signed self and mrs ridders up for the course- 4x 3 hour monday evenings. We've just done one week so far due to the bank holiday, but hands on with an expert is a really quick way to fill the gaps (in my knowledge not the welds lol ).

They even gave us free overalls and safety boots- so local college is probably way to go, and they'll be able to point the way to more advanced stuff afterwards as well.

cheers

pau

 

edited to add i've just had a look at the links posted by ray and gazza, they're both worth a click (didn't know the site existed, but not all colleges list their short courses like that.l

Edited May 11, 2013 by ridders

[Bee]

I did a college course, didn`t get much from it. I think you learn more by trying to teach yourself and making a huge mess of lots of bits of scrap and when you know what it is that you don`t know (eh?) do the college course, welding is a skill and the more you do the better you get, my old clarks welder is just a rusty box, all the writing has long gone but I reckon if the electrode sticks turn it up a bit, I keep the electrodes in the house so there is no chance of damp.

[Chalky]

Be careful welding if you have a pacemaker fitted as the high electrical fields can cause the pacemaker problems.

 

It's not just the E field, there are strong B & H fields as well. The fields generated by some of the more modern welding kit can cause significant problems in factories.

[bizzard]

Even the best welders in the weld need regular practice if they are to produce sound neat welds.

[JerryP]

I have owned both MIG and ARC welders ,MIG is easier to use but you have to buy gas ,also if your welding outside and it's windy the wind blows the gas away (despite using shrouds) and the welds will be crap ,you can buy gasless migs buy IMO the welds aren't very good ,ARC takes longer to learn but produces good welds in all areas ,if you keep the rods free from damp this makes a big difference when striking the arc , also because of the intensity of the arc and the need for very dark lens in the mask some people find it difficult to see exactly where their welding and can miss the joint altogether ,one thing that makes life easier is a 500 watt lamp placed over the work piece ,this increases the ambient light .

 

ps ,as with most things ,practice makes perfect.

[Slim]

I've got both a hobby type MIG and a hobby type arc (stick) welder. I have no doubt but that I produce "chicken shit" welds. However they do for me.

 

My one piece of advice would be to get a light sensitive mask. Seeing what I intend to ' weld' is a great help

[Justme]

Lots of good advice & videos for beginners http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/'>HERE