So, I bought a welder...tips, warnings, lessons learned.

After trading and slaving for the past few months, I have a new welder. I bought a Hobart Handler 187 from Tractor Supply. It is a 220 MIG welder. I also bought a bottle to go with it. Now I just need to learn how to weld. I won't get to use it for another 2 weeks due to recent eye surgery. It is driving me insane looking at it and not being able to play with it. What are common mistakes I should watch out for? Tips that will help me learn? Examples of what not to do.

 

I've read welder threads here till my head hurts and this is what I've come up with (for me). Since I only have to do some panel patching....and that I plan on doing all of my welding outside of the garage....and I'm limited to 110....a flux core fits my needs. I wish I had a place large enough to weld indoors and 220 but I don't. Based on what I've read here, do all of the searches and reading here you can. Also look at all of the mig tutorials you can find on Youtube...I've heard they help alot. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Sorry to hear about the eye surgury,but man make damn sure you don"t start playing with that toy until you have 100% healed. and when you do get you an auto-darkening helmet.Good luck!1

 

The first tip I have is to make sure your eyes are completely recovered before you start using it. There are some good informational videos on youtube that cover getting started the correct way.
You will find that on here everyone has a way to do it, some good some maybe not so good. I would view the ones on youtube first.

Scott...

 

I taught myself by just trial and error and asking and watching everyone i could good luck its not that hard now i can weld with the best of em!

 

The down side to the eye surgery is partial blindness in one eye. That is going to add to the challenge of learning. I am all over Youtube right now. Some of the videos are decent, but some are just wrong. I found one that said "use just enough heat to get penetration". That isn't right. I was always told to use as much as you can without warping the sheetmetal.

 

tip, dont go cheap on the welding mask. leason learned, dont grab whatever it is you just welded, its amazing how many people do that including me. warning, clear area of flamables.

 

Do you know someone that is a welder that can give you some tips? I have a friend of mine that has been a welder since the '50's and picked his brain for info and tips. It sure helped. Also, plenty of practice, use as much scrap as you can in different thicknesses. Alot of my welding practice was done on a VW bug. They have some very thin metal, I learned alot about patience, heat and speed of the wire from that.

Have fun.

Larry

 

I bought the welder to learn and to do the body repair on my 63 Falcon. I do have a friend that welds, but is is out of town until June. I have always wanted a welder and following the advice of the HAMB, I think I chose a good one.

 

take a welding course at the local trade school. They will teach you the RIGHT WAY and the SAFE WAY.

 

Pool together your friends for lots of scrap to practice on, see if anyone just got done with a front clip swap, or any body mods with left over tin and just practice practice practice. I had a bunch of strainless from a 4 door left over, ive been practicing stainless welding on that stuff, for example.

cleanliness is key, if you arent working on a super prepped surface you'll be driving yourself insane with various problems.

It's been said a bunch but I agree dont skimp on the helmet, a good auto darkening one is reasonably priced, and make sure you hit "reset" everytime you use it lol, it's like the "on" button.

Always close the valves ony our tank when you're done for the day/night.

Give fair warning to everyone near you that you'll break their fingers if they step on your hose when you're welding, lol!

When you're doing thick stuff make sure you bevel your edges for solid penetration

I cant think of anything else right now too many scotches tonight.




oh and have fun, its really a blast once you get going

 

Hi Domino, comgrats on your new welder, We just got the same welder at work. Get an adjustable shade helmet and start on the darkest shade-to help with your eyes, get scrap and practice. I love ours, I can weld up a 74 dodge pu box flip the heat up and weld 3/8" with no prob. good luck and wait till your eyes heal up to play.

 

Go here and you have the best weldors and help on the net www.weldingweb.com

 

This is the best advice....

 

i have been welding for 35 years now, i bought my first welder at age 12, i have taught lots of people how to weld for work and for fun, my advice is to get yourself some 4" squares of 1/8" plate and start running beads, one after another and right next to each other, over and over, save the ones you finish to compare with your later ones, be brave you can't hurt the machine, the next step is to srat welding short strips together and then trying to break them apart by clamping them in a vice and smashing them with a hammer, in time you will learn what works and what doesnt, if you went to school that how they would teach you, as for using your new skill to build a car thats another story, i say its harder to learn good metal fab work and design then it is to learn how to make a good strong weld,

 

I agree about the welding helmet get a good auto darkening one , welders flash is like having broken glass and battery acid in your eye. Also a good ground never hurts but a bad one , yikes. Rob.

 

The one thing I will add is to make shire you also protect your skin, particularly where your sleeves meet your gloves, the UV will give you a hell of a sun burn. Especially if you take blood pressure medicine or a diuretic.

 

I fooled around for 15 years before I took an adult ed class. Best thing I could have ever done and I learned how to weld --correctly--in a few weeks.

 

Welding since 1951--------Most advice on this thread is good!! especially about your eye sight, that should be your priority---Wait until you are healed!!!!
Sounds like your Hobart will do about any home project that you might encounter, you are off to a good start.
After reading the machine manual, & becoming familiar with all adjustments, pick up the phone & call your local community college to get registered into a beginning class for MIG welding----You won't regret it!
By then, your eye will be in good shape, & you can start your "hands on" practicing at the school, under the instructors helpfull eye.
You will begin to start practicing at home along with school class, & have previously read your Hobart instructions, begin to see just why you are going to class for the correct learning habits.
Having said all this, from now on (after eye heals) it is just a matter of lots of PRACTICE & errors,----Good luck & remember---Always protect those precious eyes, Because you only get 2----FOR LIFE!!!---------Don

 

That's what I was going to write.

Also, never ever weld in synthetic pants . Make sure that your cuffs cover the top of your boots - weld slag down your boot is a real bitch. And don't weld anywhere near glass that you want to keep - the spatter will ruin it.

Buy a bunch of tips for your welder too. Unless you are a natural, you will probably go through them fast while you are learning.

 

get a self darkening helmet , they make a massive differance

make sure the items to be welded are really clean both sides

clamp things together when possible

keep an eye out for fires , dont quit welding and close up the shop straight away incase something is smoldering ....hang around to be sure its all good

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/index.php is a good forum , post up some pics of the practice welds and folk will tell you how to ajust things

 

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/tools/basket.php?action=A&id=151682&qty=1

a good place to start off

 

Use flux core wire with the gas .Its called double sheilding ,Thats the way I started on scrap metal . Double sheilding In my opinion makes it easier to weld and I set the gas aroud 20 -25 on guage .

 

one thing if your not taking the glass out of your car, cover all of it before you'd be surprised how far splatter can go and still embed itself into glass. Learned that one the hard way

 

Just practice. Not brain surgery.

 

Rule 1: wear Gloves
Rule 2: Remember the part you just welded is hot.
Rule 3: If you are forgetfull...result to rule 1.
I hate it when that happens!!!! Congrats on the welder, Have fun!

 

Im on a similar situation.
I used an arch welder (stick welder?) for a few years, and got to the point of trustin the welds no problem and sometimes (when position allows) they also look pretty damn good!
Now the machine is gone for good (shorted)! and because im doin most of my work on chassis/undercarriage/suspension etc.. i thought of gettin a mig for ease of operation, see "gun" e continous wire against clamp and stick!
How diffrent is it goin to be? will it be a start from the beginnin or pretty much the same technique? as in laying the bead pullin the electrode forward but at the same time pushin it back to build layers?
and i normally use 2.0 or 2.5 mm electrodes, the mig wires go from 0.6 to 0.9 mm???
Some light anyone?
Sorry to hijack Domino!

 

I'll second this, wholeheartedly! About a year ago, I was welding up a swingarm for my Harley, went in the house for lunch, came back out to the shop and it was full of smoke. A shop rag about 8 feet away from where I was welding was smoldering. Had this happened when I closed the shop up for the night there might have been a different ending to the story.

Now I always make sure I spend 15-20 minutes in the shop after I close the bottle valves and shut off the welder. It's a good time to clean up the workbench, sweep, whatever, 'cause the shop can always use a little housekeeping. And lets me sleep a little better.......

 

Let there be light ! I'm 59 years and my eye sight ain't the best either . After making sure what you are going to weld is clean , hit it with a file , grinder or whatever , then I get it outside if I can in the bright daylight . The better I see , the better my welds . 30 - 40 years ago , not so much . But now , I need good light . Get the eyes healed and Have Fun !

 

I've been mess en around with welding for about 8 yrs now. I use stick, O/A and I have a cheap 110V P.O.S. Mig. The first thing you should do is buy a good book. I just bought "Welding Skills" by R.T. Miller off the net for less than $10 shipped...

My next step is to take a mig welding class at my local community collage. It cost $295 but I just found out today my company will pay for it. Seeing that is the case I'll take the whole certification program over the next year. Learn the proper way to mig, stick and Tig.