Technical Wanting to learn to weld

Yup. I have both, in those editions, too.

 

I'm going against the grain here, but I'd get a Lincoln stick welder first. I learned to weld on one, worked as a construction welder with one, and bought a well used one to use here at home. I've welded everything from exhaust pipes to floor pans to body panels to heavy thick steel on my trailer that I built and on my farm tractor. When you learn how to control your speed and heat without burning through on sheetmetal, you can graduate to a mig. I used a flip up hood for years before I found out about the auto darkening ones, still use the old flip up quite a bit. A lot of folks will say a stick welder is old tech, but ain't that what we're all about here? Lots of cars have been built with a stick welder and are still around....

 

Not a bad idea. You can pick up a used 220 AC model tombstone (the ac/dc ones are always more) virtually anywhere for around $100. Even if you buy a mig, it's a good machine to have in addition.

 

So, let's recap what we've learned so far

1. Buy a cheap welder
2. No, buy a quality welder
3. 110 is fine
4. No, 220 is what you want
5. Take some lessons
6. Don't bother, YouTube videos FTW!
7. Buy a new welder
8. Buy a used welder
etc.

Kidding, all this stuff is great advice.

 

A really excellent book to read but it will be the most boring book you ever read: Metals and How to Weld Them by T B Jefferson. Take my word for it please, you will understand more about welding metals than you would ever have thought you needed; especially welding different kinds of metals together. The James F Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation has the cheapest copy with the highest shipping charges so you might as well buy it from Amazon.

 

Sonny Barger said all the best welders learned their trade in prison. Ron

 

Welders can make some pretty good coin, too. A neighbor was one, he had all the work he could handle and then some. Always out of state on some project. He bitched a little about the hours and being away all the time.

 

Yea if I was in a position to start over it might be an option. But I do IT for a living and it pays well and I get to work from home. So I think I am going to ride this horse till it dies under me.

 

One thing I have learned, this is a passionate subject. I think it is great.

 

i'll go with a stick welder as well, just an ac one is fine, easy to see a puddle, takes some skill to get an arc started and run a nice even bead, if you go to a welding school that's how you will start, or like I did 8 months of gas welding followed by 10 months of stick and a month of mig and a month of tig.

 

The first welder I had in my hands was an Oxy/Act torch, gas welding. Then on to stick welding with an old Lincoln tombstone buzz box. Then it was my Miller 251. All 3 processes have served me pretty well. Tig is basically Oxy/Act with an electronic torch.

Take the beginner welding course at your local community college, there is more to welding then sticking two pieces of metal together. Also, having an instructor on hand to tell you if your doing something wrong is worth the price of admission. The u-tube video can't look at your weld and tell you what you need to do.
When you can, add the auto darkening helmet, but not the cheapest one you can find! Gene

 

Used, brand name, 220, MIG, take a class.

 

That's what I would do as well. I learned on gas and stick welding about 55 years ago, have had a tig in my shop since '72, and mig welders since '77. The other day I needed to repair a couple of '35-'36 housings, that the seams had split. Wanting to replicate the original weld, I used the stick lead on my Lincoln Tig and buzzed them up. It's all good training, what ever machine you start with.

 

I am in IT, as well, as I cannot make a living building cars where I live, and the wife will not move.

I work in Silicon Valley. As we go, so shall you. The industry is working towards a contractor-based workforce (although in CA we are not called contractors, but OSS, or Outside Staffing Source). I am an OSS. Almost everyone where I work is also OSS. I have been "accidentally" laid off on massive, sweeping budget cuts (6,600 employees let go, to "juice" the stock price). I got the "gift" of a two-month unpaid vacation this past summer, before they realized that they crippled my entire division.

This new standard eventually will make it out to where you are. When it does, you may become a quarterly, monthly, or even weekly employee.

Even of that horse does not die under you, it might buck you off, without notice. The longer that you are off, the less likely it is you will be allowed back on.

Best to be prepared. The "kids" that are coming through the door to work now are 25-26 years younger than me, have no families or responsibilities outside of work, and have the strength and stamina (and naivete) to work 100-hours-a-week, for 40-hours of pay.

 

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt to cover the scars.

 

I am lucky to very specialized in what I do. We are are force reduction by setting up automated monitoring. So far there are only a few hundred of us across the country. So far so good. But I have lived the IT roller coaster for the last 24 years. Fingers crossed if I get bucked off I don't get kicked in the head.


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A lot of great info here I'm wanting to learn to weld also. Some great advice .Still not sure what welder I'm going to buy . Looking at the miller 211

 

Melting stuff together is a lot of fun.....

 

Yup, and now I am losing my job, again....

I am getting too old to be looking for work every 6-months.

 

I am with the group on taking a course. To get going start with a gas set up. Cut, bend, heat, braze, silver solder or weld all with one tool. Welding sheet metal teaches how to control heat. Next a good used 220V arc welder. No you cannot use a dryer as it is only 30 amps and most units need 60 to do high amp welding( as on a frame). A stove? That's 50 amps. Would work. Many cars have been built with just those two tools and you will not be in very deep$. I use my TIG now mostly but stay with brands you can service. All my stuff was purchased used and with periodic maintenance will last you a very long time. Have fun.

 

I've been a welde ever since I was 22 and I'm still learning new things and I'm 60 just when u think u kno what to do someone always comes along with a better idea on how to do it, lol good luck and remember a lot of people kno how to weld but not all of them know how to weld lol


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