begining welding

[greenthumb]

I know that a few weeks ago there were post about welding but I guess mine is a little differnt. I have never welded before. I am interested in learning how. I have seen campel huasfeild (sp) not sure if spelled right. priced between 200 and 275 for mig welders. I thing is was one that runs off 220 volts. I would be using it for I guess hobby. Just curious on thoughts. I a have tractor which need work or could build attachments and general workshop tinkering. I have a rather large metal scrap pile that the previous owner left behind so I am sure that metal art could become an event. any thoughts would be great

 

[s1120]

Take a class. I am going to do the same soon. If not, you run the risk of walking away becouse you can't do a good weld. I have done a bit of stick welding in the past, but when I got my Mig, I could not lay a nice bead to save myself.

 

[MossRoad]

Take some classes in MIG welding before you buy anything. With MIG you get a very clean weld with no slag to clean off. It is relatively easy to learn and a decent MIG welder can be had for under $500.00 with some of the cool accessories. It is a great thing to learn and you couldn't go wrong. One thing to look at when purchasing a welder is the duty cycle. Get the highest duty cycle that you can afford. You can weld longer and the welder will probably last longer as well.

 

[RJohnson]

Along with the great advice about taking a class, one thing you need to understand about MIG is that it is not as tolerant of rust, scale and dirt like stick welding is. All of the deoxiders have to be made into the metallurgyof the wire. But keeping the part you are welding on as clean as possible will make you welding alot easier, whatever process you are using.

Randy

 

[Spencer]

You may want to look into adult education classes in welding. Around here they have them for lower income individuals to help train them for a job. I am luckily not lower income so I had to pay for the class instead of it being free but it fit my schedule nicely compared to the community college. The teacher was great, he was so happy to have somebody there who really wanted to learn. Most of his students were either there to fufill there unemployment requirements or were ordered by a judge to go there.

Spence

 

[MossRoad]

I'd also get a MIG welder that can use both flux core wire and gas. It isn't that much more and makes the welder more versatile.

 

[GlueGuy]

I will second what Randy says. MIG is highly intolerant of weld contamination, although the welding process itself is one of the easiest to learn.

Under the advice of a local welder, I got an AC/DC stick welder that I will be learning on. It's a mongo welder (Miller, 300 amps). He felt that even though it's a little harder to learn than MIG, it is far more tolerant of screw-ups, and a lot cheaper. Since all my welding is of the "hobby" variety, and I don't intend on doing any real production, I went with his advise. Only time will tell....

 

[cowboydoc]

I think you made the right choice Glue Guy. For just occasional welding you will be fine with that. I've got a mig welder and pull my stick welder out all the time, especially on farm equipment because I don't have an hour to prep the surface. If you have any dirt, grease, rust, etc. on the surface your weld will be junk. I'd much prefer a stick for fixing dirty stuff. Don't get me wrong the mig is really nice and for clean stuff it can't be beat.

 

[MossRoad]

I never knew that MIG doesn't tolerate contamination well. In school(15 years ago) it was never mentioned, and all of the practice stuff we used was clean. Thanks for the info.

 

[therrien]

Mig welding can be done with good results on slightly rusty and weathered steel, as long as you use the correct wire and gas. I'm not sure what those are, but I use a chart that was sent with the welder. I also keep the proper wire and gas on the welder,because I try to use second hand stock where ever possible.
It's the same as choosing the correct welding rod for the job.