How hard is it to learn to weld?

[arboriculturist]

HAIRONYOURCHEST is the best advice of all the posts.

 

Get your local friendly AG. engineer to give you 1/2 hr of his time.

 

Wellington Welding in Plymouth like Cornish says, 2 x 50 metre extension cables and an auto-dark helmet and you will be set up for the next 20 years.

 

Good fortune with the welding:thumbup1:

[Woodworks]

Wow loads of food for thought. Think a lesson from a mate can be arranged and sounds like an obvious place to start. Thought lots of lessons might be essential but sound like it's something that can be picked up as I go along. Will look into all the types of welder but don't like the sound of renting expensive gas cylinders as it will only get used occasionally.

 

Thanks chaps

[Brushcutter]

I taught myself i tend to lean to Oxy Acetylene and arc mainly because it's easier to change media. I have a mig set but i don't really get along with it.

 

If you want to do thin stuff then MIG is your friend. Dirty scrappy bits of farm equipment then an angle grinder and a big ARC welder is your friend. want to build something in big box from scratch then TIG is your friend.

 

By some 3mm plate and road loads of beads of weld until travel speed is consistent and then work on running C shapes as you travel. Once that's all sorted work on penetration. Once all those basic are sorted do some lap joints and butt joints. Grind some groves in box and fill it in. Grind slices off everything you weld to see what you've done like your heat effected zone and how penetration has gone.

 

Practice makes perfect. One of the best teaching channels on Youtube for welding is Chucke2009 i think its called.

[agg221]

don't like the sound of renting expensive gas cylinders as it will only get used occasionally.

 

Thanks chaps

 

You don't have to rent anymore - you can pay a deposit on the cylinder, like Calor gas, then when you're done you return it and get the deposit back, or swap it for another cylinder and just pay for the gas. There are several companies doing this now.

 

Alec

[scbk]

Just got a new welder the other week, a Parweld inverter, £200, what a step up from my old buzzbox!!

 

XTS 162 MMA Inverter - Parweld

 

 

A real joy to use

[StuartM]

A couple of months ago I decided that I need a project and that it was about time I learned how to weld. At the time I couldn't find a spring tine harrow for a price I wanted to pay so out came the old arc welder that cost me £20 last year from a retiring farmer.

 

from a complete beginners point of view the useful stuff I learned is:

-I can weld but that isn't nearly the same thing as being a welder.

-practice on some nice thick scrap then practice a load more.

-thick is easier to weld than thin (I was using 4mm box and 10mm plate)

-an hour with someone that knows what they are doing will teach you more than you will ever get from the internet. I sort of knew the theory but my mate could see what I was doing wrong and could correct it.

-I could weld with my old transformer based unit but the new inverter one I bought is way nicer to use. Same with rods, new and kept indoors work best.

-for me an auto dimming helmet is a must as I have to see what I'm doing.

-if you don't feel happy about a joint get someone experienced to do it. I got my mate to do a couple I knew had to be right and then did the rest.

 

Stuart

[carlos]

i spent ages trying to weld with hit and miss results so i went on an evening course two nights a week for a year , really enjoyed it and learnt loads, dont do loads of welding now but iam always happy with the results.

id say an smallish inverter mma welder would suit, also an auto dark helmet will really help things.

carl

[carlos]

Just got a new welder the other week, a Parweld inverter, £200, what a step up from my old buzzbox!!

 

XTS 162 MMA Inverter - Parweld

 

 

A real joy to use

 

inverters are nice:thumbup1: just have to wait for my old buzz box to die:001_smile:

[gand]

I can weld to a fashion, and own a mig and arc welder. I usually get one of my mates to do it though, as that's what they do for a living! And I know it's right!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

[Mull]

I can weld to a fashion, and own a mig and arc welder. I usually get one of my mates to do it though, as that's what they do for a living! And I know it's right!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

 

 

Can't argue with that, welding is a bit of a science, we can all get two bits of steel to stick together but have no idea of how well together they are stuck!!

This question is a bit like me saying " I'm going to do a wee bit of arb work now and again, can somebody give me a half hour lesson, then I'll get on with it myself!