welding skills?

[Guest]

so i've slowly discovered over the past couple of years that i like working on cars. i'm trying to decide which set of skills and tools i should acquire, and which things are better left to the professionals.

how difficult is it to acquire welding skills? i just put my car in the shop for about $1200 worth of upgrades because i can't weld or fabricate.

i've seen some equipment that looks fairly reasonably priced, but i dont' really know enough about it to make a sound judgement.

[BIGEVIL]

A MIG welder is a good compromise between a quality weld and an amateur hand. Check out www.harborfreight.com
I paid $200 for mine. See my previous post for a transmission crossmember I built.

[kaptinkaos]

I bought a Lincoln MIG/TIG Combo welder for $450 at Lowe's.
I was shown the basics by a friend, bought some welding books & practiced on any scrap metal I could find until I became confident enough to weld on a car or other project.
On the KFC website (http://www.kaosfuneralcars.com), in the video of the demolition race filmed for CMT, the front bumper on the hearse was welded on by me, it was done on MIG setting & held up with no cracks or fractures.

[Zachary]

I have a decent arc welder I bought from Harbor Freight for like $80 on sale. The big secret is this man, you CAN NOT learn to weld from a book. You need to find someone who is willing to look over your shoulder and tell you how to do it and what you are screwing up.

The good thing is, it is not rocket science. It's hard to get a handle on, but once you do you will become exponentially better as you practice. Get some scrap steel and practice welding and testing the welds under pressure (big ass hammer) and also cut them apart to see how they look.

Arc welding is recommended for things like welding old metals as it torches out a lot of the impurities. I am also a strong proponant of the feed welders for beginners. Not as strong of a weld, but if you aren't welding a high performance car or a suspension bridge, it doesn't really matter as much.

[Morella]

Be sure to use an autodarkening helmet, so you don't have to screw with flipping the shield down every time your arc starts.

Sometimes a community college will offer a welding class, very affordable. The hard part is learning to start the arc, at least with a stick welder, and you need the right rod or wire.

And don't ever forget your gloves! Yeah, you may not need them to make the weld, but then you pick up the piece, and...OH FUCK! Don't ask me how I know this.

I use a stick welder because that's what I learned on (mumble) years ago.

-d

[Morella]

Oh, and if you're going to fabby your own parts, a good bench grinder, Sawzall, drill press, band saw, 4.5" DeWalt grinder, and Dremel(tm) grinder, among other things, are handy. You get what you pay for, and be thee warned that buying tools and making things can be addictive. That's why want to get well.

-denise

[Morella]

And a 14" abrasive cutoff saw. They rip through stock, and you get a much cleaner cut than a torch.

[LMS]

I have the millermatic 150 wire feed, it's pretty nice. It would work better if I put gas on it, but it gets the job done.
At my work we have a much larger miller with the aluminum welding set up on it which kicks ass.
Listen to Morella on the auto-darkening helmet, that is a time and eyeball saver.
It will make it much easyier to learn welding when you can see what you are doing at all times. And DO NOT skimp out on this part these are you eyes we are talking about!

Then Like Zach said practice practice practice and you will quickly become a decent welder.