|
|
|
I've had a mig welder in my garage for ages, the lovely people at R-Tech Welding are sponsoring the Retro Rides Weekender and Gathering this year, and I'm hoping to get a club discount with them. I've had cars that need (relatively simple) welding and I've turned down cars that need relatively simple welding. All these things come together and make me thing : I SHOULD BE ABLE TO WELD! ... but I can't.
So I've look at where I can learn, and I've look at watching videos, and I think I've got a book somewhere. So I ask those that can and do weld, where did you learn?
|
|
|
|
|
brc76
RR Helper
Posts: 1,108
|
|
|
I did a course at a local college. Was a terrible course, but got me going, so it served a purpose.
Fun fact; Not long after the college was knocked down to make way for a housing estate.
|
|
Last Edit: Feb 5, 2020 15:01:33 GMT by brc76
|
|
|
|
|
Realistically, get some steel, mask up and have a go, ive done the college bit, but it doesn’t teach you the curse word steel/ welding upside down sort of carp Anyone can weld clean steel with £0000’s of industrial mig, welding in the real world with a hobby mig is a completely different thing
Edit- my welding isn’t all that pretty, but it’s not letting go!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I did a 3 month workshop course as part of my engineering degree and the vehicle restoration course they used to run at Colchester. But I actually started welding up my anglia with a hobby welder and pub gas years earlier learning what worked best as I went. They don't teach you how to weld pitted wax impregnated steel on a windy day outside at college. In reality the best approach is to do a bit of research into the theory watch a few videos then it's just practice.
|
|
Last Edit: Feb 5, 2020 15:18:38 GMT by kevins
|
|
samta22
Club Retro Rides Member
Stuck in once more...
Posts: 1,276
Club RR Member Number: 32
|
|
|
Started playing and getting used to the various types; then once I felt I'd hit my limit/YouTube wasn't making me any better I enrolled on an evening course at a local agricultural college. 8 week course that was well worth the money, although it helped that the person running the course was into his machinery too. As mentioned above, the caveat to the above was that when it came to TIG/MIG we were using ridiculously expensive machines, great for those going on to do automotive work or aero work where the machines were supplied, not so good for your average hobbyist like me who only had a basic mig at home. After a couple of weeks of the good stuff getting the technique right, I pointed at the old mig machine in the corner gathering dust and said 'Can I use that one please?'. After explaining why, it was mine for the rest of the course as no one else needed/wanted to touch it! One of the best bits of advice passed on was that welding is 20% settings, 70% practice and 10% luck
|
|
'37 Austin 7 '56 Austin A35 '58 Austin A35 '65 Triumph Herald 12/50 '69 MGB GT '74 MGB GT V8'73 TA22 Toyota Celica restoration'95 Mercedes SL320 '04 MGTF 135 'Cool Blue' (Mrs' Baby) '05 Land Rover Discovery 3 V8 '67 Abarth 595 (Mrs' runabout) '18 Disco V
|
|
|
|
|
Tom and myself are going for 1/2 training on Saturday, it’s up in the Midlands though.
Practicing seems to be working for me, but I’m struggling to help Tom (because I don’t really know what I’m doing, so can’t advise him)
|
|
|
|
moglite
Part of things
Posts: 815
Club RR Member Number: 144
|
|
|
An hour or two with a welding chap(ess) with a similar machine will get you going nicely. If you were closer or if you are passing, I'd volunteer.
|
|
1967 Morris Oxford Traveller 1979 Toyota LandCruiser BJ40 1993 Daimler Double Six 2007 Volvo XC70 2.4D
|
|
ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,121
Club RR Member Number: 134
|
|
|
Self taught, and the one bit of strong advice I can give you to make a worthwhile result on any automotive welding is this.
Spot weld everything.
Trying to blast out big long seams just blows holes until you are confident on your welder and talent. Practice on offcut sheet and take it in stages. Weld a stitch, let the glow fade, continue. You will get some fantastic professional results that way, and as your experience grows, you will eventually get to the point where your feed and control go on to continuous welding.
Watching the boys on Project Binky is worth doing, they film a lot of their welding and their technique is great for learning.
EDIT TO ADD: You say you have cars needing welding. Don't weld the cars first, as most of the issues you will face comes from welding at tough angles, upside down, kinking the wire feed etc. Practice upright on scrap first!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was a truck mechanic & really just learned at work by trial & error really. Obviously helped by guys around me who know the game. I think you can learn a lot just getting various thicknesses of material & having a go with your MIG. One thing I think sounds obvious but is very relevant is ‘clean, clean, clean’ metal. It can’t really be stressed too heavily how important that is. Dirty/rusty/zinc coated or whatever metal is not a good start. Have a play, I’m sure you’ll get there
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I borrowed my friends welder and tried sticking some scraps together with it, then tried altering the settings to see what they did. After a short practise i started making messy welds on cars and then having to grind them back down and fill in the resulting pin holes. Eventually the amount of grinding and pin hole filling got less.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oh, and don’t do what mk2 son did, on his first completed weld he pulled off the mask, shouted ‘look at that!’ And picked it up.... Learning by trial and error in the extreme 😀
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I’m planning on a couple of weekends here to at least get the basics. www.cbwa.co.uk/Might have a go this summer.
|
|
1994 BMW 525i touring 2004 BMW Z4 sorn and broken 1977 Ford Escort 1982 Ford Capri getting restored 1999 Mazda B2500 daily driver.
|
|
|
|
|
HoTWire I had never welded anything ever in my entire life until September last year. I used a facility called RetroRides to get help busting my welding cherry. A fellow RR member ( @elkyholic ) kindly took me in, put up with my appalling errors, and patiently guided me through my first ever welding job. My first ever welding job was not some scraps that I practised on. It was the driver's door of my ElCamino. Straight in there... BOSH ... no messing about. Butt-welding along a 130cm join is how I started. Trial by fire. Sink or Swim. Who dares wins Rodney. Apples and Pears. Find a local RR fellow who is kind and has the kit and space to help you. I still wouldn't win any welding competitions but having done my door and some bodywork repairs I can say I am a lot more confident about having a go. After all, if it goes wrong you only have to grind it back / cut it out / scrap the panel / scrap the car / abandon the workshop / call the fire brigade / scream for an eye surgeon who can work miracles / etc
|
|
Last Edit: Feb 5, 2020 17:22:29 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
|
Local college for me, did as part of a car restoration course. We did gas , mig and stick as well and basic panel beating, panel fab and painting.Well worth the money,theshame is i moved away halfway through the course so never got my certificate
|
|
|
|
Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,845
Club RR Member Number: 39
|
|
|
Self taught. TIP don't take advice from someone who thinks they can weld - get if from someone who knows how to weld.
|
|
|
|
ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,258
Club RR Member Number: 170
|
|
|
I learned via a few ways. -Gas welding: Design Technology (DT) classes at school. It took me time but I got there -Hitting the car itself. This went as expected. Not well. Like many, 3 things didn't help me. A curse word welder, curse word steel and not much of an idea of how to do it. The magazines will talk about welding up on scrap steel and then how just letting it 'flow' will get it right. It didn't for me. I decided to hit the car myself as I knew the welding would cost more than I could afford for the standard I wanted, which was back then more than just patching over rot. These things would help me down the line 1) Making the most of my equipment. Going to Argon Gas really tidied my technique up. 2) Getting a Pro-grade liner wire and a bigger reel of good quality welding wire, not the curse word Halfords sell in small reels. I have purplevanman to thank for that last point. Even with my curse word welder, he managed to do an alright job on my car 3) Watch someoone do it. While I had others weld cars for me, I was generally working at the time they were available so I could never see a master in action. When the exhaust fell off our Mondeo, my mate let me borrow his ramp to weld it. I sucked. He then did most of it. Until then, I didn't really realise that you had to have the wire directly on one bit of the metal and then drag the pool across to the 'new' metal. I always tried to put the wire with the two, having the two pieces of metal touching. I had somehow got lucky with welding OK over the years. That was a big moment in my welding improvement for me. 4) Practice. That's basically what the above was really. And the more I learned something, the more I imrpvoed as I put it into practice. Over the years I've probably welded around 4 or 5 cars so the equipment has paid for itself a few times over. The MGB is a car that saw alot of welder action.
|
|
|
|
ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,258
Club RR Member Number: 170
|
|
|
Self taught. TIP don't take advice from someone who thinks they can weld - get if from someone who knows how to weld and can communicate it Edited for accuracy. If they can't see where you are going wrong (which it seems a few can't despite being fantastic and tidy welders themselves), it's pointless. There's not alot you can see with a mask on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My father was a coded welder. Although I saw him welding things in the garage he never actually gave me a go, never mind teach me. When I was 17, me and my brother’s went shares on a mig and I taught myself how to weld. It isn’t hard. I’ve bought a Rtec mig and I’ve even had my 9 year old use it . Get some scrap and give it a go. I use settings volt 3 and wire 9 with 0.6mm wire and 0.9mm plate. It gives a great weld.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've practised, and I carry on practising every time I weld something. Sometimes it looks like I'm getting better, and sometimes it looks as if I've never welded before.
There are some tutorial videos on mig-welding.co.uk that are pretty good, and I imagine youtube is full of them too. Few of them help when you suddenly have to weld upside down or to something that isn't as clean as you'd like.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In school.
I got lessons with Oxy Acetylene, Stick, and Tig.
Self taught in Mig and Oxy Acetylene brazing, but that wasn't a problem at that point.
I wish I had gotten a bit more instruction with a Oxy Acetylene cutting torch, but I get by.
In my mid 20s I did a job training to get a stick welding X-ray certificate.
Unfortunately badly timed, nobody was hiring at that time, so my certificate lapsed after 6 months.
|
|
|
|
|