I started to learn to weld tonight!

[jmhole]

After having the Surf for about a month now, and loving every minute I've spent in it!
Spent the whole of yesterday evening looking at the YotaTech Fab Shop section!

I decided that I would be a fool not to learn to weld seeing as my Dad has Gas,MIG and TIG.

Started with gas tonight and after an hour and a half I could do a pretty reasonable lap weld on two steel sheets! Gonna spend all the time that I'm not working on the house welding now and sneak some money out for a pipe bender!

Which will obviously please my soon to be wife(2 weeks).

[si tate]

If your learning to weld so you can repair your surf then your in for a long wait, it should'nt need any welding for another 10 years.

[Albannach]

10 years is 5 or 6 more than he'll need to learn how to weld properly. So not a problem

There's a massive difference between joining 2 pieces of metal and welding 2 pieces of metal.

[MattF]

it should'nt need any welding for another 10 years.

If that were true then all 1st gens would be in mint nick.

[SoundsDigital]

It's quite easy really. I'm not very good at gas welding, mainly because Ihave very little experience at it, although I have done a little brazing. I used to do a lot of mig welding and found that when starting out I had to get it set up just the way I liked it. As I got more experienced, I found I could alter my technique a little depending on the settings and the material. I like arc welding if you need extra strength but most material on cars is too thin for arc welding, particularly if you are new to it. The technique between the two is similar, but remember your rod shortens with arc welding as you go where as mig should stay constant unless you move away from the job which will cause the tip to overheat. I've not done any tig so unable to offer much on that. I always prefered a hand sheild to a hed shield for mig welding on cars as your movement is restricted enough on cars without a cumbersome helmet on your head.

[POPEYE]

It's something i'd like to learn properly, i only have an old SIP arc welder and aint too bad at welding thicker metal but my one go at mig ended in disaster, it was a cheapo unit tho, friggin gas bottle (at 9 quid a go) only lasted a minuit so i got rid, i have managed to make my own 3" stainless exhaust useing the arc tho, just kept "tacking", took ages and not too pretty,

[Webbo]

IMO Ian you done a good job of exhaust for your first attempt welding stainless pipe with ARC ,Tig is far better though. You did have some good rods though..

[jmhole]

Thanks for the advice guys, not expecting overnight success, but am generally a fast learner and tend to make a nice job of the things I do.

So once i have the hang of it I will post up some pic's.

[POPEYE]

IMO Ian you done a good job of exhaust for your first attempt welding stainless pipe with ARC ,Tig is far better though. You did have some good rods though..

Aye Dave, it was the rods that did it, i just hung on to the end of em
it was the self realeasing slag that got me, wherever i stood the buggers got me,

i'd certainly love to have a go with a decent mig or tig tho, once used a big mig at the coach builders for about five mins, and got a half decent little weld, that cheap thing was no good,

[guysturg1]

got experience with all of em, used arc, mig and tig where i used to work as a pipe welder, you need the patience of a saint welding 12"-14" diameter stainless pipe to flanges with a tig, (needed a minimum 3 passes inside and out), used a combination of mig and arc for mild steel pipe and welding channel together for bases for huge gas boosters, tig though i think looks the best although as i said you need patience to do it!!

[POPEYE]

got experience with all of em, used arc, mig and tig where i used to work as a pipe welder, you need the patience of a saint welding 12"-14" diameter stainless pipe to flanges with a tig, (needed a minimum 3 passes inside and out), used a combination of mig and arc for mild steel pipe and welding channel together for bases for huge gas boosters, tig though i think looks the best although as i said you need patience to do it!!

I have the patience but not the skill

[SoundsDigital]

The cheap mig welders are a waste of money. A good quality mig is so much easier to use. There is nothing worse than the cheap ones where the wire sticks in the liner. The more expensive ones have a better inductance too and you getter a much better weld. The same is true to a lesser extent with arc welders. An old fasioned oil cooled arc welder is infinately better than the newer cheaper air cooled ones. My governor is a brilliant arc welder but his welding on the mig is awful. I eventually persueded him to invest in a decent quality mig and there has been no looking back. I hunted high and low and found a Murex which was being discontinued for a similar price to the cheap and nasty seally ones.

[surfenstein]

all i can say is keep at it guys,the more you use it the better you will become,the only thing i would say is patience and play with the settings especially on mig and tig,keep getting those odd bits of tin out and welding them together.try using the lowest settings possible so as not to distort the metal too much due to heat.get the metal as clean as you can get it and use a decent mask.