[missmyljdaze]

There used to be / might still be night school courses through TAFE for welding.

best way to go as they have all the gear - and instructors that know how to fix your stuff-ups.

stephen

[SierraDan]

alien wrote:

I've always wanted to learn to weld... is it as simple as buying a cheap welder and just practising, or have you all done a course / had instruction?

I've just practiced.

My girlfriend has done a night course at TAFE. I think it was a 12 week course? One night a week. Cost about $1000.
They did Oxy, Stick, MIG and TIG.

[Marko_SJ]

alien wrote:

I've always wanted to learn to weld... is it as simple as buying a cheap welder and just practising, or have you all done a course / had instruction?

Do a night course and then practice practice practice. After you do that, tips from experienced welders will make much more sense.

Dont necessarily buy a cheap welder. Buy the best one you can justify the cost of.

[monley]

alien wrote:

I've always wanted to learn to weld... is it as simple as buying a cheap welder and just practising, or have you all done a course / had instruction?

No its not that simple

Buying a cheap welder is where your going to go wrong straight away ($350 special from bunnings).

There is many different processes of welding to, MIG, Stick and TIG been the main ones. You can pick up the hand peace and start having a go bit you need to have some basic knowledge of how the set up the machine and how the process works. Once you have that then it's a matter of practising until you get your technique right. Watching someone else for a couple of hours is the best way to learn at the start

[alien]

i suppose that's the hard part - i'm not a fabricator at all.. If i had a welder i'd use it of course, but it wouldn't ever be out of necessity i wouldn't think =)

[Jezza86]

monley wrote:

alien wrote:

I've always wanted to learn to weld... is it as simple as buying a cheap welder and just practising, or have you all done a course / had instruction?

No its not that simple
Buying a cheap welder is where your going to go wrong straight away ($350 special from bunnings).
There is many different processes of welding to, MIG, Stick and TIG been the main ones. You can pick up the hand peace and start having a go bit you need to have some basic knowledge of how the set up the machine and how the process works. Once you have that then it's a matter of practising until you get your technique right. Watching someone else for a couple of hours is the best way to learn at the start

monley just made a list of everything i did. apart from instead of practicing and screwing up my camper trailer i just got him to build the whole structure and ive only made the non structural parts. and set myself on fire. mostly i just burn myself...

[Jim_Aus]

thats the fun part about learning isnt it Jezza..

[after7]

robot maybe? i see they are in some sort of jig. But bloody good welds. Clean metal is a great start and tip as well.

[zooky08]

Few welds

[31zook]

Just letting you know this is a rubbish weld, but due to me not having to do much of it, I figured I'd show a little of the gouge/grind/weld industry.

So, we all know that there is stick/tig and mig. And with each of thise sections there are several subsections. In the MIG world there is gas and gasless wire, and then there is flux-core wire that also needs a sheilding gas, it produces a slag covering like a GP stick rod does but throws spatter in big balls instead of a random spattering.

So with all these annoying traits why use "3xp" or "Verticore"? Because you can train a monkey to weld vertically. So for when you have a job in situation that you can't move so its down hand its the best bet for it. It has a high deposition rate and can be up to 1.6wire for hand held welding units so that when padding up a bucket of filling a crack it doesn't take as long at using stick.

This is a 5" pipe welded in 2 runs starting at the bottom and working my way to the top with zerp weave.

[303zuke]

zooky08 wrote:

Few welds

That's my welding skill level right there! Joining two pieces of pipe with duct tape! Ok for a roll bar, but not chassis work, right?

[Perram]

Exhaust for my pizza oven.
And my first lobster back



Lifting lug at work (root)

[henno]

This whole album makes me feel inadequate:

http://imgur.com/gallery/lPBkx

[AckerDackerly]

Here is a recent weld on a body cradle I am building for my SJ413 tintop restoration:



It was done with flux core .035 wire using a new 140 Amp Northern Tools Mig welder.

I have not drawn a bead in three years so I attribute the "relative" neatness and penetration of the weld (barring the splatter... ) to thorough surface preparation and a decent welding machine.

I'll be doing a lot of stitch-welding of sheet-metal in the coming months. Hopefully it will look as reasonably good as this.

And yes, I have gas - not the farty kind, the welding stuff!

[greenzook89]

I have to admire the guys that love lobster back. Not sure if i'd have the patience

[Perram]

Mild steel tig welds.

Happy with them. For now

[Perram]

Ss tig.
Anyone have any tips.

gas is on 9l. Think i might be goong too slow. And wobbly.

[zooky08]

Could be a few things. Incorrect tungsten angle. Feeding filler wire in to much. Not feeding wire into weld pool correctly. When you start let the weld pool get hot, then dip filler wire just infront of weld pool. If you have correct tungsten angle you should see the arc drawing the filler wire into the weld pool.

Watch a few youtube clips. Everyone has a different technique.

[Pubic]

It looks a little too cold with a little too much wire.
You could be using the wrond dia wire too.

The colour your getting represents plenty of gas coverage, so youre ok there.

Photo on the right:
The raw edge is too high. Next time, lower it so the edge is at the start of the bend radius.
That way, you wont have any "void" to fill and you will get a much better weld.

[Perram]

Cheers guys. Btw

Couple more from today.
I get a bit wobbly at start and finish. Im working on that. Aswell as smaller tacks.

Its 1.6 316 filler. 2.4 tungsten.

[Pubic]

How thick is the sheet?

What sort of tank are you building? water, fuel?

[Perram]

2mm

Its for water. Rinsing tank.

[Pubic]

1.6 wire should be fine for 2mm stainless.
I'd look at bumping your amps up.
Once your weld gets a bit hotter, you can move quicker.
The quicker you move, the less heat goes into the job, the less it will distort.

Another thing you can consider when building tanks, is to flip the panel you welded on above so that you are welding two raw edges side by side.
All you have to do then is ramp your amps up and fuse the two parts together. There is no need to double weld the joint either.

This may not be applicable to your tank above, but it has certainly helped with all of the sumps and tanks we've made.

[Perram]

Yes! Like a corner to corner weld.
Thats what i wanted to do but it seems everyone wanted it done with a 20mm return. Shits me but what can you do.

Im going to try bumping it up an doing hotter faster welds. Just need to work on my steady hand.
First one is done and has passed flaw check.

2nd one will be better.

Thanks again guys

[zooky08]

If you can, try rest your hand on something. Will help steady your hand

[Pubic]

Looks good.

midway - red plstic = grade 316 right?

Gotta love the mild steel welded to it lol.

[Perram]

I know.
Thats what i said.
Anyway im not a boss or a tradesman just an apprentice.

So i hardly have the authority or skill/experience. To say anything....

[Pubic]

At least you can give them the "I told you so" in a couple of years when it rusts through lol.

[Perram]

Im back

Here is my work over the past few months.
I am a sheety and about to finish my boilermaker training.

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[Perram]

Having a go at weaving

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