Learning to (hobby) weld....

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: Silk
I would learn to gas weld first - it's an art form, and the two handed control of heat and rod can easily be transferred to TIG. I use arc (stick) if I want something with strength, and MIG if I want to stick something together. The real advantage of MIG is being able to join pieces of different thickness together -


This is a good summary of the differences. I agree with the idea of learning gas first, if possible. Learning the eye/hand coordination and muscle control in this way is very valuable, and as a bonus you feel like more of a craftsman.

 

[Trav]

Now i understand. I use a Millermatic 212 auto set and have nice results with it in everyday welding jobs using steel mix gas from Airco.
The flux cored cheap little units just blow junk all over the place and don't penetrate well at all. Not good!

 

[RH+G]

Quote:
I'm so sorry for the poorly worded statement. I meant to say this:

The Harbor Freight $89 mig welder "welds" are not good for anything precise, and they are not very strong either.

I used the word "it's" in reference to the little HF welder.

In a past life, I worked a production shop building signs with large, heavy duty MIG welders. They were very high quality machines and the weld quality was superb. I clearly understand the fact that most welds today are MIG welds and all of us trust our lives to these welds. There is a big difference between a Harbor Freight $89, 115V flux core MIG welder and professional equipment.


Ooh yeah now that i can agree with. A HF welder will just spit weld and make u feel like u dont know what u doing even if u do

 

[Loobed]

My Welding teacher said MIG stands for Maybe Its Good. Mig is the easiest to learn, and if you are not making life support equipment it will be OK. From what I can remember, all civil construction is either arc welded or flux-core welded. They don't use MIG welders if human life is involved. They have something new; I think it is called spray pulse welding. It is like MIG, but it is supper clean and makes a perfect weld the first time you use it. The machines aren't cheap. This is the one I tried http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/product.php?model=M00151


If you want to learn to weld, take a class at a community college.

 

[tig1]

I'm laughing at some of the comments about MIG welding not being strong!

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I've been pleased with my Lincoln wire welder. For someone like me who doesn't weld on a regular basis it's easy, the welds seem to hold up, and it does almost everything that I want.

I have welded a lot of tractor sheet metal with it, along with a few other things around the shop. On the rare occasion that I do something complicated or structural, where if not done correctly could cause damage or be dangerous, I either have a portable welder come on site or take it to a welding shop.

One of my show tractors had a large tear in the fender, along with several holes drilled in the dash when I drug it home. Both were patched in with my wire welder and both are completely invisible now.

 

[tom slick]

According to some of you it's amazing the equipment my company builds stays together. It's pulled through clay soil by 300-400 hp tractors and (GASP!!) it's 100% wire-feed welded by hand. Granted it's FCAW "Dual Shield" but none of it is that "stronger" stick welded. The other manufacturers in our industry have also adopted GMAW/FCAW.

GMAW and FCAW, "MIG" is used in structural welding. You may want to read up on it.

 

[Shannow]

Yeah, but they are pretty specialised machines, with qualified weld procedures, operated by qualified welders.

Even still, the only wire feed that's used in my industry is SAW factory stuff (specialist machines, operators, and testing), or on hard facing. Plate work has been FCAW sometimes, but once again the operators are field tested, an approved and NATA tested procedure, and additional NDT post weld.

All of the field structural, high pressure/temp (2600psi, 100F) stuff is GTAW, and MMAW.

But for a beginner/hobby welder, a decent looking stick or Gas weld, by a non-qualified person, to no particular qualified procedure, with no post weld NDT will be statistically safer than a MIG...and if something DOES happen with a home made weld, the Insurance company will be performing similar acts as a rat up your drainpipe

 

[Silk]

Any non professional welder can do a simple test at home - weld two 1/4in plates together by stick, MIG and gas, put in a vice and hit with a hammer. I know which will bend, which will take a lot more blows to move the same amount, and which one will snap clean off.

 

[Trav]

I did just that with 5/16 mild steel to make a long straight piece to bend metal over.
I can beat it with a large hammer all day without it breaking.

I guess if they can weld submarines together with mig its good enough for anything i'm doing.

Quote:
The technique employed by the welders is MIG – metal inert gas. As well as their welding gun, they each carry what is known as a welding suitcase, within which is a reel of flux that is heated to form the molten metal. There is a double safeguard to prevent against any atmospheric attack during welding – the first is a protective wire that contains the flux which gradually strips away as the weld is applied, and the second is a shielding gas (comprising argon and CO2).



http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2011/10/a-touch-of-class.cfm

 

[edhackett]

We need the OP to get back to us with more information. Does he want to learn to weld, or just make a few things using welding(home projects/art). If the former, he's getting good info on learning gas and stick and the +/- of the types. If the latter, a low/mid power, quality MIG, properly used will fit his needs. Also what is his ultimate budget?

Cheap HF type are never a bargain, especially when trying to purchase consumables a few years down the road.

Ed