Practically Classics Forum

arceye wrote: But yeah, practice, practice, practice is the only real way to learn how to lay down weld that actually holds different pieces of metal together.

Not "Welding for Dummies" book then?

gazza82 wrote:...Not "Welding for Dummies" book then?

That seems to work for Binky's creators, or is their constant reference to the book a pink kipper?

I've just lost ten minutes of my life looking at the amazon listing for that It doesn't actually look a bad book, sure it couldn't hurt anything but it does appear to American in origin so meh .

Available on Amazon Kindle or even in paperback

I went on a 20 week (2 nights a week) night class at the local tech college to learn to weld. Very informative and takes a lot of the guess work out of the welding process. My course had the choice of what type of welding you wanted to do, I plumped for mig as that was what I had and used at home.

Kev

gazza82 wrote:

arceye wrote: But yeah, practice, practice, practice is the only real way to learn how to lay down weld that actually holds different pieces of metal together.

Not "Welding for Dummies" book then?

I don't get the practice I should, so when i start doing patching on the Landrover it starts off as looking like it was dropped by a flock of pigeons that had been fed weapons grade ex-lax.

A few hours burning away and I can achieve "Adequate"

The problem with welding at home isn't so much a matter of practice, which is always done under ideal conditions- clean new steel, standing up, lots of room, it's the circumstances many of us work in.....outdoors, on your back underneath or head inside a wheelarch, not really enough room, wind blowing, old metal, can't really see what's going on .....

I'm always impressed at how much better my welding is when I'm fabricating something on the bench than when I'm rolling in the gutter!

Many, many years ago, I was a professional welder working for a company that made bespoke conveyor equipment. I became quite experienced with stick (manual arc), gas and tig welding, but never mig, as this had not then appeared at that company.
Some time later, I purchased a Clarke 120e mig welder (which is still going strong 18 years later), and set about teaching myself mig welding by replacing the sills on my wife's Mini 1000.
The 120e came with a small disposable gas bottle and regulator, but with no indication of how much gas the bottle contained. The blurb suggested that a bottle would allow around 45 mins welding, so I was rather surprised to discover that there was still a full bottle (by weight) after I had welded one sill. It was then that I realised that the regulator was faulty, and not releasing any gas! The welds were quite presentable though, but I did find it a lot easier with a correctly functioning regulator!

mr rusty wrote:The problem with welding at home isn't so much a matter of practice, which is always done under ideal conditions- clean new steel, standing up, lots of room, it's the circumstances many of us work in.....outdoors, on your back underneath or head inside a wheelarch, not really enough room, wind blowing, old metal, can't really see what's going on .....

I'm always impressed at how much better my welding is when I'm fabricating something on the bench than when I'm rolling in the gutter!

I have given that a lot of thought recently so tomorrow I'm going to rearrange the garage and change the aging single flouresent lights for double so at least I can see when I'm making a mess of my future welding.

By strange coincidence, I'm going to change my strip lights for LED floodlights! I had a 500W QH lamp above the bench, but it blew two bulbs in rapid succession (partly because I made it swivel to be able to light the bench or either side of the garage and I don't think QH bulbs like being moved with a yard brush ), so I have bought a new LED one to replace it. I also have a smaller QH lamp over the garage door that has had a LED bulb fitted and it is great, so I have bought a new small LED floodlight to replace the strip light above the lathe - the opposite end to the doors. The portable floodlamp also has a LED bulb and is great as an inspection lamp - no heat from it to warm me up though.

I have to agree with SirT and Mr Rusty: my welding is dire if I haven't used the welder for a while. After an hour or two, it becomes acceptable (or even good if it's ground down and filled!!). Welding new metal is great, but it takes a master craftsman to be able to weld rust and, unfortunately, the tractors and Land Rover contain a lot of rust. I can almost do weld rust with gas, but the MIG is just too powerful!

In my case, I was taught welding in tea breaks, lunches etc by someone that could. His welding was way, way better than mine. Even so, I've decided to post an example of a bit of ally welding I did a couple of years ago. Going off topic a bit, as it is TIG-welded.