Welding Education Resources

One of my goals for 2006 is to develop my welding skills and eventually purchase a Mig Welder. I have checked the local community college and they do have classes, but unfortunately they are during the day when I am at work. I am fortunate to have some friends who are excellent welders, one is even a retired shop teacher, so I have them to learn from. Since we did our family Christmas yesterday, I have had some time today to surf around looking for books and other learning tools to get some book smarts before I move to the practical side. I'd like to share some that I found. Hope this helps other folks too and if you know of any others please post them up.

Excellent article with a number of resources listed at the end:

http://www.thefabricator.com/ArcWeld...le.cfm?ID=1083

That article was taken from this site, appears to be a great source for metal working:

http://www.thefabricator.com/Default.cfm

And here is some online tutorials from Millerwelds ETraining

http://www.millerwelds.com/education/etraining.html

Should give us all something to work on during the winter

Merry Christmas and Happy 2006 all

Pat

I go here to ask questions,no offense,just wanting to pass a link.Mig welding in general is simple its when you want to get fancy that it gets a little harder.

http://www.weldingweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6

Good links.

I have heard good input from these video rentals..

http://technicalvideorental.com/rental_27.html

Haven't gotten around to seeing any myself though. Still, the homepage lists lots of metalworking instructional tapes and DVDs.
Worth investigating if classes are not convenient (I'm in the same fix w/work hours!) :-(

My hint is get top quality googles/face shield. You only got two eyes and one face! Good luck.

-David

If you plan to just weld as a hobby then classes are not needed. Get you a nice (preferably Miller, Lincoln is second choice IMO) MIG welder and then just practice. You will learn to KNOW in your head the setting that you need to a certain size metal, etc. Practice before you do a frame or such by getting TWO of the EXACT same sizes of metal that the frame or whatever you are welding will be and do a test bead.... Get your setting right and look on the back of the metal. If it is penetrating well then there you go. Like whoever above said, MIG is easy, just takes a little time to get it down and lay REAL nice beads. Now TIG is another thing. :p
Thanks for the links though, I will definetely check them out. Oh and I decided to change my major from auto body to Welding and Fabrication and taking night classes here at my community college and getting a diploma from it. Should be fun! "D Good luck Pat and keep us updated on your welding skills and what kind of welder you get!

I could teach you how to weld, I live about an hour away from Roseville in Vallejo. I can weld stick, tig, and oxy-acetylene. I can weld mild steel and stainless with all 3 processes. I can do aluminum with tig, but with the right flux I should also be able to do it with oxy-acetylene. I can also teach you how to braze which can be useful on autobody. The only trouble is, for some reason I can't mig? Isn't it supposed to be easy?

You can TIG but not MIG? LOL Sorry that is just funny. Heh. Well there ya go Pat. Looks like you have someone close by that is willing to help you out. That would be really cool if you learn to TIG as well, just takes more time and money. Have you ever seen the Miller welders with EVERYTHING from MIG, TIG, Plasma, etc on it all together as one huge unit and a remote control to control the heat and wire speed? Now that is SWEET! That is what I wan't to save up for... If I remember correctly they are around 8500 bucks bare minimum...???

Hey 76GMC1500,

That's a great offer, I actually have some pretty good offers from guys in my club so I think I will save the mileage. One of them is even going to bring his welding rig over to my place to help on my winter project. I would like to meet up some time though, we will have to figure out a time and place

Pat

Pat,

It sounds like you have a plan with some help to learn to weld. Your biggest concern will be practice and more practice.

You might also consider the video, that was mentioned earlier, from http://technicalvideorental.com/rental_27.html I had a chance to watch "Oxy-Acetylene Welding ..with Steve Bleile" at MetalMeet several months ago. It is geared towards someone that is just learning how to weld, but it was good.

I've also heard good things about technicalvideorental.com. If you haven't heard of them, you should check out their website.

Check (if you haven't already) the adult education program at the local high schools; you might get lucky. When I lived in Grass Valley, I took some welding classes to brush up and catch up (had not had a torch in hand for about ten or so years) at the high school there. The teacher ran a fabrication shop in Nevada City, and was very sharp. The courses were at night, for three hours. You being in Marysville, with all of the ag-industry around there, there should be something similar around.

As for me, I can do almost any welding task reasonably well, but MIG is my real weak spot; feed vs. heat vs. wire size - just not as good a result for me. Maybe I truly am a luddite. On steel, an oxy-acetylene torch and enough time will get me great results.

I never took any classes, i just bought myself a mig welder and practiced, practiced.. Now i can lay down a pretty nice bead, and am confident when using the mig. Just get one and practice youll get it

I have to agree with FMXhellraiser get out there and practice alot. I like to tig more then mig but my project was so large I used mig for most of it. What is really important is to learn how to test your welds.

John

Yeah he is right, learn to test your welds out. Also for a frame I think I would prefer a Stick welder IMO. I would trust one way more than I would with a little 110v MIG. Anyone here do up a frame with S.M.A.W?

FMXhellraiser it really is how much you have to weld stick it good but if you have a lot to do you should go with mig.

as in my case.
http://www.jtm311.com/P1210455.JPG

I think Butte College has a great welding program, if not there are a few really good schools in Sacramento. Take a class.

I learned to weld in a factory welding steel boxs with a stick welder. 14 yrs ago I bought a MIG and never looked back. use the same machine for frames as for sheet metal. Change the wire and weld stainles, or aluminum. I have never tried tig but can't imagin it being that hard. Practice and more of it. Always check your penitration.
Charlie

I am learning from a real expert, his name is Randy. Imagine that, MY name is Randy :P I think if you get yoru own welder and do just anything on your own, it will help you a lot more than books, videos and other people will. Now I'm not saying that the ladder is'nt important, but I believe no one will get anywhere without actually doing it on thier own.

1/4" Iron I did just the other night for fun. I have a little Lincoln Electric Wire Feed Flux Core welder. Turned up the heat and increased the duration and got through pretty well. Not all the way penetrated from what I could tell, and I had a few cracks once I ground it down, but hey, do something different next time and observe the results and LEARN! :)

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/4028/dsc000289fj.jpg
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/431/dsc000322sc.jpg

All I can say for the last few posts is YES you can learn on your own but then again, it could look great from the outside after you hit the slag off (if your stick welding) and look like it penitrates but you need to KNOW if it is a good weld. Take a bead across some metal, etc with a few different settings. Some will come out good, others wont. Now take those good ones and see which one you THINK did the best. Now take a grinder to that weld and grind it down. You may find pinholes or if you stick weld it you could find slag under it as well. Just make sure your doing it RIGHT not make sure it just LOOKS good and right.
See my point?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by FMXhellraiser
All I can say for the last few posts is YES you can learn on your own but then again, it could look great from the outside after you hit the slag off (if your stick welding) and look like it penitrates but you need to KNOW if it is a good weld. Take a bead across some metal, etc with a few different settings. Some will come out good, others wont. Now take those good ones and see which one you THINK did the best. Now take a grinder to that weld and grind it down. You may find pinholes or if you stick weld it you could find slag under it as well. Just make sure your doing it RIGHT not make sure it just LOOKS good and right.
See my point?

---

Exactly why I mentioned that the others are still important:D You need to know what to look for, but you also need to at least know how to get it started. A mixtureof both will lead to a great weldor I believe.

I'm in my 3rd week at the local county technical institute. We started Oxy/Ac cutting and welding. It been pretty good. The instructor is an old school welder doing it 35 years. The first class we were on the torches within the first 15 minutes. This Saturday we start MIG and eventually TIG. You can't beat the setup, instruction and use of all the materials you can get through. 13 classes for 220 bucks. ---CM

LOL, well thus far, I suck ass at Oxy/Ac torch use. ::P:

It is good to take these classes too. You can weld for 4 hours straight every night of the week (at least my classes are that long) and it's worth it. You get the metal, welder and everything and weld for as long as you want and it's not your materials your buying either. You can burn over 50 rods a night and after 400 or so you will tell a HUGE improvement. The degree I am going for includes MIG, TIG, Stick, Oxy acetylene, plasma, ESAB robot, submerged welding, Fabrication, Metallurgy, blue print reading (actually I don't think I am taking this blue print reading because it will not be of use to what I am doing). Those are just some of the classes I am doing. But what I am getting at is for the price of the classes it is MUCH worth it. You will get a LOT out of it and even get discounts at welding supply stores and other places as well.