Anyone know how to weld?

[F22RaptorDude]

I'm beyond eager to learn how to, I want to get some knowledge so I can build my own scratch build go kart, and possibly a air soft tank for me and a few buds

I've heard that MIG welding is the most common and easiest to use? But i'm still not understanding how it works?

[Melvin]

Find someone to show you how to weld.

It can't be taught on a bbs.

[M0nkey_Man]

Find someone to show you how to weld.

It can't be taught on a bbs.

^this. I'm still learning from my grandfather

[F22RaptorDude]

Need basics, I hear a person can self teach them?

[Spikes]

http://bit.ly/yHjSyq

[StokesAk]

Magnesium and some a match, make sure to hold it real tight.

[F22RaptorDude]

I figured i'd go to people who knew rather than just get tripped up over the internet

[Melvin]

I figured i'd go to people who knew rather than just get tripped up over the internet

Exactly.

Find someone near you that can show you how to weld using various methods.


Surely there is a weld program in some school near you. Lacking that, you may wish to find a local manufacturing company and express your interest.

It is a fantastic talent to possess, I highly encourage you to follow up.

[Golfer]

I figured i'd go to people who knew rather than just get tripped up over the internet

This IS the Internet.

[Maverick]

Check out the local Jr College. Chances are there are some welding classes available there.

[vorticon]

i'm assuming you arn't in high school and can't simply do it in shop class...

for what it will cost to tool up, you should be able to get a evening course through a local tech school.

or...buy the cheapest MIG welder you can find, read a bunch of books, practice lots on scrap steel and otherwise spend a lot of time and money getting nowhere with toejam tools and no way of knowing if you're actually doing anything right.

and if you really want to read up about stuff on the internet...start here: http://www.lincolnelectric.ca/knowledge/articles/content/arcweldfund.asp

[cattb]

 I weld, go-to to school. There is different types of gas, size of wire and different types of wire, types of steel and more. There is setting the gas pressure when welding,the wire speed, and more.

How are you going to design your go kart? What are you going to build it out of? If you  use tube steel, who is going to bend it? It goes on and on.

Could also get a book from library and enhance your brain with knowledge and then have someone help you and practice.

If you plan on being a do-it-yourself type person, then learning to use a torch set, brazing, and welding is a definite plus.

Good Luck

Just a note, I learned welding from night school, then I learned from experienced welders. Also learned from many hours of welding and mistakes.

[homersipes]

I taught myself how to weld, my first project was a 1854 triumph chopper, I cut the fame and welded it back with torches, had it going on 9 years now and no stress cracks or anything and the bike has around 60000 on it so I must have done something right lol.  I wouldnt weld a frame or anything like that for someone else.  I now have a lincoln mig, much easier.  want to tig but cant afford one of those yet

[68ZooM]

My son's high school offers a basic and advanced welding classes, he got the bug after watching me weld for years, today i went in for my interview at Keith Manufacturing, i spent 3 hours doing my welding postion tests which were 2G, 3G, and 4G for plate and my 2G,3G and 5G for Pipe, the interview i thought went very good and they want me to come back in 5 days when the structural weld test results are back for my welding samples i did today.

check out gowelding.org and read up on the profession, granted its smelly, dirty and can be very hard at times, but if you're a person that likes building things using you're hands welding is a great job and big bucks can be made depending on what field you enter, to bad you didn't live closer i would give ya one of my older MiG welders and within an hour i could teach you how to lay a weld down, its not that hard once you learn the fundamentals of how welding works, good luck to ya Lil dude  

[saggs]

Be careful who you learn from.

There are lots of guys out there who can "weld".  But some of the "welds" I've seen from these kind of guys are pretty scary.  Being a bad welder is easy, being a good welder is not so easy, but it's not terribly difficult either.

Like others have said your best option is to take a beginner community college (or high school if your still there) course.  That way you get real information and help from people who really know what they are doing, and you get to use decent equipment, and get to try various disciplines and materials.   It will be good to get that kind of broad overview, then you will learn what kind of discipline you want/need to become really good at, and also what kind of equipment you want to invest in, good welding equipment isn't cheap, and cheap welding equipment isn't good.  As a bonus if you take a HS or college course they may even let you weld your go-kart frame on their equipment as a final project.  When I took welding in HS way back, I remember all kinds of student projects from winch bumpers, to squeeze chutes to (what I built) a flatbed utility trailer.

You are correct that wire feed is the easiest to learn, and probably most useful for various tasks as well.  Some of the little 120V machines from Lincoln or Miller are pretty handy for light work and can be picked up for ~ $500-$600.  I'd stay away from flux-core wire and use gas though, I don't like flux-core.