welding 101

[Q10]

Alright, someone give me a rundown on welding. I keep seeing people that do their own custom fab and its so intriguing, I would love to be able to do it. I know theres different styles, but I have no clue what is best for certain tasks. Basically, I want to be able to fix the rust on my hatch, do my own piping, get some metal to fill where the plastic trim used to be on my exterior.

What kind of setup is needed? As many details as possible would be awesome, as well as personal experiences.

[Waffles]

Your most likely not going to the answers you need from a forum, but I will start a little.

Stick Welding: will work for what you want, is cheap, but not the easiest or cleanest.
Wire feed: costs a little more for the setup, and makes a very messy weld, but will work
Mig: Ideal for the home shop. Setups can be expensive but budget rigs can be had at a good price.
Tig: costs more for a good rig and not the easiest skill to pick up(ask 5thgen)
Gas: Cheapest start up costs but not easy to self learn

I personally have a mig and wish I would have spent a little more and got a 220 setup. My limit at full voltage and slowest wire speed is 16 ga. If possible I would find someone to teach you or take a class. It is possible to teach yourself, but it would help to have a person of experience to help.

[Kolk1]

I picked up a cheap wire feed one from harbor freight on sale for like $80, and then put Lincoln wire in it. Been teaching myself. It's a little messy, but an angle grinder can clean it up, and the welds hold, so I'm not complaining.

[Q10]

Your most likely not going to the answers you need from a forum, but I will start a little.

Stick Welding: will work for what you want, is cheap, but not the easiest or cleanest.
Wire feed: costs a little more for the setup, and makes a very messy weld, but will work
Mig: Ideal for the home shop. Setups can be expensive but budget rigs can be had at a good price.
Tig: costs more for a good rig and not the easiest skill to pick up(ask 5thgen)
Gas: Cheapest start up costs but not easy to self learn

I personally have a mig and wish I would have spent a little more and got a 220 setup. My limit at full voltage and slowest wire speed is 16 ga. If possible I would find someone to teach you or take a class. It is possible to teach yourself, but it would help to have a person of experience to help.

I didnt think anyone would post anything too specific, just wanted to get some info haha.
I was thinking wire feed would be the easiest to start with, then I can try out MIG when I get better at the process. Whats the difference between the 220 and the one you did get?

I picked up a cheap wire feed one from harbor freight on sale for like $80, and then put Lincoln wire in it. Been teaching myself. It's a little messy, but an angle grinder can clean it up, and the welds hold, so I'm not complaining.

Thats what I like to hear. Love your picture btw. It doesnt need to be pretty as long as its functional, imo. I might do the same.

[getteg]

I would look into possibly taking the new fabrication course at Ranken. I do believe they offer it in the night classes which isnt too expensive for what you will learn.

With that said I would just go ahead and get a MIG setup as you can use it with or without a shielding gas, and it is pretty easy to tech yourself with a little scrap metal and some time.

TIG welding is deff going to look the best though, however like stated above it is not easy to learn and the machines are not cheap if you want a good one.

With all that said please be aware of the power outlets you have at your home. If you get a welder that is bigger you may have to put in a new outlet for just the welder to be able to plug in.

[5thgen]

If you think at all that you will like welding, I would save for a tig for your first machine. Obviously, its hard to say now whether you will like something you haven't done a lot......but I wish I had bought a tig first.

In my opinion, some things with tig make welding easier than mig. And tig will more than likely teach you more about what welding is, and what works well, better than mig will.


The main 2 types of tig machines are transformers and inverters. Transformers are the older style of machines. They are still decent machines from what I have read....but they are heavy (miller sync 200 is about 240 pounds) compared to an inverter style machine (30-60ish pounds). Transformer machines also use more power than an inverter as well (between 1.5-2x as much).

I ran my thermal arc 185 for a while in my parents garage, off of the dryer outlet (fused at 30 amps). I also have a miller 135 mig....but I have only used it a few times since I got my tig.



Whatever machine you do get, make sure you get one that will use shielding gas. I've never welded with a flux-core filler.....but I have tried welding without gas by accident, it doesn't work well at all.

[Q10]

I would look into possibly taking the new fabrication course at Ranken. I do believe they offer it in the night classes which isnt too expensive for what you will learn.

TIG welding is deff going to look the best though, however like stated above it is not easy to learn and the machines are not cheap if you want a good one.

I would love to but I dont have the funds for that, and Im leaving for BMT November 1st.

Hmm. I plan on doing a lot of things in my free time, so getting a TIG first could be a good choice, but I dont know. I guess it wouldnt matter which kind I learn on, right?

[Kolk1]

I figured if I ended up liking to weld, id buck up and get a TIG, but I didnt want to buy one, and not figure it out, and have it set on the shelf never to be used again. So far Ive got more than my money back out of this $80 one. Hell, when the exhaust fell off the versa, I just cleaned it up, and welded it back together. Ive also done a couple random jobs for my buddies for $10-20 bucks here an there. So besides my time, which I find this fun so its not a concern, its more than paid itself off.

If you were local id let you try mine out.