Learning to weld

silverbackjk

New member
So my wife has a friend who's husband is a welder and would be willing to give me some lessons. My question is what should I ask him to teach mig or tig?


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Army_Vet

Banned
So my wife has a friend who's husband is a welder and would be willing to give me some lessons. My question is what should I ask him to teach mig or tig?


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You only get to pick one???? ohhhh thats tough. I would go for TIG, that is hard to master, once you figure it out, the others will be a breeze...


Definitely TIG!
 

silverbackjk

New member
You only get to pick one???? ohhhh thats tough. I would go for TIG, that is hard to master, once you figure it out, the others will be a breeze...


Definitely TIG!

He will teach me what ever ones I want but I was thinking of focusing on one to start. Haha


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SDG

Caught the Bug
Learn mig first. Once you learn to control the puddle try moving on to stick, and when you can do both of those proficiently then give tig a shot.

If you try and start with tig, even with a pro looking over your shoulder you will more than likely get frustrated because its as much of an art as it is a skill. I learned to weld with stick, and after burning about 20lbs of rods was proficient enough to be able to pick up mig within 20 min with a friend watching and talking in my ear. Tig... well i can do it but its far from pretty. The other nice thing is that if you get into it, you can stick weld for far less $$ invested, and you can do it outside or in a breezie garage without worrying about the gas blowing away and messing up your welds.
 

Serg5000

New member
Are you considering buying a welder? Just knowing is pointless if you don't buy a welder. If you plan on buying. Look at what's in your price range. Tig welders can be up there in price. Mig and stick are much less expensive. I mig and stick weld. I own both welders. I can't afford a tig welder or I would learn it.
 

Army_Vet

Banned
If you want my honest opinion, I think you should start with brazing, then gas welding then move on the the Arc Mig then TIG. You build upon skills and a working knowledge of how metals react under heat... Just my opinion, I thought it was just one to choose from. Either way, If you want a usable skill; MIG is the easiest to have success with.

If it were me; I would pick TIG, but if you are a true beginner, MIG will build skills faster...
 

Army_Vet

Banned
Learn mig first. Once you learn to control the puddle try moving on to stick, and when you can do both of those proficiently then give tig a shot.

If you try and start with tig, even with a pro looking over your shoulder you will more than likely get frustrated because its as much of an art as it is a skill. I learned to weld with stick, and after burning about 20lbs of rods was proficient enough to be able to pick up mig within 20 min with a friend watching and talking in my ear. Tig... well i can do it but its far from pretty. The other nice thing is that if you get into it, you can stick weld for far less $$ invested, and you can do it outside or in a breezie garage without worrying about the gas blowing away and messing up your welds.

Great advice here^^^ Having a good teacher helps... I learned in my spare time on the job... I was onto my third teacher before I was even told about environmental considerations such as wind and such... And this guy was the first one to get me to "see" what I was doing with the puddle.
 

silverbackjk

New member
Learn mig first. Once you learn to control the puddle try moving on to stick, and when you can do both of those proficiently then give tig a shot.

If you try and start with tig, even with a pro looking over your shoulder you will more than likely get frustrated because its as much of an art as it is a skill. I learned to weld with stick, and after burning about 20lbs of rods was proficient enough to be able to pick up mig within 20 min with a friend watching and talking in my ear. Tig... well i can do it but its far from pretty. The other nice thing is that if you get into it, you can stick weld for far less $$ invested, and you can do it outside or in a breezie garage without worrying about the gas blowing away and messing up your welds.

Great info


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silverbackjk

New member
Are you considering buying a welder? Just knowing is pointless if you don't buy a welder. If you plan on buying. Look at what's in your price range. Tig welders can be up there in price. Mig and stick are much less expensive. I mig and stick weld. I own both welders. I can't afford a tig welder or I would learn it.

If I get the hang of it and can weld decent I will buy one.


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Army_Vet

Banned
If I get the hang of it and can weld decent I will buy one.


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I bought a 110 flux core.... great for around the house... fixing minor things, neighbors lawn tractor and such.... anything serious I take to work and do
 

silverbackjk

New member
I bought a 110 flux core.... great for around the house... fixing minor things, neighbors lawn tractor and such.... anything serious I take to work and do

I was just looking at some online and they can get really expensive


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SDG

Caught the Bug
I was just looking at some online and they can get really expensive


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Cheapest good welder you will find would be a used AC/DC miller or lincon "tombstone" stick (arc) welder. A quality used on can be had for $200-$300.

For a mig, you cant go wrong with a miller, or also a hobart. If you are wanting to weld 3/16 or thicker you are going to want a 220V machine if you have a 220 service in your house. The smaller 110 machines can do this but will take multiple passes and the duty cycle will catch up to you. Usually 110 gas wont put out enough heat unless you run flux core, which is basically the same as stick welding with a trigger. The nice think about flux core is that you can use the mig outside or in the rig in your driveway.

If you really want to do tig you can pick up a used miller dynasty for probably in the 1500 to 2k range. This welder can also do stick welding which is nice but the price is pretty steep.
 

JEEPnGEO

New member
So my wife has a friend who's husband is a welder and would be willing to give me some lessons. My question is what should I ask him to teach mig or tig?


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Start with MIG
Then do a little ARC
Then go to TIG

I have been welding for a little while now and my methodology is this.

MIG = Teaches you to push the puddle, figure 8, effects of heat, power vs speed of wire vs thickness of the metal and the obvious making it look half way decent
ARC = Teaches you steady hand clean finish look and you get a feel for work vs time. Different rods burn at different speeds with different power. Rod is so long and your work has a certain size weld.
TIG = That tungsten electrode (cathode) is a little pricy to just jump in on. The type of filler metal etc. Power to put down on your project. GTAW is the upper end of welding Master MIG and ARC and you will do really well in TIG.

It is 90% setup and 10% welding anyway..
 

Millerj87

New member
Learning for working on your rig? If so I would say stick cuz it's cheap cost effective no gas needed if your gonna build parts like bumpers etc I'd say mig just for speed


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silverbackjk

New member
Learning for working on your rig? If so I would say stick cuz it's cheap cost effective no gas needed if your gonna build parts like bumpers etc I'd say mig just for speed


Sent from my iPhone on the west coast of florida

It will be 80% working on rig and playing with making some things at home.
 

JEEPnGEO

New member
I made some custom lamps and some parts for my parents bird houses by brazing. If you look this up and like it you will need to find a company that sells you gasses cheap. Bottle deposits cost $$$. If someone will give you a bottle that would be a awesome bonus. Down here they don't care where you get the bottle as long as you turn one in when you pick up the full one.

When I MIG weld I use C25 gas. Cheaper than Argon and works very well.
 

miguel250r

New member
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I built this trailer in high school welding class but my 4th year of taking it when I was a senior
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