welding, for dummies

[sarca]

So. Ever since Flashdance _ ive wanted to try an interesting hobby. . Welding. =)

I have absolutely ZERO experience. What would be the best route to learning? Which type of welding is most usable for an fj40?

And lastly, how do I convince the huz that buying all this stuff is cost effective?

 

[NCFJ]

Find a High School, Jr College, Tech School, in your area that has evening classes. Play with their stuff, learn how to use it all. Then start looking at equipment when you are better able to make an intelligent choice

I would go with a 220V MIG system first. Decide what else you may want from there.

 

[mtweller]

Find a High School, Jr College, Tech School, in your area that has evening classes. Play with their stuff, learn how to use it all. Then start looking at equipment when you are better able to make an intelligent choice

I would go with a 220V MIG system first. Decide what else you may want from there.

Solid advice.

This complete noob just bought a basic 220 MIG, added a gas kit, bought a sheet of 18ga steel, and started at it. Admittedly, it wasn't the prettiest welding you have ever seen, but it got Dozer patched up and I've been welding ever since. I'm sure some instruction would have been the way to go, but I just watched a lot of online videos and shows like Xtreme 4x4 for tips and tricks. Whatever you do, don't try and learn on flux core (gasless) - what a damn mess!!

R

 

[speedrye]

I've had several local guys offer up their equipment for me to play with in addition to offering some tips. I've welded a little bit 15 years ago, but otherwise, I think I'll take some of them up on their offers. If you're lucky, you'll have some locals with welders and free time. Of course a class would be helpful too, but I have no clue how I'd fit in time for any kind of class, evening or not.

 

[kulangot]

In the mid 90's I used to work for Dewalt as a sales rep, they sent out a memo offering to reimburse for any trade class an employee wanted to take so I signed up for a professional welding course. It was awesome but mostly because the instructor was awesome. I'd highly recommend that you take a class but check out who is teaching it - look for a class taught by a certified welding instructor. Some classes are taught by a shop teacher - better than no class, but not as good.

I have no idea how it works down here but many welding schools make you take a lot of classes that are not relevant to learning how to MIG on your truck. For example a semester of stick welding, followed by another of gas welding, then you get to MIG...

Next, I want to go take a week long motorsports welding class taught by Lincoln in Ohio. But, I'll never find the time for it.

You can get a great student pack from Miller welds, I think Lincoln offers one too.

Ron Fournier sells GREAT videos on sheet metal welding and fabrication.

http://www.fournierenterprises.com/cart/home.php?cat=2

You can buy these used on ebay...

There are also a lot of good welding videos on Youtube

Get a 220 ESAB, Lincoln, Miller or Hobart.

For sheetmetal use argon mix and .023 or .025 wire and tips

For thicker metal use mix gas and .030 and tips

remember this:

"fit is it, clean tight and brite"

What your welding needs to be clean, shiney and fit together correctly.

Weld in position when possible.

Weld vertical up on place, on sheet metal is does not matter

Do not run a bead on sheet metal or it will warp. Weld inch sticks spaced out in a sequence similar to torqueing down a head or better yet weld tic tac sized beads stacked up on one another. There is a Toyota body manual that I used to own that describes this process. I call it the interrupted arc process where you pulse the trigger. Never on structural welds - just sheet metal.

Always run a bead on structural welds or they are not as strong

Learn to adjust the welder for the correct sound of tearing silk or frying bacon.

Learn how to weld by the sound changes of how your movements affect the arc.

Do not weld what should be bolted or should otherwise not be welded

Do not weld roll cages, winch mounts or do frame repairs until your ready!

Stick to rust repair, sheet metal, mufflers and stuff that is not mission critical unless you want to meet Jesus.

My instructor insisted that we not use auto darkening masks - the process I use for sheet metal requires the old school mask so you can see the heat cool down when your not welding. You put down a tic tac, then when you no longer see it glowing in your mask, you put down another. The longer you weld, the longer you have to wait for it to cool. Because of this, I still don't use anything but a regular mask.

Not many agree with me on this.

See attached pic of my sheet metal welds.

Have fun with it!

 

[CruizerHound]

Check out this guy's channel. He's probably the best on youtube.



Go over to a welding supply store and ask for a demo. Most places have a shop in back and will give you a crash course. Start with some 1/8" - 1/4" steel and go at it. Welding sheet metal (14ga and thinner) is all about controlling heat and can be frustrating at first.

Also get one of those green welding coats. You can get an awful sunburn welding.

 

[kulangot]

PS

You can always buy a Hobart Handler or Miller 130 or Lincoln 110V mig on Craigslist and learn on that.

When you start messing with the hard core stuff, upgrade at that point. Then sell the old one for what you paid for it or close to it at least.

My friend bought an older Miller on CL for $200 bucks and we used the gas bottle from his Kegerator and fixed all the rust on his truck with that POS. At the time my Miller Passport was acting up so we used his crappy welder and it worked great.

For Rust repair, most of the weld gets ground off so it does not need to look pretty.

Wear a welding respirator when welding and grinding.

When welding overhead wear earplugs - ask me why....that s*** hurts when sparks and slag goes in your ear and the sound of your inner ear frying makes your blood boil.

All natural fibers when welding, get a jacket and gloves, boots. Slag will go in your shoe or boot.

Goggles at all times

Stay in shop for 30 minutes after welding for fire watch. Ideally one person welds
and someone else is on fire watch while they are welding.

Keep compressed air and fire ext handy. 99 percent of fires go out with compressed air.

Do not cool welds with water or compressed air - it shrinks the metal. This is great for fixing oil can dents but not for regular welds.

Put the ground clamp as close as possible to the weld.

Disconnect battery, alternator and computers. Remove gas tanks when welding if possible.

Welding and grinding is mucho bad for glass and everything else. That is why I love the tig process. No sparks.

If you can make one pass on a piece of steel with a file and cut a notch in it, you can mig weld it. If not, it's a hardened steel and it should not be welded with MIG. You will have to use TIG or the stick process.

Pre-heat when below freezing or the cold shock will crack the weld.

Pre-heat at the upper end of the welder capacity

Last but not least, make friends with your welding supplier and don't buy off ebay. I learned more from those guys than I did in class. Support your local business, they have families to feed.

Once again, sorry for the rant. I hope you find this information useful.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

John S. is a welding geek

Everything posted above is good info. We should all read it a couple of times to make sure we adhere to everything.

I highly recommend taking a welding class. You can read all day long, but you won't be able to *know* how to weld until after some supervised welding time. Heck, someone might teach a class on base that you can take!

 

[custyota]

No welding experiences except for the time my buddy welded himself to battery haha. He had a chain wallet and he was working on my old blazer. The chain touched the positive and negative on the battery and welded him to it haha. Good times!

 

[rw74228]

I took welding classes at Techshop in Raleigh near RDU airport. They offer beginning mig, tig and arc classes and advanced classes. They also have a huge shop you can use and bring your own projects in to work on and any possible tool you might need. It was around $40 and was well worth it for anyone just getting started.

 

[NCFJ]

I took welding classes at Techshop in Raleigh near RDU airport. They offer beginning mig, tig and arc classes and advanced classes. They also have a huge shop you can use and bring your own projects in to work on and any possible tool you might need. It was around $40 and was well worth it for anyone just getting started.

SARCA, that is exactly what you are looking for. You can read about welding until you are blue in the face. Knowing everything there is to know about welding makes you an inspector. Hands on time under the hood makes you a welder. Its that simple. Welding is much like many other aspects of working on your Cruiser, a learned skill.

 

[mtweller]

I took welding classes at Techshop in Raleigh near RDU airport. They offer beginning mig, tig and arc classes and advanced classes. They also have a huge shop you can use and bring your own projects in to work on and any possible tool you might need. It was around $40 and was well worth it for anyone just getting started.

Techshop closed a few months ago I'm bummed, b/c I just caught wind of it like 2 weeks before they closed the doors.

 

[sarca]

Agreed! I looked at classes here at coastal and theyre all wrapped up in degree programs. Majestic motorsports right around the corner offers classes at a whopping $100 a day! Im sure therrs something..the base has a self help shop..hmm maybe they have something..ill get back to yall .

 

[sarca]

BOOM!
http://www.mccslejeune.com/autobodyhobby/

Im going by tomorrow.

 

[JohnVee]

BOOM!
http://www.mccslejeune.com/autobodyhobby/

Im going by tomorrow.

I see new paint soon in your future! That's an awesome resource.

--john

 

[sarca]

Im super excited John - we're going to take a look tomorrow, looks like Im going to be using Sherwin Williams auto paint. Rob is trying to convince me I should go to Dune Beige ish...But I still want blue. .just looking for similar color codes now. Rob says he's in for a couples welding class (Im sure he'll be great at it,...as he always is with this kind of thing)

 

[kulangot]

Hands on time under the hood makes you a welder. Its that simple. Welding is much like many other aspects of working on your Cruiser, a learned skill.

This is so true, you learn to play football by playing the game, you learn to wrestle by wrestling and you learn to weld by welding. All require some coaching - but time behind the trigger is where it is at. When you go to welding school they give you a piece of plate that is about 5 inches square. You make pass after pass in neat rows one way and then the other. It winds up being a square with the built up welds on both sides.

I had a mentor when I was young that was amazing weldor. I expressed frustration to him about my weld appearance and his reply was, "you know the basics, now you need to practice - a lot". He used to also say that if you never to learn that you'll learn to be a good grinder in the process. His criticism was withering at times but he made the weldor that I am today.

Doing huge projects like building a dump truck bed with one weld after the other is where I hit my stride and learned. Don't disappointed if at first it is hard.

"Everything is hard at first because everything is hard at first" Miyamoto Mushashi

When I get settled in and get through my knee surgery I'll host a welding tech day at my new place. Maybe this fall. I'll be in PT all summer.

 

[NCFJ]

Doing huge projects like building a dump truck bed with one weld after the other is where I hit my stride and learned. Don't disappointed if at first it is hard.

I did similar. I worked for a company that built trash trucks and roll off dumpster trucks just out of high school. Repairing the roll off dumpsters was a welding marathon of adding sheet after sheet of heavy gauge steel and welding it all in. It was a great way to improve my skills and learn on the job to build on top of the technical school training I already had.

MIG was not around at the time and all was done using stick. I was amazed how much easier MIG was the first time I used it.

 

[sarca]

Went to the base hobby shop..they no longet do welding classes =( but there was a 40 sitting there outside. Belongs to a major...apparently its been there for nearly 3 years..he comes and does a little at a time.

The shop will do your welding, at $20 /30 minutes..you bring the metal already cut. If you know how to weld , you can rent the welding equipment for around $10 an hour.

Heres the 40 we saw. It was raining and there was not a place on that toyota dry for me to leave a card.