For those who keep talking about needing welding practice

[alini]

I for one have done welding in the past but its all been by trial an error, no one really showed me how to.  Ive done a few projects, nothing majorly structural.  I talked to a guy over in the metal shop here at work and he turned me onto this site

 

www.weldingtipsandtricks.com  

 

Jody the website owner shows you the right and wrong ways to weld.  You actually get to see through the helmet what a weld is supposed to look like and what its like when stuffs not set right.  The proper directions to get the strongest welds and he even takes the time to cut things apart so you can see how the weld actually looks inside.

 

During his videos he mentioned the James F Lincoln Arc welding Foundation, a group started by the Lincoln Electric founder.  They actually sell training kits, with properly cut metal for you to practice on, rather than scrap metal from a yard with rough edges and needing clean up   check out their site

 

http://www.jflfoundation.com/Default.asp

 

My kits are supposed to arrive Monday and I'm gonna get to practicing

 

 

[rocky5517]

That's a great idea!!

[Ttotired]

Just remember, welding sheet metal and welding a bracket together are 2 completely different diciplins

 

Try running a nice seam along a rear fender and watch what happens

 

What makes those kits (above) easy to weld is the nice cuts and it shows how nice you need your own cuts (and surrounding metal) to be

 

Slaggy, rusty, dirty ,painted, lead filled cuts/metal will give you welds that are garbage

 

You should see the nice mess that the welder makes if you find some lead on a panel that you missed

 

I am not a welder, but I have also learnt the hard way and practice makes perfect, so I like junkyard metal because it makes you learn what must be done even before the welder is turned on

 

Working with new steel is cream

 

Mick

[coOverwatch]

thanks for the link chris. i have to replace floors in the Riv i am working on. been putting it off for months. going to give it a shot over the weekend.

 

Have to cut the rear floor out of the parts car and move it over to the "good one" :-)

[alini]

I spent about an hour in the garage yesterday and realized how slow I was welding...I can pick up the pace alot and I need to work on the smoothness of my motion.  Learned alot about my welder and my technique....so this can only help when I have to do smaller things.

[devildog93]

I started learning last year. Luckily, i work out of a wrecker yard that has a 4 bay shop with lifts. There are plenty of salvage hoods, doors, and even structural pieces to practice on. That being said, All that practice didn't help as much as i thought it would. As Ttotired said, welding car panels that have any amount of rust changes things immensely. The welder finds rust you never even knew existed by blowing holes through it. The panel may look fine from the front, but the back side could be partially chewed up. I learned through most of my mistakes on the car. Fortunately, there isn't much you can't fix with a grinder and cutting wheel and do over with more metal and welding. I learned on the job with a snap on muscle mig 250. I found i like fabricating so much that i got myself a shot bag, some metal forming tools, a plasma cutter, and a hobart ironman 230 so i can work on projects at home.

 

I know you listed weldingtips and tricks as a good site, and i agree. My favorite guy to watch weld that i have found so far is ChuckE2009 and his youtube channel. He does a wide variety of welding, goes through some of the machines a bit, and has some interesting projects.