Welding courses?

[steve1434]

Hi. I want to learn to weld for hobby/personal use and was wondering if anyone knows any good training providers in the south? There are some courses available at the Guildford tech college, but the time allocated for actual welding is minimal....

Cheers

Steve

[steve1434]

Or is there anyone local to me who is willing to do a good chunk of welding - paying money obviously lol......

[totalnova]

I've just got my self a Mig welder and ill be teaching my self in my garage using you tube videos your local to me and your more then welcome to have a go as well.

[steve1434]

Thanks mate, I was thinking of doing the same. Will search for some YouTube videos and see if it's something I can do - how hard can it be hahaha

[Iain]

Self learning is OK, if you can spare the time then an evening course would be better. I've self taught enough to 'get by' but always nicer knowing you're definitely doing the right thing.

[Johnny A]

I bought a £200 welder and got pretty good with that. Then several years ago I bought a second hand welder worth about £800 new with argonshield gas and the difference is amazing!

[Benn]

I'd like to do a course too, i do ok with what i've learnt at home and from working in the bodyshop. But even there i was taught but someone that had picked it up cause they needed too. So they were ok ish...

[Rob H]

Been a welder for last 14 years, started on stick as an apprentice ship builder, then moved onto mig doing manufacturing work and now currently reside on tig and stick in the oil and gas industry doing mostly pipe work. I'm assuming it's cars that you would like to do majority of your welding on? In which case your gonna want a mig set, avoid gasless and get a decent one if funds allow! Buy cheap buy twice is a big thing in the welding world lol. As far as learning to weld a monkey can use mig it's that easy. The hardest part for someone just starting out on mig IMO is the settings, getting wire speed, amps, volts and gas flow right for the thickness of the metal. Watch a few vids and get some scrap metal to practise on and you will soon pick it up and once you get into the swing of things it's very much like learning to ride a bike.

[scott.parker]

If your practical minded (we assume you are as you piss about with nova's) then do as said above, I grabbed a welder off eBay second hand, it's only a little 100amp thing, but it's strong enough to blow holes in a tin thin nova!
I had no idea how to weld, I'm still not brilliant lol but all I did was watch loads of different welding videos from off YouTube, then got some 1.5/2.0mm scrap and got practicing, as soon as you get the idea it's quite simply to do mig imo, and I'll be happy to do it on my own car in the future. I did have thread on here somewhere..

Here: http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?184159-Welding-and-a-quot-first-quot-go-with-my-new-one

Steve, Look through that mate, covers good advice, few YouTube links, and has pictures of how I progressed from never welding before to doing a weld that would work in just a few hours practice..

[mowgli]

hunt round every community college in the area. I'm sure they still do introduction to welding courses, hurry though, cos enrolment is soon & numbers are limited.

I did one about 25 years ago & it was pretty good. I can do strong welds, but they aren't very pretty, so I use grinders quite a bit.

[dgbnova#1]

Get a good mask also not a crap hobby hand held job you get with the welder as welding cars you need 2 hands really if your a novice and just practice in 2 scrap bits welding them together
collage is ok if your planning to be a welder but they tend to aim towards thicker steel a sheet metal one maby more yes aiming more towards the bodywork

to set up welding do a 1" run then change the settings then a run again and keep going till your happy with the results

[EwanG]

I put this post on Scott parkers thread.
When mig welding to start with make sure the the wire is feeding through the torch smoothly and you have gas running through. If the wire isn't running through smoothly check the wheels to make sure they are gripping the wire (it doesn't need to be too tight) Also check the torch tip, maybe take that off and see if the wire feeds through smoother. Lastly if that doesn't work it might be the liner. That's the inside of the torch wire. Hold that straight then press the trigger . If it feeds through smoother then its a new liner you need. A liner can be replaced easily and is basically a tight long coiled spring and can get clogged with small shavings of mig wire or kinked if you reel the cable up too tight when you put it away.There is no need for an excess amount of gas. I cant remember the pressure rate so just test it say halfway on the gauge and turn it down to the point that you don't get porosity (that's an aero bubble type weld). If you are welding outside and the is a breeze then you need more gas as the gas is to shield the weld so a breeze will blow that away. Start welding on a piece of scrap steel. If the wire bunches up and lights up red you need more amps/volts. If the wire burns but melts the steel you need more wire. So either turn the amps/volts up or wire speed down. You can get a mate to do this while trial welding. The speed that you move the torch depends on how high you have the amps/volts set. Move faster for higher power, slower for lower power. Mig welding is really easy to learn with just a couple of pointers. Just to let you guys know I am a plater welder and welding is a very small part of my job so exact settings I couldn't tell you. But I know physically how to set a mig and weld. I hope I have not lost anyone and have made sense! Any questions just ask.

[EwanG]

happy with how its going etc.Hi Scott I am a fabricator/welder its a pity you stay way too far from me as I could of gave you a hand. When welding you have to make sure you are in a comfy position. If you can lean your body against something or rest your elbows on something to steady yourself it will be a big help. The speed that you weld at has to be just right to the setting that you have on your welder. When mig welding always push the weld when welding on the flat so the gas shields the weld. But when welding vertical on sheet metal keep the setting low and weld from top to bottom with the torch facing upwards and in this position the speed of your hand will have to be alot faster as the weld will run with gravity. When welding overhead the settings must also be low and speed of hand will be slow (watch and not get burnt with and drips). Weaving when welding ( )))))))) ) will never be needed with sheet metal this is more for thicker steel with maybe a gap to fill. To be honest the diy type mig plants are never the best for a novice as they are sometimes hard to get a happy medium setting. If I were you I would look to buy a mig that takes the full size drum of wire as its easier to get the setting for what you need spot on. Anyway good luck I am sure you will get there in the end....:thumb:

[EwanG]

Also you will need a good earth to start with. Make sure you have the earth wire/return clamp well earthed to the car. Make sure the car battery is disconnected and place the clamp on a clean piece of chassis or maybe directly on the earth wire that connects from the chassis in the battery tray. If you don't get a good earth the wire will bunch up and glow red and your welding will look like bird shirt lol