Any of you that do your own welding and/or fab work

[Dagobah]

I've really been wanting to take a welding class at school, but they offer several different kinds (tig, mig, stick, etc. etc.)
My question is: those of you that fab your own bumpers, sliders etc. What kind of welding are you doing?
I just want to make sure that I'm not learning a kind of welding that is useless for automotive fabrication. :frog:

Thanks guys!

 

[kaceman]

mig and tig are gonna be the most common for auto applications, mig be the easier to learn

 

[A.Wilson013]

My neighbor has good luck with his arc welder... He's made bumpers and sliders so far... I think it's a bit more spendy, but I hear MIG is the easiest to learn...

Also, TIG and arc are the same thing...

 

[Nelsonmd]

I've really been wanting to take a welding class at school, but they offer several different kinds (tig, mig, stick, etc. etc.)
My question is: those of you that fab your own bumpers, sliders etc. What kind of welding are you doing?
I just want to make sure that I'm not learning a kind of welding that is useless for automotive fabrication. :frog:

Thanks guys!

I would go stick or gas. MIG is fairly easy to pick up, and I doubt you will be able to afford a TIG welder. And you will probably not do MIG or TIG outside anyway.

 

[Dagobah]

Thanks for these fast answers guys!
Any pros and cons to the different kinds as far as ease of learning, price, difficulty, so on and so forth?
also, is welding tube a different method from welding plate? or could I use the same kind of welding on both?

 

[the great him]

learn it all just start taking CC classes and learn as much as you can. even if you can not afford a tig welder, its still good to know same with stick welding. i mainly do mig, i can do a little stick, but im not that good, i need to learn it, cause i think it will help me with my mig technique. but learning them all wont hurt you one bit.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Thanks for these fast answers guys!
Any pros and cons to the different kinds as far as ease of learning, price, difficulty, so on and so forth?
also, is welding tube a different method from welding plate? or could I use the same kind of welding on both?

Sounds like you need to buy a welding book and read up on it. There is alot to the questions you just asked.

A couple things that are pretty basic, MIG and TIG require shielding gas, which means they need to be done inside, or without any wind. TIG welders are very expensive, likely won't find a decent one for less than a grand, even used. The principles of welding are the same no matter what kind you are doing, so you gain alot of knowledge and experience by practicing any of the methods that will help you with the other methods.

You can get an arc, flux core, or gas welding setup for relatively cheap (MIG isn't that bad either).

I first learned to weld on a really nice TIG machine at my university. The technique is similar to stick welding and gas welding. I now have a flux core welder, and it is much simpler, but the basics are the same. Start by buying a welding handbook (I have the one by Richard Finch, and it is very good, there's also a haynes book on it), and then decide which class you want to take. Don't worry about taking the wrong kind, on a basic level, welding is welding. Any welding class will help.

 

[JohnsD90]

If you have the patients to learn stick welding then do that, but from my expierence it's a very hard weld to do properly, but stick seems like it is more readily available to use, atleast for me.

 

[cordrayj1]

If you have the patients to learn stick welding then do that, but from my expierence it's a very hard weld to do properly, but stick seems like it is more readily available to use, atleast for me.

thats what i tried for the first time. if youre a good multi-tasker try that first

 

[scottyb]

I took 1 Stick class and got my MIG certificate at a community college while getting my bachelors so I could do automotive fabrication to fuel my offroad addiction. I'm currently saving for a nice MIG welder because that was explained to me to be the best for automotive fab.


To clear things up: These are all 'arc welding' because they all use an electrical arc to melt the metals together.

"Stick welding": The official name is 'shielded metal arc welding' (SMAW).
This welding uses metal welding rods with a flux coating. As the rod melts, the flux coating creates a shielding gas that protects the molten pool from oxygen before it cools. The molten metal must cool in an non-reactive (inert) environment to ensure a quality weld. Advantages to stick welding are that it can be used outside for construction and farm work because wind isn't as much of a factor as it is with MIG and TIG, so it's more versatile. Disadvantages are that it is not as clean (more spatter) as MIG and TIG. Also, stick is a little more 'heavy duty' so it isn't as good for more delicate welding as MIG and TIG. As for metal types, stick welding is mostly used for steels.

"MIG"(metal inert gas): The official name is 'gas metal arc welding' (GMAW). This welding uses a gun where a separate shielding gas is piped in to the point of welding. The consumable metal is also spooled in from the machine. MIG is fastest type of these 3. It is cleaner than stick welding, but not quite a pretty as TIG. As for metal types, you can use mild steel wire, flux core, stainless steel. Aluminum can be used on some MIG welders with a spool gun or push-pull gun but they are costly.

"TIG" (tungsten inert gas): The official name is 'gas tungsten arc welding' (GTAW). This type of welding uses a non-consumable tungsten tip to strike the arc, and then the filler metal is fed into the already molten pool with the other hand. TIG also uses a shielding gas like MIG (100% argon I believe). TIG creates really beautiful welds and can be used on all types of metal (since you are adding the filler metal separately). You can TIG weld all types of steel, aluminium, chromoly, on and on. TIG is very, very clean. TIG also ensures good weld quality because the base metal is melted first before the filler metal is added.


As far as difficulty, they all take some work to get good at. I probably spent 5 hrs a week for a year on MIG and I'm still not as good as I want to be. For automotive work I would say MIG or TIG. I chose MIG because it's faster, and i'll pretty much only use steel so I don't need the metal choice flexibility of TIG. If you were to build a race car out of chromoly or aluminum you would need TIG, but for my the 4runner MIG is great.

As far as welder choice, I would say get the best you can afford. It would suck to cheap out on the first welder only to realize later that you need something more powerful. Also pay attention to duty cycle when selecting a welder (60% would mean you can run the welder straight for 6 minutes in a 10 minute period). If you have a low duty cycle your welder will be shutting off in the middle of your welds.

The best advice would be to take a class at a community college. The instructors have industry experience and you get a lot of time in. Good luck!

 

[lancer101]

Go to your local vocational school and learn there. Buying a welder is great but then you need wire/rod , gas, material etc etc etc to practice with. When you go to a class all that is covered and you can practice all you want. If your going to be doing work on your ride, its going to be Mig(Gmaw) or Tig(Gtaw). Mig welding is all purpose and good for what you want to do. Tig is going to be the best when it comes to precision ( but like others said "it can be expensive" ) Stick welding is really for structural work (buildings and such) alittle over kill. Pm me if you have any questions. i have been a welder for 10yrs

 

[98OzarksRunner]

MIG welding is very easy to learn and do. Unless you're a really good welder, MIG welds will almost always be cleaner, have less splatter, look better, and be stronger than stick welds. I can almost always spot a stick-welded job. I bought a Miller welder, watched the video and restored a 65 Mustang. It's easy to learn and use - just set the heat, wire speed and hold the trigger and keep the wire moving.