Hi all,
As above i'd like to improve my welding skills as they are POOR at best!
I'm a big fan of learning from youtube, it's helped me out so many times, Is there anyone to recommend for some handy tutorial videos?
Cheers
I can't recommend any YT content.
I would say be wary of the amount of YT and social media welding content. There seems to be much fake content and many so called guides that
aren't that helpful.
Personally I found the best thing was practice, practice, practice, practice and some more practice.
Get yourself plenty of scrap steel to work with.
Ensure you're well protected with a good mask and gauntlets and remember it's VERY BRIGHT and VERY HOT.
I have to agree with nick - avoid YouTube and get practicing.
Then, when you can weld a bit better, get yourself down to your local 'Further Education' college and see what they offer for welding
courses.
You can't beat a bit of proper tuition.
Also...while you're practicing, never be afraid to pull things apart or cut them up to test them and see how your welding is improving.
It may "look" like a welded joint, but it may pull apart.
It may "look" like a welded joint, but if you cut through it the weld penetration may be poor.
And you will blow holes in things while practicing, particularly thinner metal.
[Edited on 21-5-25 by nick205]
Thanks guys, appreciate the advice.
Biggest improvement for me was a decent welder.
I had a clarke 90amp gasless, OK, but struggled with anything more than 2mm thick. Followed by SIP 130A gasless (terrible) then a clarke 151 gasless
which was OK.
I then bought a used Butters 130A welder, on gas, That was a big improvement, but then I bought an Oxford, and that was in a different league. It just
works.
It is not just me, I know others who have changed to a quality welder and seen their welds get so much better. Using the correct gas is another
important aspect.
[Edited on 21/5/25 by cliftyhanger]
I'm with Clifty on this one, albeit several levels lower. I started with an Aldi welder, Fox or Wolf or some random animal. That was ok but it
always took ages to dial in and many of the welds were poor. I then got a Clarke 150 turbo second hand and haven't looked back. It did need new
torch consumables, new liner and a nice beefy earth lead, but it's done everything I ask of it.
As for welding itself, I went back to college for a MIG welding course. I think it was well worth the money, and having someone who can explain not
just the 'how' but the 'why' was worth every penny. I was initially worried that I'd be the oldest person there, but even at
the ripe old age of 40-something I was right in the middle of similar aged people. Some wanting a new career, a couple of them wanting to build cars
and bikes, two more that had been put on the course by their employer, it was a good bunch to be with and make mistakes together.
[Edited on 21/5/25 by Slimy38]
Check out the tutorials on Migwelding forum , a vast amount of knowledge on there, information on PPE, welders and techniques
Three things you need
A decent welder
A decent welding mask auto is best
And the most important practice practice and practice weld as much as possible
G
oh and did we say....practice 
Another tip (others may agree)
Properly clean metal welds a LOT better than dirty metal.
I kept an angle grinder with a sanding disc handy to get the metal bright and shiny before welding it.
I've had a Clarke 151 mig for 15+ years. It's been fine. Last year I was doing a job that required making lots of box section plinths for a
trendy place in London and I had another guy helping me out. He brought his RTech mig along with him and offered me a go. I can't put into words
how much better it is than the Clarke. I used it for the rest of the job and couldn't fault it. Then I had to go back to my curse word Clarke and
felt sad.
The old saying about the workman blaming his tools... a decent mig and a decent helmet will absolutely make a huge different. I'll happily blame
my old mig!
Lincon welders are not bad
Esab. Welders are good
Boc welders are good
That’s what I found over years of welding
Also use the right gas for the job
[Edited on 22/5/25 by jacko]
I did a city and guilds welding course. You weld 5mm steel - its big, it takes a lot of heat and you use industrial welders. I learnt a lot but its
very different to 1.5mm box on a hobby welder.
I had a cebora 90 mig welder. I adapted it to have a fan attached so it could weld for longer before over heating. Eventually i abused it too much and
it died. Bought a Clarke 150. It was better in a number of ways but when the cebora was well set up it just did it. The clarke is a little more picky
but can weld for longer and thicker steel & again when set up just does it.
A good welder can weld with almost anything, a bad welder will produce a much better weld on a good machine. Both got there by practice. I'd
second migwelder forum - they're helpful and decent people. Lots of youtube/facebook welding seems to just contain people saying "you did
that wrong". I imagine the best weld in the world would have people saying "rubbish".
As well as having clean metal to weld, clean welding wire and decent gas makes a difference. Argoshield type gas is so much nicer than CO2 which is so
much nicer than gassless.
I did welding training (MIG, Astick and gas) as part of a residential course for my engineering degree. Loved it. But it taught me very little other thn how easy it is with top notch gear and 3mm plate. I bought a sip 160 and spent weeks screwing up trying to weld rust-eaten 0.8mm body, even on 2mm sheet it sucked. Recently bought a hitbox semi-auto solid state machine off aliexpress. replaced half the back end of my Toyota body (0.8mm rusted mess) super quick and easy. Throw in your gas, filler and material details and it calcs windowed operational parameters for you and lets you twek them as you go. The difference was night and day, wish I'd started with it.
6061 and The Fabrication Series are good though the former is ally.
Big stuff then Curtis, Karen and Homey from Cutting Edge Engineering in Oz.
Homebuilt by Geoff, also down under admits it's not his strong point but gives advice on what he's learnt.
For top notch welding (not much advice) and metal finishing skill (ie no filler) then Stout Metalcraft. Also in Oz
Do make sure ALL bare skin is covered or you will get horrendous sunburn from the welding light. Also buy an auto dimming helmet, that is a must have as are proper welding gauntlets.
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Do make sure ALL bare skin is covered or you will get horrendous sunburn from the welding light. Also buy an auto dimming helmet, that is a must have as are proper welding gauntlets.
Not worth the risk, welding produces UV radiation across the entire UV spectrum, including UVA, UVB, and UVC. You don't need to be visibly burnt
to be over exposed and some people are very susceptible to burning. Just ask any carrot top
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Not worth the risk, welding produces UV radiation across the entire UV spectrum, including UVA, UVB, and UVC. You don't need to be visibly burnt to be over exposed and some people are very susceptible to burning. Just ask any carrot top
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
Not worth the risk, welding produces UV radiation across the entire UV spectrum, including UVA, UVB, and UVC. You don't need to be visibly burnt to be over exposed and some people are very susceptible to burning. Just ask any carrot top
Absolutely, I've had too many close calls not to use PPE where ever possible. I always use a leather full hood these days since I had spatter go down my earhole and sizzle against my eardrum
that's a nasty one. But yeah a big bit of weld splatter is no joke and really really hot. Falls down your boot you are going to notice
in a hurry.
It may be old hat, but some very fast race cars in this country are running brazed chassis.
quote:
Originally posted by JacksAvon
It may be old hat, but some very fast race cars in this country are running brazed chassis.
Brazing is a lot harder and the prep is also more critical - mig can cover up a multitude of poorly cut tubes.
Welding - be aware what you're wearing. Clean jeans are relatively fireproof & mig splatter proof. Trainers aren't. Cheap cotton (rugby)
tops are better than melting man made fibers but ..... you will get a multitude of holes in them from the splatter. Leather aprons look silly but are
good. Weld splatter hurts but learn to accept if its in your shoe by the time you've unlaced it, it will have burnt you and then cooled down.
NEVER take your welding gloves off after welding something. I once was adding plates with holes every inch to the transmission tunnel that i could
then mount fuel lines/electrics off so i didn't drill the chassis tubes. Welded the entire middle section leaning over the chassis so my head was
almost upside down. Once done took the gloves off to take the (flip but upside down so i couldn't flip, not automatic) helmet off. Having looked
at the excellent welding ....... i then needed to stand up. So i pushed against the nearest tube ....... bare hands against the nearest tube
............ nearest tube that just had a 24" weld run against it .............
Now you have to think about my dilemma ........ the only way i could stand up was to push against this tube, but my hand was burning pushing against
this tube ........ if i stopped pushing against the tube i still had a burnt hand that needed urgent attention & i needed to stand up.
So the other lessons are ........treat burns immediately with cold water or ice packs or both. Treat them for 2 or 3 times longer than you think you
need to treat them. Whilst running to treat them you can either be in lots of pain OR overload your senses so your brain can't compute what is
going on (got this trick from a professional welder). Shave your head to a number 1 to 3. Run your hand against your hair. Amazingly it doesn't
hurt as much. I did about 2 hours of bloody cold water and had my hand in water in under 30 seconds (and didn't need A&E thankfully as I
couldn't drive). I did have a mark on my hand for a couple of years.
another thing that can cause poor welds is welding outside, even a slight breeze can cause issues.
quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
another thing that can cause poor welds is welding outside, even a slight breeze can cause issues.
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
another thing that can cause poor welds is welding outside, even a slight breeze can cause issues.
Yes it's very problematic when you've not got from in the garage. Increase the gas flow and keep the tip closer.
[Edited on 30/5/2025 by coyoteboy]