Welding advice
 

Hey all, my car ran over some debris and cut a small 5 inch hole in the bottom of my car under the passenger seat. I've decided to use the opportunity to learn how to weld, and am thinking about picking up a welding kit from TSC, do some practice welds, pulling the carpet and then patching up the hole in my car.


My question is that I'm looking at some kits and don't know what my needs are. This one: AutoArc 130 MIG Welder Value Package http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/stor...-value-package can handle 24 guage steel. Is that enough? Is this kit suitable?

24 Gauge steel is really thin at 0.0276" thick. GMAW (MIG) welding is arguably the easiest to learn and leaves beautiful welds, but can be very limiting based on heat penetration depth. Plus MIG welding requires the addition of inert gas to shield the weld. Personally, I'd recommend getting into SMAW (stick welding) because of it's versatility and huge applications. In stick welding the arc rod also serves as your filler too, so you don't have to dip additional filler material into your weld bead. Also in stick welding, the filler rod is coated in flux, which means you don't have to deal with separate tanks of gas to shield your weld because when the rod melts the flux turns into a protective shield of gas to protect your welds from contamination. One downside of stick welding though is that the flux coating builds up slag on your welds, which you have to hit with a slag hammer and wire brush to clean off if you plan on taking more than one pass over your welds.

I could go on and on, but long story short:
1) MIG welding is easy and clean, but requires the addition of gas and can be limiting to shallow depth welds (unless you get an industrial one).
2) Stick welding is most universal and is suitable for almost any project. A bit harder to get the hang of, but still easy enough for the casual welder. Requires no additional gas.

As far as buying a machine goes, I'd recommend talking to guys at your local welding shop, as they can be really helpful getting you set up and offering tips on good local deals. Personally I got my first SMAW from a garage sale for super cheap and it's still running strong.

*Just my .02 cents... There are a lot of other welding processes too that I can tell you about if you're interested (OXY, TIG, FCAW). My personal favorite is TIG because you can weld literally any metal and thickness, but it requires greater setup and understanding of the welding process, plus the use of two hands and a foot to operate.

Hope this helps!

yeah....what he said^

Don't start on sheet metal until you know what you're doing.

Take a real course (trade schools often have part time night courses), so you understand what is actually happening when you weld and what is important.

Despite the above long post it is woefully incomplete...

Is getting it fixed through insurance not an option? That would really be best. But I definitely recommend learning to weld, it's fun and can come in handy. Stick welding is very useful in a lot of situations but not what I would use for this. I would go with a TIG welder, you'll have to get gas (I would recommend argon, it's more expensive but more versatile). As far as learning to weld I would recommend starting with MIG welding as you can pay more attention to getting a good weld than manipulating a welding rod and/or torch.

Oh, ya I recommend picking up a copy of Welding Principles and Applications by Larry Jeffus (pretty sure that's the title)

Not without my insurance going up. I figure it'd be worth it to put the money towards learning something.

Buying a welder and the appropriate stuff to go with it won't be cheap, at least in terms of upfront costs. But learning is always money well spent. If you're pretty good with your hands and have good hand eye coordination I would say buy a TIG welder and start there (TIG is the welding version of driving a stick shift) . It will let you weld just about anything, mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, etc.

Welding TIG (or any of the others really) isn't something you get good at overnight. I have practiced welding a bit at work just since I have access to a welder, and while I can kind of weld 1/8" thick plate together I burned straight through .06 tubing that I tried. Your car is a bad place to make a mistake and burn a bigger hole in, and without experience it what may very well happen. I feel like welding is one of the things where if you have to ask where to start you're not quite ready.

Sounds like you might need to check your amperage, a good rule of thumb is the thickness of the material in thousands of an inch is what the maximum amperage should be set at ie. .060 = 60 amps. But practice is definitely the only way to get good at welding. And if you want to weld professionally you have to practice, not till you get it right, but till you can't get it wrong, and that's a lot of work.

Never ever apply carb. cleaner anywhere near where you're going to weld. Turns into a gas that could kill you or mess you up for life. How about that for welding advice?

^ Always have good ventilation when welding. And wear the right kind of clothing, or you could find it on fire and melting onto your skin. So much fun advice! :D

I'm a terrible welder and there's nothing for me to hide, I don't know much at all about it. Just wanted to try my hand at it one day haha. Design work and CNC programming are more my style :bonk:

I do agree with that statement though, you're not good when you get it right. It's when you don't get it wrong anymore.

Just throwing out some (hopefully) helpful advice :) if the machine isn't set right you'll have a hell of a time trying to get a good weld even if you aren't just learning. Having someone set it up for you is a good idea at first. Nothing wrong with sitting behind a desk (and you get a/c *woot*), and CAD is a lot of fun once you learn how to use it properly.