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I would be very interested in this too, as I am very into learning how to weld! Overall, what is the best form of welding for beginners? MIG/TIG/ARC?
Mig is the easiest for beginners.
I've taught quite a few people the basics and most can lay down an acceptable bead within 15 minutes even though they've never welded before.
I've taught quite a few people the basics and most can lay down an acceptable bead within 15 minutes even though they've never welded before.
Yeah that is what I've heard. I also heard that MIG welding "splashes" metal during welding. Is this true?
yes kinda.. its not a huge splash but its enough to startle you the first time... basically tiny air bubbles in the metal will pop and tiny chunks of metal will fly (like thess than a cm)... it makes these annoying little beads of metal near your weld.
personally i leanred how to weld with an oxy-acetelene (sp?) torch. i find that if you learn this way first, you get a better understanding of what exactly it is you are trying to accomplish with the MIG... i've never used a Tig..
with a gas welder, you have to heat up the metal gradually by yourself, forming the 'puddle' by controlling how intensely you heat up one spot. once you see the 'puddle' (it litterally looks like a puddle of metal) you just kinda start painting with the rod, filling in where youre heating with the torch where you want to weld. the puddle is the key to penetration. You must also heat up both sides of the weld, you cannot rely on just globbing metal on top. this is this first mistake i made when learning.
if you decide to never use a torch (which is very bad assl, and required in the aviation industry) than a mig is a bit trickier to learn on. You dont have the time to gradually heat up the metal to form the puddle, the puddle is INSTANTLY created, and the metal forcefully inserted into it... you HAVE to make sure you are 100% ready to start welding the bead as soon as you pull the trigger. you cant go too fast along the weld, but you cant go too slow... you need to look PAST the sparks and the flames and whatnot and actually look at your puddle/bead and concentrate on forming the bead and nothign else. it can be quite distracting when you first go at it, but it doesnt take long to get used to.
best advice i can give though is learn the basics on a torch... i did, took me 10 minutes to learn how to weld with a torch... when i tried mig, my very first bead was insanely beautiful looking. Of course, my dad did explain to me very well what to do and how to do it. It's all in the instruction.
personally i leanred how to weld with an oxy-acetelene (sp?) torch. i find that if you learn this way first, you get a better understanding of what exactly it is you are trying to accomplish with the MIG... i've never used a Tig..
with a gas welder, you have to heat up the metal gradually by yourself, forming the 'puddle' by controlling how intensely you heat up one spot. once you see the 'puddle' (it litterally looks like a puddle of metal) you just kinda start painting with the rod, filling in where youre heating with the torch where you want to weld. the puddle is the key to penetration. You must also heat up both sides of the weld, you cannot rely on just globbing metal on top. this is this first mistake i made when learning.
if you decide to never use a torch (which is very bad assl, and required in the aviation industry) than a mig is a bit trickier to learn on. You dont have the time to gradually heat up the metal to form the puddle, the puddle is INSTANTLY created, and the metal forcefully inserted into it... you HAVE to make sure you are 100% ready to start welding the bead as soon as you pull the trigger. you cant go too fast along the weld, but you cant go too slow... you need to look PAST the sparks and the flames and whatnot and actually look at your puddle/bead and concentrate on forming the bead and nothign else. it can be quite distracting when you first go at it, but it doesnt take long to get used to.
best advice i can give though is learn the basics on a torch... i did, took me 10 minutes to learn how to weld with a torch... when i tried mig, my very first bead was insanely beautiful looking. Of course, my dad did explain to me very well what to do and how to do it. It's all in the instruction.
Damn.. nice to hear that it isn't as complicated as it seemed. So.. kinda like soldering two pieces of metal together? You heat the filler rod material [the "solder"] and melt it to form a puddle between it and the two pieces of metal, in order to put them together?
Natan's advice is good!
This is pretty well how I leaned to weld as I didn't have access to anything else at the time (13 years old couldn't afford anything let alone a Mig)
Once you have the basics of melting the weld zone on both pieces of parent metal and adding filler wire to form the bead everything else follows!
Tig is the same process just replacing a flame with an electric arc.
I said Mig is the fastest/easiest to learn and stand by that as it's basically point and shoot.
One thing I wish had been around when I was a kid is the Electronic auto darkening helmets as they allow you to position the torch exactly before pulling the trigger which is a HUGE help when learning!
I'm on my second Speedglas one now and love it!
This is pretty well how I leaned to weld as I didn't have access to anything else at the time (13 years old couldn't afford anything let alone a Mig)
Once you have the basics of melting the weld zone on both pieces of parent metal and adding filler wire to form the bead everything else follows!
Tig is the same process just replacing a flame with an electric arc.
I said Mig is the fastest/easiest to learn and stand by that as it's basically point and shoot.
One thing I wish had been around when I was a kid is the Electronic auto darkening helmets as they allow you to position the torch exactly before pulling the trigger which is a HUGE help when learning!
I'm on my second Speedglas one now and love it!
I learned on a stick welder, it's pretty good for teaching you how to lay a clean bead. If you don't lay a good bead you'll be spending a ridiculous amount of time banging slag off of your weld. MIG is easier, you don't have to swap rods and you spend a lot less time cleaning up. Stick machines are cheaper so you could afford a better machine on a limited budget, but aren't nearly as fast or easy as a MIG.
With a $250 budget get a harbor and freight el cheapo machine with a short duty cycle; that way you can afford proper safety gear. Your first machine doesn't have to be good, particularly if you're only working with thin gauge steel.
With a $250 budget get a harbor and freight el cheapo machine with a short duty cycle; that way you can afford proper safety gear. Your first machine doesn't have to be good, particularly if you're only working with thin gauge steel.
Take a class at your local comunity college or somethin... fuck mig... mig sucks. Tig is 10X better
the thing about tigs is, u cant touch a good tig welder for under 600-700 bucks used, with a mig u can get one for about 200-250. i got my daytona hobby mig for 200 used, when i was looking for a tig every one wanted huge money for them. if ur a bigginer and going to do the basic like exhaust and other random stuff and not going to use it full time, get a mig. i personally have one just because i might only use it a few times a year. once u made a exhaust u might not have to touch the exhaust for about another 3-5 years or so. just my thoughts on it.
drunk_medic said:
no.. you dont heat the rod at all. all you have to do is "push" the rod into the puddle and it will add more metal to the puddle. the puddle is formed by the metal of the things you are welding...
i was a welder for 6yrs.mainly mig welding and some subarc and stick.i had a 450-500amp fabricator pulse welder ($15k worth 
) with a lcd screen,remote wirespeed pendant,automatic settings for welding different metals,wires gas etc,big megapacs of wire (cupple hundred kg each) i was welding up conveyor belt frames for mining companies,vehicle bodybuilding(truck trays/bodies).pulse welder i never got any spatter (the globs/balls of weld that jumps off and are hard as f#@k to scrape off sumtimes)and it used to sing like EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE in a high pitch note.I had the wire speed on 10.5ft/min hehehe and the amps on ----- 5minus settings so my tip didnt burnout in 2mins lol.it welded very hot at that setting but the penetration was amazing.(had to pass xray,ultrasonic and dye checks for the customer)Normal welders(mig) crackle and spit and are very slow to weld and a lot "colder"Penetration also depends on the shielding gas that u use.mixture of argon and nitrogen is fine for mig however for stainless and ally u need different gas like pure argon.well i think i better stop as i think im rambling on a bit
just remember "preperation is 95% of welding.if ur preps shit then ur weld is shit"
ps spedglas 5000x rocks,but i broke mine when it fell from a truck tray i was welding and she kept turnin off
) with a lcd screen,remote wirespeed pendant,automatic settings for welding different metals,wires gas etc,big megapacs of wire (cupple hundred kg each) i was welding up conveyor belt frames for mining companies,vehicle bodybuilding(truck trays/bodies).pulse welder i never got any spatter (the globs/balls of weld that jumps off and are hard as f#@k to scrape off sumtimes)and it used to sing like EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE in a high pitch note.I had the wire speed on 10.5ft/min hehehe and the amps on ----- 5minus settings so my tip didnt burnout in 2mins lol.it welded very hot at that setting but the penetration was amazing.(had to pass xray,ultrasonic and dye checks for the customer)Normal welders(mig) crackle and spit and are very slow to weld and a lot "colder"Penetration also depends on the shielding gas that u use.mixture of argon and nitrogen is fine for mig however for stainless and ally u need different gas like pure argon.well i think i better stop as i think im rambling on a bitjust remember "preperation is 95% of welding.if ur preps shit then ur weld is shit"
ps spedglas 5000x rocks,but i broke mine when it fell from a truck tray i was welding and she kept turnin off
Ramble away Miggles!!
I did the same to my old SpeedGlas (one of their originals) so bought a new 9000X just before Christmas last year to replace it!
I did the same to my old SpeedGlas (one of their originals) so bought a new 9000X just before Christmas last year to replace it!
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u get people tryin to sneak up n scare u not knowin u have smoked side lenses? i caught many people out sneakin into my weldin bay tryin to play pranks on my welder lol.saw a cupple solar eclipses too since they are 100% uv filterin.U ever use a gold tinted lense? has a layer of gold on the lense jus for a std cheapie helmet.it reflects a lot of heat away from ur eyes and u got a different color looking at the weld
LOL nah I'm lucky I work alone and don't have to deal with that sort of crap
I used the gold omniviews many many years ago and used to love em till I got my first Speedie!
I used the gold omniviews many many years ago and used to love em till I got my first Speedie!
Ckanderson said:
Now CK.... I think this convo goes back to me telling you the same thing years ago...
Any who, for the price, you can get a cheap ass mig welder that will weld flux core.
Save your money, and go get a refurbished TIG or used TIG welder. In the long run, you'll save countless dollars.
But to answer your question, the easiest is MIG to learn. A monkey can MIG weld.
Stick welding will teach you the basics, and you can weld really thick SH!T with stick welders.
TIG is nice... no sparks. Just a nice sun tan! And you can weld just about any thing together with a good tig welder....
Enjoy.
I worked in my dads welding shop for a few years before he sold it, we used all 3. He taught me on stick and moved to MIG then TIG (I prefer TIG out of them, more control). Tig seemed to be more versatile on different metals, especially thinner stuff (dad could weld 2 soda cans bottom to bottom and they still could hold water). MIG did better where you need to add metal but stick was best for really thick stuff. If you are only gonna weld steel or occasionally aluminum, then go for a MIG welder.
I learned on oxy-acetelene, moved to arc (stick) welding, then moved to MIG. I haven't TIG welded yet, but my brother welds for a living, and if you've ever seen welds done with all of the above, TIG is the best, hands down, it makes the cleanest welds, and you have the most control, and you can weld the most types of metal. I know MIG has a couple advantages in certain situations, but I can't think of any right now, lol.
Since I only have a MIG welder, that's what I use, but I'd like to learn to TIG weld like my brother can.
Since I only have a MIG welder, that's what I use, but I'd like to learn to TIG weld like my brother can.