welder or welding course

An area for general welding posts that don't seem to fit anywhere else.
bugs789
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SELF INTRODUCTION: 34 year old working in IT Support in the education sector, just starting out I have some knowledge of bikes though and have owned maintained and ridden them for the last 10 years, but would like to get more into building modifying and metal work.

Re: welder or welding course

Post by bugs789 »

So would you guys consider a 150 or 180 amp welder good enough to weld up frames?

Iv been watching a few youtube clips and there's some good info out there
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gww25
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Re: welder or welding course

Post by gww25 »

I guess it depends on what type of welder it is and what the duty cycle is. 180 is actually pretty light. I weld my springers using stick-start tig at 180 amp setting on a 250 amp machine but for frames I use a 150 amp setting.
grandpanystrom61
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SELF INTRODUCTION: retired disabled from the USAF in 1983, road bikes when I had not children, had to park it, but now I am riding a Roth designed VW Trike with a Harley front end. Learned a lot from this site, enough to figure out my neck was welded off perpendicular and with a twist, so rebuilding the front neck and forks, again learned most all of it from this site.

Re: welder or welding course

Post by grandpanystrom61 »

Take the course, it helps keep you with the practice that is needed, plus some cost of material is covered by the course.

I sent my son to school for welding, he actually graduated and pass the certification tests, yes I was proud of him.

So I wanted to teach myself how to Tig weld aluminum. I had to make a gas tank and other fab guess would no do the work.
I had estimated at least 30 hours welding time, but that was me and how fast I was moving at that time.

Now what is best, well I had my sons book to read over, lot of solid good info I wanted to have. I wrote out a lot and copied charts for later usage.

Did I learn to weld good enough for my tank.......not yet.. we are two years past the date I bought my welder.
I do have all parts cut out and ready to assemble, but I lack some confidence that my welds are that good, but I was given the idea of the hammer test and I will see how strong this box is that I had already made. I wanted to practice leak free welds on the seams.

I bought a 210 Longevity AC/DC 220/110 portable welder that does stick, tig, and scratch n start. I did not know about time limitations on welding time with the size of machine. WOW, totally makes sense to me, and really makes me wonder how many issues I had because of long welding sessions.

Shortest practice time........30min, and some times that was constant welding with very short breaks, sure hope my welder is okay because I really need it now, LOL

If you have a welder who is willing to teach what they know to you, that can be better than a class, but they have to be better than the certified instructor, remember not all instructors are doing the job for your benefit, some just do it for the dollar and you just help them make more $.

I do know practice, practice, build things, destroy them, cut welded area's to see how all looks on the inside, there is a lot more to welding than I expected, but it all made sense and I understood it. I do lack rhythm, no dancing or singing from this body, and this is needed to be a good welder.
I do hope I can teach myself enough rhythm to layed down solid welds. You can always clean up the welded work, but you have to have solid good welds to start with for the finish work to be worth all your effort.

oh, limited on a shop, just tuck this here and there in the garage and pull it all out when I need to use it, sucks yes, but at least I have my Trike now.

Happy Welding to all.......learned a lot from YouTube.....but again you need to practice all the time and try all the time.
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