How did you learn to weld

[Bronc76]

Dad taught me, he used to weld on a friend of his race car back in the day, learn more in high school, although I learned MIG/TIG at local community college so I can do my own bodywork.

 

[Tedster100]

I learned the hard way with a stick welder. Like JDevon said YOUTUBE! Even though I could weld decent my skills took a turn for the better after watching some video on Youtube and doing a little reading. As it turns out, preperation is more important than I ever thought it was, that was a big help too! Aside from that - practice is the key.

 

[JGbronc]

I'm actually finishing up a welding class this week for stick welding. Like others have said, practice! I went from knowing very little to being pretty decent in just a few months time.

The welding tips & tricks site should be helpful. That guy also has videos on youtube.

 

[thegreatjustino]

took a class at a community college, close to me. Then bought my own welder and weled every piece of scrap I had together.

x2 - did the same exact thing. The JC here has an awesome vocational department.

 

[quikdrummer]

I researched a ton of welders and got a miller 211 before I ever welded anything in my life. This was in December lol.

Practiced on scrap, my bro in law is taking a class at the comm college and so I have him over pretty often to pass on knowledge. Most of his class is arc and tig welding, but the basics are still there. I really want to get one of the 3in1 plasma/tig machines on eBay.

I have done quite a few welding projects on my bronco now, check my build thread if you want to see. Shock hoops, inboard rear, new spring perches on the rear axle, a bumper for my buddies blazer. None of my welds are beautiful, but I can tell improvement just in a few weeks, and my bro in law said they would pass the strength tests at his class, so I feel pretty confident.

 

[Madgyver]

Pipefitter by trade now, I learned to arc weld and braze in high school, aside from the class daily lessons and builds, I had other projects going on on the side. The instructor noticed that and fed me more things to try and build. The rest just fell into place.

I don't do much welding at work now, most welding I do is in my garage.
Practice is key to a great bead. Once you feel the vibe that the arcs gives you, you'll learn how to control it.

 

[Bundy]

I looked on Craigslist and found an old guy who taught classes out of his garage.... turned out he was a Navy welding instructor for 40 years. He had me MIG welding pretty well in 3 hours and then just practiced at home.

I would have like to take a class and learn about metallurgy and whatnot but I'm just a fairweather welder.

 

[72_EB]

I dropped my wrench on the battery.

 

[brownb4]

I wanted to do this, mainly to get a feel for other processes, after I taught myself TIG (which I really like, because with TIG, a pretty bead is a strong bead) I started to wonder about other stuff like Heli-Arc and some other exotic welders and figured going to a vo-tec class would be interesting, but everything I found were 1-2 year career schools with a $15k price tag.


People always say that the local community college offers courses, but I have not found a single school in Central Florida that will just let you take classes outside of a formal program, and at 15K, hell I can just buy said exotic welder and start burning stuff together while reading books. I would really love to get deeper into it, but I am not going to switch carers to welding, so there is no way I can justify 15k just for S and G's.


It seems that now days all education is geared towards job training, so if you are not doing it with the intention of a job paying you back, then the economics of doing it are pretty bad.

One of the schools, list the instructors of the classes and I thought about emailing them and seeing if they would be interested in private tutoring, it would probability still cost quite a bit, but it would be cheaper than a full program and pretty tailored to what I don't know, but need to know.

that is alot of cheddar for a welding course. i would def look into the private tutor thing. if you understand what makes a strong weld and the process needed to achieve it, then your half way there. having a tutor or friend that knows welding watching you burn rods/wire, they can give you real-time advice and shorten the learning curve drastically.

 

[lowbush]

that is alot of cheddar for a welding course. i would def look into the private tutor thing. if you understand what makes a strong weld and the process needed to achieve it, then your half way there. having a tutor or friend that knows welding watching you burn rods/wire, they can give you real-time advice and shorten the learning curve drastically.

The things I really want to learn are the structural stuff, like Cage work, I would also like to learn exotic alloys. Not really because I need to know the exotic stuff, but I tend to hyper focus, so when I have an interest in a subject I like to learn everything about it. That being said, I can't find anything around Central Florida that will just let you take the classes you want, they are all geared towards, a point A to point B education. I talked to a master/instructor that welds over at NASA, and he said he would show me the ropes of the exotic and structural stuff, if I could get access to the equipment. Seems that there are some security concerns with taking a guy off the streets over to the repair shop at NASA and showing him the ropes on their gear.

 

[dave67fd]

I just picked up a Eastwood Mig135 about a two months ago. Abit before buying it i read as much as i could on the net as well as youtube.

Got some scraps from a Bronco brother and just went at it. Still learning but easier than i anticipated.

Buy a reasonable machine and basic gear as mentioned. Go with gas but realize your initial tank purchase is a bit of cash.

 

[Revelation]

Dad looked at me and said, "You broke it, you fix it!"
broke out his old arc welder and became a certified booger welder.
I was not happy with dad then, but thinking back, the man was a hell of a teacher, I miss him every day. Still have his old arc welder, guess what I am gonna be welding with.

 

[brownb4]

The things I really want to learn are the structural stuff, like Cage work, I would also like to learn exotic alloys. Not really because I need to know the exotic stuff, but I tend to hyper focus, so when I have an interest in a subject I like to learn everything about it. That being said, I can't find anything around Central Florida that will just let you take the classes you want, they are all geared towards, a point A to point B education. I talked to a master/instructor that welds over at NASA, and he said he would show me the ropes of the exotic and structural stuff, if I could get access to the equipment. Seems that there are some security concerns with taking a guy off the streets over to the repair shop at NASA and showing him the ropes on their gear.

i would just like to see that shop. you could build a "moon crawler bronco"

 

[firehawk]

I am still learning and I have been welding for almost 20 years with a certification.

 

[broncoitis]

Man I just started putting metal together! Nothing has come apart so far but I would like to take a class at the local community college. Can never know too much!

 

[Tedster100]

Pipefitter by trade now, I learned to arc weld and braze in high school, aside from the class daily lessons and builds, I had other projects going on on the side. The instructor noticed that and fed me more things to try and build. The rest just fell into place.

Ahhhhh.... shop class. Learned how to braze and did a little welding but mostly built things. My teacher was a friend of the family and when I took my 2nd year of metal shop our projects were a small tool box from sheet metal, a small ball peen hammer and something else I can't remember. I asked if I could make something better and old Kurtz told me that once I made the required projects I could make whatever I wanted. Never-ever say that to a 16 year old kid.

The three projects were completed in the first two weeks and I set my sights on my next project..... a muzzel loading pistol! Yes, I told him my next project was to be a .50 cal muzzel loading pistol. As you can imagine he had a truely unique response to my choice of projects. He said, Ok, but it has to have a two part barrel with a screw apart breech and a hand made lock mechanisim and the barrel had to be rifled! Within two weeks the barrel was completed and by the fouth week I had made a jig to rifle the barrel. The lock was a lot more work and I made the stock / handle later in the year. Never did shoot it and somehow it got lost when I moved from my parents but try that today in your shop class! Sorry to hijack the thread but the thread gave me a flash back of sorts and I thought I'd share. Carry on.

 

[LOVNBRONCOS]

Took a vocational welding class in high school for 2 years, learned most types of welding. worked in a lot of shops for 35 years So cutting, welding, grinding and fabricating has been the easy part of working on my bronco. Watch out for the RED bugs
when your welding they bite.LOL And if you run flux core wire with your mig you don't need the gas thats all I run makes hauling your welder around a lot easier.

 

[ilovemaui]

I learned in high school and worked as welder for several years before going to college. Tough job but glad I learned.

 

[Entourage]

Bought a new Lincoln 140 kit, gas, helmet, wire, cart, gloves, tip jelly, clamps, watched the DVD in the kit, and started welding. I did autobody, sheetmetal, filling holes, panels, repairs, seat mounts, etc. with NO welding experience. The DVD was great for showing me how to load the wire, set temps, speeds, etc. but some stuff ya just have to learn hands-on.

You will be suprised what you can do when you have a job to do, armed with the right tools, and the stuggots to dive in.

 

[ObscureMachine]

Dad looked at me and said, "You broke it, you fix it!"

My dad said "you broke it, you're a dumbass." I guess that's why I never learned!

I really want to learn. Perhaps after we move I can figure out a way to make it happen. I would really rather learn from someone than take a class.