Welding instruction in the STL?

[rockingm82]

Anyone in the St. Louis area know a thing or two about welding and willing to pass it along? Working on my Broncos I find there's a lot more I don't know than what I do. I have little experience working on cars and when I find myself in over my head I run to Steve at AWS and open my pocket book. Thank goodness he's a great dude. I find on many occasions that welding is a necessity. I have the equipment and I can certainly booger weld, but I don't know if I'm even starting in the right spot. I can read books and watch videos, but nothing beats experience and someone calling me a knuckle head over my shoulder.

Here's what I've got
Alpha TIG 200 X
Hobart Handler 140
Lincoln WeldPak 180HD
ESAB Power Cut 650

I worked over seas for many years and accumulated all this stuff. At the time I had a huge garage plumbed for 220. I've since got married had kids and moved to a more sensible suburbia home that doesn't have 220 in the garage so my 220 stuff is collecting dust.

I'd be willing to trade booze or lend out equipment in return for some genuinely good instruction.

 

[71broncman]

If you have a 220V/ 30 amp electric dryer outlet wired into the house you can make an extension cord to run any of the tools on your list. I did this on my last house to run a Lincoln 220V buzz box, which is supposed to have a 50 amp circuit, and it worked pretty well. Then you can source some scrap of various thickness and practice in your garage. Just throwing that out there as an option.
Mark.

 

[CraigS]

Exactly as 71' says. You can even save a few pennies, well, a few thousand, and have an electrician come wire you an outlet in the garage. With pictures, we can even second guess your welds remotely if you want.
The biggest thing is practice, a lot. And learn to grind, a lot.
You'll get there.

 

[Tugross302]

A friend told me he can teach me to mig weld in 10 minutes. But it takes years of practice to be good at it. I’m not there yet.

 

[74BroncoCO]

I've been rewatching some extreme offroad episodes on Amazon and the first series goes over welding pretty well with some good tips. Of course Ian makes it look easy.

Whats helped me most is slowing down and taking my time. When I started I was rushing and it showed. You don't have to weld fast. Also I like to push the puddle and use the c shape with my mig. Setup is key. Get your machine right for what you are welding and your helmet. I only have the one welder, the same Hobart as yours. I'd love to come out but since I'm a new home school teacher I'm kinda stuck at home. Also I'm far from an expert so I'm not sure how much I'd help. But I do love fabricating!

Any projects you have in mind to get some practice?

 

[rockingm82]

I'll try out those Extreme Offroad episodes. I'm also going to invest in the dryer outlet + extension cord idea. I need to weld a power steering bracket to the frame and I'm trying to decide if I should practice, practice, practice and then give it a go or just hire it out.

 

[74fiberglass]

Weldingtipsandtricks.com
Plenty of good videos there

 

[half cab]

Is your Hobart 140 handler a 220 or 115 unit. I have a handler 140 here that works off a 115. Like said above Jodie from weldingtipandtricks.com aka weldmonger is great on YouTube. Weld.com is another great site.

Gawd that ALPHA TIG would be the ticket though.

 

[74BroncoCO]

Get some similar material thicknesses to the power steering bracket you want to install and practice on that. Do the same type of joint as well. If you need to weld vertically, set that up as well. I prefer to weld up as opposed to down when I have the choice. There should be a steel shop you could buy some scrap from to practice.

Another thing I think would help me is good lighting on the area to be welded. I have trouble seeing the puddle, but I can't go any lower on my helmet and not risk welders eye. So I think a nice good light would help me.

Another good youtube channel is dirt lifestyle. He has a fair amount of fabrication tips videos.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsHjcTCLYpzkGcs_TJPgGkA