Learning to weld

[erietuna]

Hi folk's. I finally had a try at welding. This is my fourth attempt.
The first try we could not break the weld. Luck of course. The next two broke and Gary should me alot of my error's.
This one was a solid weld, although ugly I wanted to keep it so I could show my wife. Gary is a fellow member, the guy is
really something.
Any way I will be looking to buy a welder. First I want to get a buddy over who is a electrician over to see what I can do as far as power. Also I will be getting a Victor oxy/acet outfit, once I figure out which one I want. Right now I am leaning to a Performer outfit. If any of you have a opion on this model please share with me.
Finally I will be looking to take a class or three on oxy/acet welding. I have been looking on the internet but no luck so far.
Also, could anyone suggest a good book or two on oxy/acet welding?
Thank you,
erietuna

[SoCal Dave]

First, I would say that a welding class would help you with all types of welding. An Adult Education or Community College may have a welding school. Many times they start you out with Oxy/Acet welding which will help you with all the other types of welding. Pretty is not important really, but penetration is and many things go into that which your welding school can help you with. I wouldn't stop at Oxy/Acet welding but get comfortable with stick/arc welding, mig, and tig. Lincoln or Miller are the two main welders that stand out as good quality welders. Good luck with the world of welding, it should be great.

[Rich Hale]

For help on which set would be best for you you would need to tell us wot you will do with it. When you have a plan it is easier to fit pieces together. You idea for a class may jiust give you all of the answers you need. They will provide the equipment and that will help you decide wot yoiu really need.

[Tommy Traylor]

I have been welding over 40 years, self taught. Finally decided to learn how to do it right. Took a class offered by the local junior college and you can teach an old dog new tricks. I highly recommend taking a course. The book we used is Welding Technology Fundamentals by Bowditch. It covers everything from gas to tig. Good luck.

[pkrankow]

The Army welding manual is a wonderful resource.

I think the links under this link are good. (I didn't re-check, but I have downloaded from this site before)

http://www.metalwebnews.com/ed.html

Phil

[John McPherson]

Cleveland is the home of Lincoln Electric, a premier welder manufacturer, and Ohio Tech, which offers a full line of welding classes.

Oxyfuel welding usually gets short shrift in modern industrial schools. It is not cost efficient compared to arc welding in production work, but is still used heavily in art, sculpture and jewelry work. It is quite versatile in use, because just changing heads lets you weld, braze, solder, heat, bend and cut most metals.

Older books from the fifties and sixties go into a lot more depth than modern textbooks.

Victor would be my number one choice, they outlast all others here at our CC welding lab, where the students are truly hard on equipment. Performer is rated light duty, Contender is medium duty, Journeyman is heavy duty. You can often get them for about half of MSRP online at places like Cyberweld.

[Backwoods Blacksmith]

Go online and check out the Miller welding site. Lots of information. Also check out the Victor oxy/act site.
Both offer how to books also as they contribute to many welding and cutting classes.
Good luck and practice, practice, practice.

[erietuna]

Thank you all.
John you said " Oxyfuel welding usually gets short shrift in modern industrial schools." I work with a guy that also work's in his dad's Fab Shop. He Tig welded a 28 foot boat for use in Alaska. Passed the Coast Guard inspection. He told me " You can't weld with O/A, just cut, braze, heat."
In fact alot of of people have been telling me this. They all weld. Mig, stick etc,etc. But they did not learn O/A.
Any how, I am leaning towards the Performer because it is a Victor. My hardie hole is almost 1.25 inches, so if I were to make a spring fuller I should be able to weld it onto the shank.
I am hoping to get a member of my club to teach me O/A welding. One of them is a instructor at Lincoln Electric, I have not met the man yet.
Will be looking for welding book's from the 50's and 60's.
As to welding schools 2 problem's there. First I am a Hobbyist. 7000.00 dollars to be a certified welder ( if I pass) seem's foolish to spend. Second
It is 3 am. I am getting ready for work. Most classes start around 6 pm and run til 10 pm. I need my beauty rest.
So I hope to find a retired welder who will teach me how not to blow myself up!
I have started to make friends with some guy's who might be able to help me out. Dropped a couple dozen dounuts off at the place I buy drops from.
Another guy that is a member of my club and is alot closer got a couple of jars of pickles I made from my garden.
Hopefully I can find someone that I can pay, bribe, help out that will show me some more.
In the mean time off to work and reading some more of the post's here. I really have been trying to read all of them, Takes time alot to learn.
Later,
erietun

[John McPherson]

[He told me " You can't weld with O/A, just cut, braze, heat."] What he meant was "I can't."

I teach, among other things, a community college class in O/A welding of sheet, plate and pipe. The process of forming and heating the puddle with the torch, and feeding filler metal with the other hand, is a great segue into TIG and other arc processes. The time interval is slower, and you learn a lot about controlling the puddle, because it is not obscured by the arc, smoke, or slag.

If OT offers an intro class that fits your schedule, I suggest that. Here at CPCC, our Basic class introduces O/A cutting, welding & brazing, stick and MIG in a safe environment. We even offer it evenings and Saturdays. Four hours, one day a week for 16 weeks will not make anybody a certified welder, but might keep you from killing yourself or burning down the garage.

Back when the earth was still cooling and dinosaurs roamed the planet, all we had in the high school auto shop was O/A and buzz box stick units. We got by, and I did not even see a MIG or TIG unit for years after that. A lot of the airplanes of the first 50 years of flight were O/A welded, including stainless and aluminum parts. But in those days, the Army had Blacksmith/Engineers too, and forge welding has been all but forgotten also.

[Keith Rider]

Don Geary's welding book is pretty good. He suggests starting with O/A brazing first then O/A welding. There are a bunch of good exercises in there to teach puddle control and other good stuff. There is a link to the book on my website: http://tinyurl.com/littlebluetractor

I got pretty good at O/A welding by the time I used up my 3rd tank of acetylene. For light gauge steel it is a very efficent process and way more controllable than stick or mig on sheet metal. I've welded 3/8 thick steel with O/A, but it isn't the best way. Big torch tips use up a lot of gas and the whole workpiece tends to get hot, not just the area around the weld.

[clinton]

Oxy- Acetylene welding does have its place and like John said it teaches you the same technique as tig welding. The teacher at our community college has the students build a box using 1 inch by 4 inch strips of 16 gauge metal. You tack the strips together, then fit up a box so you have 6 sides to practise on. You can use the different sides for the positions in welding, (flat, horizontal, vertical, overhead). When you get good at all those welds you can add tubing to each side

[greg]

O.A is the way I learned from one of my old trade school teachers He told all of us that if you can gas weld everything else easily falls into place Hate to say it the old dude had a very accurate point .