Never have weld anything
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Kenny_McCormic
Kartless....
just get some scrap and play around till you get the hang of it, what are you welding with?
well i can say a few things, being that i never took classes or got training, but rather bought a simple flux core gasless welder and did a bunch of reading then taught myself.
a. do reading online, search for welding tutorials and safety tips, this will help you pick the welder you want to get
b. go and look for sources of metal [tube], you can go cheap but try to avoid heavy or weak metal, like water and gas pipes (heavy) or conduit which bends so easy. i've occasionally used fence post top bars since they're decently strong and only $10, but real square or round tubing is the more professional and stronger material, which is about $10 to $15 for a 10 foot piece (1" square tubing 16 gauge)
c. look for a welder within your budget. your best bet is a flux welder since you dont need gas and it's the cheapest kind of welder. mine was $80 at harbor freight. the most handy is the wire feed, but the stick welders work fine too. these weld STEEL, NOT ALUMINUM, and iron also doesn't work well nor is it good for vehicles.
alternatively you could get a welding torch but it's way harder to get the hang of and may be way overkill (and $$$) for beginners.
practice on
basic safety things:
- get good gloves
- always wear a mask
- dont breathe the fumes, they can cause cancers
- welding creates strong UV light and flying molten metal so cover up your skin
- be careful what you touch, never be in a situation where you can get zapped
remember that being cheap or lazy can only go so far, you only have 1 set of eyes or hands or whatever other body part. improperly welding can be dangerous, even deadly (30amps @ 115V) and just as important, a crappy design or bad build quality can be really bad in an accident. people die in car crashes at 5mph.
if its a question of spending $50 or $100 more for safety, do it.
a. do reading online, search for welding tutorials and safety tips, this will help you pick the welder you want to get
b. go and look for sources of metal [tube], you can go cheap but try to avoid heavy or weak metal, like water and gas pipes (heavy) or conduit which bends so easy. i've occasionally used fence post top bars since they're decently strong and only $10, but real square or round tubing is the more professional and stronger material, which is about $10 to $15 for a 10 foot piece (1" square tubing 16 gauge)
c. look for a welder within your budget. your best bet is a flux welder since you dont need gas and it's the cheapest kind of welder. mine was $80 at harbor freight. the most handy is the wire feed, but the stick welders work fine too. these weld STEEL, NOT ALUMINUM, and iron also doesn't work well nor is it good for vehicles.
alternatively you could get a welding torch but it's way harder to get the hang of and may be way overkill (and $$$) for beginners.
practice on
basic safety things:
- get good gloves
- always wear a mask
- dont breathe the fumes, they can cause cancers
- welding creates strong UV light and flying molten metal so cover up your skin
- be careful what you touch, never be in a situation where you can get zapped
remember that being cheap or lazy can only go so far, you only have 1 set of eyes or hands or whatever other body part. improperly welding can be dangerous, even deadly (30amps @ 115V) and just as important, a crappy design or bad build quality can be really bad in an accident. people die in car crashes at 5mph.
if its a question of spending $50 or $100 more for safety, do it.
athif
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O crap i never wear a mask cause i cant see. And the fumes always seem to get into my nose. Ive only been welding for like 2 days now straight.
I wonder if thats enough to cause cancer
jr dragster T
New member
Are you blind? if so you should at least wear a transparent shield just to stop the spatter from getting to you.
jr dragster T
New member
Yeah I know to wear a mask I was talking to him if he was already blind to wear at least a spatter shield. I dont know ANYONE crazy enough to NOT wear a welding mask. I forgot to turn on my miller auto shade mask once and it tingles my eyes even when welding sheet mettle. And when I got flashed the mask was set to atleast shade 2 even when not shaded. so if you weld without a mask you are INSANE!!!!!!
I like karts
Rotary Power!
Dude I love those things!
I wish I had one but they're expensive so for now I just have a standard mask
look for sales, i picked up mine for $30 at harbor freight, the autodarkening is a must if you plan to weld more than like 2 things per project (and if you weld that little, why buy a welder in the first place)
regarding the fumes, always have adequate ventilation. i weld in a garage, i open the main (car) door about a foot and the human door to the outside all the way, then i turn on a fan i have to blow toward me as i weld or grind (grinding smoke isnt fun either, black snot). basically if theres a source of fresh air and the fan is blowing toward me, i know im getting clean air.
i really doubt you could get cancer in such a short exposure time, but why risk it, it's like playing russian roulette, you lose and you die. most cases are from a lifetime of exposure, but again who knows, why risk it.
regarding the fumes, always have adequate ventilation. i weld in a garage, i open the main (car) door about a foot and the human door to the outside all the way, then i turn on a fan i have to blow toward me as i weld or grind (grinding smoke isnt fun either, black snot). basically if theres a source of fresh air and the fan is blowing toward me, i know im getting clean air.
i really doubt you could get cancer in such a short exposure time, but why risk it, it's like playing russian roulette, you lose and you die. most cases are from a lifetime of exposure, but again who knows, why risk it.
I like karts
Rotary Power!
I weld outside
Kenny_McCormic
Kartless....
Yea fumes from flux welding are horrible, I about passed out helping with welding in the garage (no ventilation, cold out side).
risto
...watches you sleep.
when i worked at an air conditioning shop, they had me do some welding. I met this guy Mike who had skin cancer because he didnt wear his shield while welding. This guy looked terrible. His eyes were constantly red and watery and his skin has burn holes all over it. It was enough to get me away from that job.
Seeing him has kept me very safety conscious while I weld.
Seeing him has kept me very safety conscious while I weld.
Kenny_McCormic
Kartless....
You people dont like vision do you? this isnt like wearing the goggles when grinding something this is like wearing gloves in -50* weather.
jr dragster T
New member
how do you not wear a mask?? You can look directly at the arc with no troubles? By the way we bought a MILLER auto shade for 200$
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