Welding

[Hewie]

Ok ... so ... I want to learn how to weld.

But I have no idea where to start.

What sort of welder do you need ? whats best for fabrication duties ?

Anyone want to give me some hints/tips or teach me a bit ?

[TYSON]

You want a TIG hewie

[Hewie]

Ok .. what size unit would I need ya reckon ?

[TYSON]

One that would fit in my boot

Not sure whats good but there are quite a few chinese ones on ebay of varying quality depending on how much your willing to pay

[Hewie]

KK Ill have a look and see if I can see one that will do the job ...

[=Stevo=]

I think TAFE also does night classes or similar on learning to weld, could always give that a shot

[Ben S]

Easiest and best general purpose welder is a MIG. Wire fed with inert gas or flux-core(gasless) wire. They are reasonable cheap to buy a good one $500 - $1000.

For general use like building a trailer you would want aboput 170amps, single phase running 0.8 wire.

A good TIG is expencive, harder to use and more expencive on consumables. You do however get better welds (once you know what your doing) and you can weld a wider variety of stuff.

All depends on what you want to weld and how often.

[TheonlyNinjabitches]

try boc gases they have some good welders

depends what your wanting to weld

ive got some welding theory books from tafe i could lend you if you wanted

[Ben S]

Come to my workshop (Malaga) one avo and I'll teach you how to MIG weld. I dont have a TIG tho unfortunitely.

[Hewie]

Ok cheers guys

Basically I want to be able to weld light gauge sheet and pipe .. things suitable for use on bikes

I dont need to be able to do massive jobs ... I just want to start doing some of the smaller fabrication work I have planned.

[Hewie]

Benny - Cheers mate .. Ill drop ya a PM

Ninja - Ok thx mate ... can you list the names of a couple I might try and buy one or two of them so I can keep them in the workshop .. that way when I set them on fire and drown them in oil I dont feel bad

[TheonlyNinjabitches]

Ninja - Ok thx mate ... can you list the names of a couple I might try and buy one or two of them so I can keep them in the workshop .. that way when I set them on fire and drown them in oil I dont feel bad

just tried to ring midland tafe as thats where i did some of my welding modules and as per normal engaged and couldn't get through.

the number to there book shop is 93746295 you could have a go and ring them.
as for the books you might need or want to try you could ask them that ya starting off welding and want some of the introductory books from them they do change the names around a bit so there probley called different module numbers than the ones i have.

[TYSON]

Ok cheers guys

Basically I want to be able to weld light gauge sheet and pipe .. things suitable for use on bikes

I dont need to be able to do massive jobs ... I just want to start doing some of the smaller fabrication work I have planned.

A Mig wont do aluminium though so keep that in mind

[TheonlyNinjabitches]

A Mig wont do aluminium though so keep that in mind

if its got the right wire it will

[Sean'o]

A mig will do ally, have to change the rollers, sleave and use argon instead of argo sheild, also you need some grunt in your machine, 250amps at least. to weld ally with Tig you need an AC/DC machine, most cheap ones are just DC, need AC for ally, I have a cheapy ebay one, $1400 tig, does ac/dc tig, arc weld and plasma cutter, havent used the arc, i have a mig for that, havent used the plasma, no need yet, but the tig works ok on both steels and ally, having said that, ive used some good machines and the weld is a lot easier to control and leaves a better finish, so if you are after show quality stuff, you are looking at around $4000 for a good ac/dc tig. If you want to pay a visit to my shed you can have a play with the tig on ally and steel and see what you think, then give the mig a run. I have a mate thats just started as rep with eutectic so if you decide you want to get something at the better end of the market, he might be able to do you a decent deal