New Welding Thread ?'s for beginners...MIG

[Texas Bob]

This thread is great because... I just had my first welding lesson today !!!

There's a local trade school that does "private, byt the hour" lessons, so I went in today and got started. Today the instructor did a basic run down of MIG welding and then had me practice laying down beads for a "filler weld" (is that right ??). Basically an angle piece of iron where I just layed down bead after bead to build up a section.



There's definitely and art to doing this. Gettting my hand steady and going in a straight line at a consistent rate and distance is gonna take some practice. SOme of my welds looked pretty good for a first timer and other looked like crap.

I'd like to get a book to use as a reference when I have questions. I'm hoping this well also help me learn the vocabulary and some of the basics of what I need to do and why. Also there are some many variables when it comes to what your welding and why etc.

Any recommednations for a beginners book ???

I just picked up my text book WELDING Principles and Practices 3rd edition by Sacks and Bohnart for about $70 used for an Intro to Welding class at college. 30 chapters and mega thick, I have no idea what I'm getting into but after reading 3 chapters (my wife called me a nerd as school doesn't start till next week) I can follow this thread pretty well and I have zero experience with welding.

Bob

[O&C Racing]

I just thought that I would throw out an opinion on machines. I've been using a Millermatic 185 for over 6 years now. I never really liked the fact that it had 7 settings for voltage. When working on thin sheet metal It needed a setting less than one but sometimes needed something in between one and two. So you would have to get creative with wire speeds to get a good weld.

So over the weekend a friend needed a welder to replace his, so I sold him my 185. I ordered a new Millermatic 251 and it got here today. So I set it up and started welding on some scrap of varying sizes. The only thing I can say is this thing rocks. The arc is much more stable and it welds sheet metal like a champ. It also laid down some nice welds on 1/4" stuff with ease. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to purchase a new machine. I got it from cyberweld.com for a hair over $1700 with free shipping. None of the local dealers that I deal with would come close to matching the price and not having to pay sales tax was a bonus as well.

Now I just need to do something with this 180 SD Tig Runner I bought last year. I think I'm ready for an upgrade in that department as well. Just need to do some more research on Tig machines.

Curtis