Learning to Weld

[Mathius]

I agree, try going to a vocational school or something like that first, to get the basics down. You should first learn some structural welding, just so you know how to identify weld defects, and how to make a strong weld and get the basics.

Once you've got that stuff down, you can pretty much get your own welder and just practice on a bunch of scrap of different thicknesses until you get good at it.

Don't let anyone talk you into getting any certifications, even if you think you might want a job welding someday. Most places will send you out to get you certified on their own if you get a job.

Try to learn a little of all the weld processes, oxy-acetylene, arc, tig, mig, carbon arc removal, plasma cutting, and oxy-acetylene cutting while you're in class.

You may find you like one process more than another. I personally prefer TIG, and I freely admit I'm better at TIG than I am at MIG, because I don't like to MIG weld.

I got into welding because I wanted to get a better job and learn how to weld to help me working on cars and motorcycles.

I thought if I went out and got a bunch of certifications I'd be ok to get a job welding. Boy was I way off. Learn from my mistakes. A potential employer only really cares about how much experience you have.

Also, since I was working so hard on these certifications, it mean I was pretty much just working on one set of materials, say... for my 3G in TIG, I was constantly working with 3/16" material in a t-joint. Therefore I missed out on welding different material sizes.

This doesn't really hurt you if you want to go thicker, but you also need some experience in sheetmetal, or you'll constantly be burning through, or welding too slow, because you just aren't used to the thin material.

Hope this helps.

Mathius