Date: 95-10-30 18:58:02 EST
From: Railroad2 (Glen Wilson)
Here's some input from a near amateur welder (if that) which might be of
benefit to someone who has never welded at all.
I don't think it's fair to give a rank beginner the impression that welding
is child's play right from the start. That's the impression I've gotten from
some of the comments.
I bought a wire-fed flux-core MIG welder from SIP a few years back to use on
an MGB. I found that it is CRITICAL to get all the welder settings
practically dead-on in order not to do more damage than you already had.
It's VERY easy to burn a hole straight through your new replacement panel or
burn away that last piece of original metal you hoped to weld onto.
Remember, we're dealing with very thin metal here.
When I managed to get everything right, I produced some pretty impressive
welds. When I went back six months later, I was back to square one and
having all kinds of trouble. It's very much an art.
My feeling is that a beginner would very likely be wasting a lot of money on
a gas shield MIG welder unless he or she had someone to demonstrate how it's
done. Remember, we're talking upwards of $300.00 here. It's not just a good
idea to have a teacher, it would be pretty foolish not to arrange for one.
A lot of the articles in the british car magazines say cut this and weld
that, and it's a lot like the sheetrock/plastering pros on This Old House who
do an entire wall in three quick and perfect swipes (no sanding required).
I don't want to discourage anyone from learning to weld, but let's not make
it sound like you weld like a pro in one afternoon.
Also, when the magazines have done reviews of welding equipment in the past,
there have been some rave reviews on that Eastwood Stitchwelder and the
weld-from-one-side Eastwood Spotwelder which attach to a $100 arc welder.
They seem to indicate that these tools were effective and probably easier
for the beginning or occassional welder to use. Has anyone on the list
actually used either of these tools?
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