Daniel,
I'd look for TWO books by Richard Finch. The :Welders Handbook"
is usually at Home Depot. He also wrote "Advanced Welding" which
had some good advice in it, but I also use oxyacetylene and TIG
welding, so I love good information!
Find someone who is patient, and a decent welder, to help you
start out. You can read all you want, watch the video, but to
really get good takes practice, practice, and more practice.
Yes, play with lots of "scrap" the same size and material before
working on your project. If there is a community college class
on welding, I would highly recommend taking it.
On the MIG (metal inert gas - actually a wire feed welder with
either flux core wire, or solid wire and an inert shielding gas):
I'd look at the LINCOLN WELDPAK 100. You can find them at Home Depot,
Lowe's, and other such places. I'd pick up the Weldpak 100 &
the "gas conversion kit". Also you will need to find a local
welding supply store for the shielding gas bottle (CO/argon).
Ask around. One place may sell the bottle full of gas for $125,
another may charge $25 for gas, and $10 month for a 'lease'.
For $600 you will have a reasonable welding setup.
With the flux core wire, you will have lots of smoke, and have
to stop to chip off the slag. With a shielding gas, you have
no flux... no chipping... and you will be much happier! <grin>
The small MIG machines are 125V, so easy to hook up. While they
claim to weld 1/4" in steel, that would be a multiple pass weld.
For something like 22 gauge to 3/16" in steel, it would be
reasonable. If you plan on welding aluminum, you need MUCH MORE
HEAT. Maybe 0.020 to 0.100" material might be possible, but that
machine will not approach welding 3/16" (0.187") material.
Stay away from any "no name special". You will not find SPARES,
and the machines are junk! Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, etc are
decent machines (even for the little ones) and reasonable to use.
Still to "get your feet wet" and simple projects, $600 for a
MIG setup is not a bad deal!
Cheers,
Tom Walter '68 2000
Dreaming a Miller Syncrowave 351 (about $5000).
|