Technical MIG WELDING.....How did you learn to do it ?

Had a stick welder handed to me while working construction in college. Welded 200 cattle stalls in a couple weeks. . Then watched friends and bought my own MIG.

 

Back in the 70's I had a customer that I stick welded catch basin frames, and grates to fit them for. There was a lot welding, and I had a young fellow that wanted to learn to weld. After a short time he got real good, and considered himself, a "Grate Welder" !

 

Vocational school.
Then continued at Babcock and Wilcox.
They build nuclear power plants for the military and for power plants. In the early 90’s I started teaching robots to weld. That was my most interesting job.

 

Like most people,, I learned from trying and doing. I can't remember the last time I burned a rod!! Had to be when I was still working in plant maintenance,,, I got out of that in late 08. I have a mig and a tig in my shop. It's gotten in the past 3 yrs. If it's on a bench, I can still glue parts together and have a nice weld. If I have to get under something or contort to get to it,,,,well,
seen dirt-dobbers do better jobs!!

 

my buddy wanted to do some welding on a project, so he went and bought one. we did not have computers then and just did it using the speed/heat guide on the door of the machine. his neighbor gave us a few pointers and we were off to the races, welding a bunch of scrap together and trying different techniques. I bought my own welder a bit later.
I built a car rotisserie and about halfway through that project I finally figured out what I was doing.

I found that once I stopped welding regularly I had to retrain myself when I made a steel work table a few months back and my welds sucked in the beginning but improved as I went along and got the machine adjusted correctly.

now there are all sorts of videos out there so there is no excuse for bad welds

 

That is why learning to fusion weld with gas is a great starting place.

 

I don't call myself a welder; but someone who can weld. Learned gas welding while working at a Dodge dealership years ago; then how to stick weld while in a Millwright apprenticeship program a few years later. I've done a LOT of stick welding in my life and am still more comfortable with it than MIG or TIG; though I use all three methods now. I first got introduced to MIG as a Millwright welding up large aluminum holding furnaces. With stick welding you got a little break every time you had to change the rod; with MIG you just kept welding until you finished the 20 ft. long seam or had to change position.

 

I fumbled along with a stick welder, then with a torch, and finally took some classes at the local community college for stick and gas welding. Then I bought a MIG, and fumbled along with it for a while, but eventually got the hang of it.

There's a difference between being able to MIG weld well, and what a lot of guys do.

 

I learned to solder and braze in Jr High, gas & stick weld in HS, and MIG and TIG in community college at night school.

 

Marty
My luck with caulking guns/cartridges was on parr with my welding.
I NEVER could see very well for welding even when younger, have one eye that just never would focus (long story). I tried various lenses, bought magnifiers etc, was never too pleased with my welding, just decided to stick to what I was good at and pay others to do what they are good at.

 

Doug, I have always been envious of those, that have mastered the use of a calking gun, I am terrible at it.

 

Learned gas welding at 14, while helping out at a friend's gas station on weekends. Shop class in hs for stick welding. Went thru a welding class when I was a millwright. Built a lot of stuff with stick welding. I was introduced to mig by my friend Jim Langenback, the best welder I have ever seen. He taught me a lot of the "tricks " for mig welding. TIG was easy, as it's just gas welding but with an electric "flame". And with the wawa pedal, there's even more control over the heat of the weld.

Then I was recruited to teach some shop courses while I was in college, after the millwright years, including welding. And during my graduate degree coursework I took classes in welding engineering. Plus like everyone has mentioned, I practice before I make critical welds.

One final note: remember your ABCs, always be comfortable. If you are not, you'll get bird droppings!

BTW I'm not a welder, I have to take my time and even then... well a grinder is your second best friend.

 

Had the desire to join pieces of metal with heat and fire. Learned to stick weld in high school shop class and weld aluminum in college. Years later decided bondo wasn’t the best way to fix rust holes in body panels, picked up a cheap mig welder and began burning more holes. Eventually figured it out. Not great at it but I get the job done.

 

Practice and comfort.
I would recommend lots of practice welding sheetmetal with scrap pieces of late model fenders as they are very thin. Once you can butt weld without melting giant holes in it, you are getting better.
Comfort, get comfortable before you weld. Bench top work while seated is preferred but just know most rust repair is needed on lower portions of cars. Jacking car up and create a nice, clean space for you to get comfortable.
The more you do, the better you'll get.
Now let's talk about warping and distortion after the weld. . . . . . . Hahahaha

 

There’s quite a bit of difference between welding sheet metal/light material vs structural welding. I even consider making a transmission mount, motor mount structural, when he gets to know his welder he can then take some say 1/4 inch scrap, run a bead on it. Flip it over. Soon he’ll learn to make a little V to join pieces properly. I guess many things can be learned via Google now, but sheet metal he can probably figure out on his own, as worst that will happen is more hammer and dolly work.

 

The trick is in the masking. We have been doing it for 20+ years that way!

 

Like Bones, I learned stick first. Bought a flux core mig a few years ago to do some floor pans, had to learn all over. Bought a better machine after the first got stolen, just haven't gotten around to getting a bottle for it yet. Will have to learn again with the gas, but it shouldn't take as long this go round.

 

Everyone should learn on a MIG with fluxcore FIRST! @ELpolacko agrees with me on this one as well. What are you going to do in a crunch when your bottle is empty at 9pm on a Saturday night? If you gotta weld something in a shitty outside windy environment? a great skill

 

That is why I could never MIG there is no puddle for me to see. I can stick weld, gas weld. and spent years welding aluminum bodies with an old Heli arch welder. I've always wanted a shot at TIG welding steel. MIG always looked like shit or iron caterpillars that 3/4 of got ground off. Like the custom body builders of the 1930's I'll keep gas welding.

 

I took a welding class back in high school and was taught gas and stick welding.
Dad bought a torch setup then a stick welder some time later to use on the farm. Mig welders weren't home shop machines back then. I self taught after I bought one.

 

OMG I have one sitting in the kitchen now that I need to weld.

I have never had any formal welding classes. What little lessons I have had were when another student who was an older guy who was going to auto mechanics school on a rehab training thing after he fell about 50 ft with a roll of either welding cable or hose wrapped around him and hung from it until they got him down. He taught me the basics of stick welding and I think taught me a bit of gas welding. I learned more from a couple of buddies in Texas one who probably taught me more for the cost of a half case of Bud when he would tack a couple of chunks of scrap metal together and hand me the helmet and rod holder. I think he got tired of me carrying stuff to his house to weld up but the will work for beer did apply to his welding things for me including most of my T bucket.

I got pretty good at gas welding when I worked for Midas mufflers as a front end and brake man and they didn't take in many front end or brake jobs. Learned to weld overhead with two pieces of scrap pipe setting on stands above me and Tom had me weld a lot of them before he ever let me do an exhaust system.
Mig, all on my own after I bought my Mig. I've got a small tig that I so far haven't done much with. I may practice on some scrap pieces and go after that chair with it.

 

I was taught gas welding and brazing in HS auto shop. Learned stick welding at my dad's buddies race car shop. Then spent nearly 10 years welding on dirt track roll cages with a stick welder. I got to the point I could even weld sheet metal together with a stick welder.
Then I got a job in factory maintenance, and they wouldn't let me weld there without paperwork. They really wanted me to weld there, so they sent me to the local collage night course for welding. The class instructor was my old HS teacher, he asked my why I was taking a welding course, when I already knew how to weld. When I told him why I was there, he laughed, and let me build something during class. I got my papers and spent the next 8 months welding up steel shelving made from 1/4" x 2" x 2" angle at the factory.
Several years after the factory job, I went to work at a fabrication shop. That shop was mostly MIG welding my transition from stick to MIG was pretty easy. That shops insurance company offered the company a discount on the liability insurance if every one welding could pass a precertification welding test. At the time, there were over 100 "welders" there. Only 25 guys passed the test the first time (yes, I was one of them). Then the made the others go through a welding class and retake the test afterwards. That round, about 30 more guys passed the test. The rest of the welders had to take an extensive class and a pass or get terminated 3rd test. The company paired several of us that passed the test the first time with guys that were scheduled for the 3rd test as observers to help those guys pass. I don't know how many guys passed the 3rd round, but the two guys I was working with did. There were several new faces not long after that though.
A couple of years later I bought my own MIG. I opened my welding shop in 1994. Most of the small jobs I did there was repair other peoples welds, either poorly welded factory stuff, or some inexperienced beginners early attempts, or welds done with machines that didn't have enough power to do the welds someone was trying to make work.
I never had the time, nor much desire, to learn TIG welding.

 

Self taught mig, tig, arc and oxy/acet welding...................I suck on multi levels.

 

I Just kinda figured it out. Welded some motor mounts into a 55 dodge truck for a Mopar 318 and it never fell out… progressively gotten better.

tried stick welding a few times. Shocked the piss outta myself once and learned that lesson. Now I’ve got my own but new place doesn’t have 220 yet.

 

Learned gas and arc in school. Bought my own torches and arc welder. Had a new acquaintance invite me over to try his new mig welder. I fell in love (with the mig). Promptly gave away my arc welder and purchased my own mig. I am still in love with my mig. I have not been near an arc welder in decades and have no intention of ever going back.

As far as training goes, I have had no real mig training.

 

You'll never catch me telling anyone I'm a welder that's for sure. Mickey Mouse Mig Club.

 

I never thought of “masking”. Thanks that idea is a keeper!

 

Back in the day we just called it "wire feed". We had wire feed systems that attached to our arc welders, it was the hot ticket when you were welding truck dump bodies together and adding liners, sped the job up considerably vs stick. Same machine, different process. I never associated it with MIG, it was just a wire feed.

 

- Stick and torch brazing in high school.
- Access to Flux core mig, got practice.
- Certified multiple times at work on heavy frame welding.
- Bought my own mig.
It was a progression when I could in equipment.

I don't weld regularly, so others will run circles around me. but I can tell the difference when I've layed down a bad weld and need to get the grinder out.

Mig welding for fabrication and structural is much different than welding sheetmetal. Sheetmetal you're not running bead, just tacking - torch angle, stick out, are important but different from making an actual weld pass.

Best way to learn in my opinion is to buy some heavy steel and start making passes in flat, move to joints. Actually measure the weld and look for defects. Learn the equipment, how to set it up, how to change feed and speed based on the weld or material, and how to make a good weld pass consistently.

Sheetmetal with mig is bullshit welding, but I do it, because that's the equipment I have. Need to buy torch and tanks for gas welding.

 

I learned stick and gas welding in high school metal shop. I was a "shoppee" and took metal shop all 4 years, skipping the usual rotating shops freshman year that everyone else took. Just didn't have any interest in electronics, wood working, or drafting.
When I retired about 12 years ago I wanted a good MIG welder, so I did a bunch of looking, and most quality suppliers around here had their best welding equipment set up to let buyers try them out. I'd never touched a MIG, and the salesman gave me some pointers on a Millematic. I sat down and laid down a weld that was better than most stick welds I'd ever done. I did the same with a few other brands at sales outlets, but ended up buying a Miller. Mostly because our company had a welder repair center, and I asked the repair guys what welders had the fewest failures, and all told me to buy a Millermatic MIG.
Once I got it home I quickly went through the little roll of wire they give you with the welder just practicing on scrap steel. I bought a larger 11 lb. roll and practiced every chance I could with that too. Bought my project car a couple months later, and went to work fabricating and building it. Never looked back, and can't begin to guess how much wire and gas has gone through my Miller in the last 12 years? Well over 100 lbs. of wire, and can't guess at the bottle refills.
I'd simply tell him to come over to your house if you've got a MIG and try it. Otherwise hit local welder sales places and they'll let him try it. Newer MIG welders all have excellent settings inside the side cover, and videos on Youtube to assist in learning to weld with their welders.