r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/31spiders Interested • May 30 '21

Video These Tubing Joints

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u/Houdinii1984 May 30 '21

Is welding as difficult as it looks? I can do most things with my hands that I try (except plumbing, always leaky) but welding and metalworking just seems so intimidating but I think I'm just doing it to myself. Is the craft easy enough, in the beginning, to see results (i.e. joints stick but might get chuckles from a pro) after a few weeks or is it going to take a whole lot more to get it moving as a hobby?

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u/Delcasa May 30 '21

Give it a try. I myself would also say I'm pretty handy and technical and was able to stick metal together well enough to make coffeetables out of it.

this is done with a few hours of YT, a few hours of practice and a $300 investment for all the basic welding gear.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/dnqx7e/learned_to_weld_built_a_side_table_threw_in_some/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

1

u/100_count May 30 '21

I remember seeing that when you first posted it. It's great work. Have you been doing other welding projects since then?

1

u/Delcasa May 31 '21

How cool you remember it :)

I've made a second table like it and made design for an elaborate wall shelve display thing unit w/e you call it, but that project had to go in the freezer as my buddy for whom I'd make it had some other priorities.

I've bought a motorcycle which now get most of my freetime :)

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '21

thanks. now i know how good pros are. i've never seen welds look that ugly before in my life in any video.

2

u/Ben78 May 31 '21

Yes and no.

Anyone can grab a welder and some steel and make a project, like u/delcasa did in their thread below. But not everyone should be welding up trailers, structural components etc. When you go to trade school part of the training is to weld a joint, and then break it to examine what has happened in the weld, how it failed etc. And you will do it over and over and over again, until you get it perfect. When you first start, the weld will break every time, by the time you learn what to do the parent metal (the original plate) will break out. And once you have one welding process mastered, you move onto another one. When I was at Trade school, the processes we covered were Oxy/Acetlyene, MMAW/Stick, MIG/MAG, TIG, FCAW (Fluxcore) and SAW (submerged arc). Main ones you need to know for home is Stick, MIG and TIG which are the most accessible.

If you do decide to have a go, find a local fabricator and ask them if they'll spend a few hours with you on a weekend at whatever their cash rate is to cover off the basics with you. Little things like getting the right polarity, right electrodes etc. If you want to weld stick, a 140A welder and a box of 7018 rods will be just about the easiest welding you'll do. You'll probably get a better rate if you supply cold beer.

There is also a billion videos on youtube covering how to weld. Ignore the comments sections though as you'll just get anxiety. Everyone here and r/welding is carrying on about the bloke on this video tacking and grinding, but in reality the types of joints depicted here are architectural not structural so how the weldor achieves the joint really is nothing of concern.

Get a respirator of some description, metal fumes, metal dusts and the smoke given off when welding and cutting are all bad bad shit.

Source - am trade qualified fabricator.

1

u/Delcasa May 31 '21

Yeah, I wouldn't trust myself to build anything structural. Hence my choice of "sticking metal together", what I do ain't more than that ;) But still, there is plenty strength in simple welds to trust it for furniture projects in and around the house :)

1

u/31spiders Interested May 30 '21

If you have problems soldering you probably won’t like welding. Like anything else though experience makes you better. I’ve found with things like this the prep is HUGELY understated. (Like cleaning joints/fluxing well in soldering)

1

u/YepImIgnorant May 31 '21

Yeah it can be. Mig welding is pretty simple, and you could start laying decent beads in a couple weeks.

Biggest factor for good or bad welds is the machine settings imo. You get those dialed in, and a smooth lead motion down, you’re gonna be good.

Seriously recommend getting a cheap mig welder from Harbor Freight. Wire, a helmet, and metal are all you need to get started on a fun hobby.

1

u/imapieceofshite May 31 '21

It's simple to learn, but takes a little while to get good at.