Crash courses or part time courses in or around Yorkshire/Humber/Tees area?

[ziptietechnician]

Hi, first post here, thanks for having me!

As the title says, does anybody know of any part time courses or crash/intensive courses in or around the Yorkshire/Humber/Tees area? I’m a complete novice but i’m very keen to learn this very valuable skill: i’ve got too many cars with too many holes underneath!

I’ve given up on looking for anything in East Yorkshire, where I live. We don’t have much going on at this side of the A1 and our local colleges don’t offer a right lot; forget north/south, east/west is the real divide! I found a course in leeds one day a week for 8 weeks which is a C&G L1 for £315 which sounded good but unfortunately they have a long waiting list.

I just wondered if anyone on here could point me in the right direction?

Thanks

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

If this is just hobby welding you could just source a welder and a few bits and have a go maybe...that's how many of us learned.

There's a few good tutorials on this site plus members are always willing to help I think....might even be some local to you who could show you the basics.

Also welcome aboard!

 

[chunkytfg]

Do you have a local welding supplier? They might be able to point you in the right direction? My local welding shop/gas supplier does there own Mig and Big training courses designed for the hobby welders

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Hi, first post here, thanks for having me!

As the title says, does anybody know of any part time courses or crash/intensive courses in or around the Yorkshire/Humber/Tees area? I’m a complete novice but i’m very keen to learn this very valuable skill: i’ve got too many cars with too many holes underneath!

I’ve given up on looking for anything in East Yorkshire, where I live. We don’t have much going on at this side of the A1 and our local colleges don’t offer a right lot; forget north/south, east/west is the real divide! I found a course in leeds one day a week for 8 weeks which is a C&G L1 for £315 which sounded good but unfortunately they have a long waiting list.

I just wondered if anyone on here could point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Leeds College of Building offers very good training, but it is very much focused on structural/pipe welding so will take a bit of adaptation to welding cars.

They do claim to have a long waiting list for the Night School and Day Release adult education classes, but if you are open to all the sessions it's often not more than one term before a space opens up.

 

[tigdlo]

From my experience, learning to MIG will be the easy part if you are willing to put the time in, shaping repair panels will be the more difficult part and making a better repair panel will make the welding easier.

Do you have your own MIG welder? If not, IMO, getting your own setup sooner and get practicing will be money and time better spent.

 

[Erie Fred]

Your looking for a crash course on fixing your car's damage ?

 

[Richiew]

Middlesbrough college usually offer welding courses starting in September. You need to enrol in August. It's unlikely to be car panel thickness though. When I did my City and Guilds there it was 10mm for MIG and stick and 3mm for the TIG.

 

[ziptietechnician]

From my experience, learning to MIG will be the easy part if you are willing to put the time in, shaping repair panels will be the more difficult part and making a better repair panel will make the welding easier.

Do you have your own MIG welder? If not, IMO, getting your own setup sooner and get practicing will be money and time better spent.

I take your point there regarding the shaping being a significant part of the job. This is something i can start practicing now.

Not got a welder yet but keeping my eye out for a decent second hand one. I’m guessing, like with most things, a quality used item is better than a new one that’s cheap and nasty.

 

[ziptietechnician]

Middlesbrough college usually offer welding courses starting in September. You need to enrol in August. It's unlikely to be car panel thickness though. When I did my City and Guilds there it was 10mm for MIG and stick and 3mm for the TIG.

Thanks, I’ll look on their website. Ah okay that’s definitely thicker than a car panel lol. Tbh though, I’m interested in welding as a diy/craft point of view as well so it’s not essential i start off on thin sheets. You can’t go wrong with a bit of trial and error practicing

 

[willie.macleod]

Not got a welder yet but keeping my eye out for a decent second hand one. I’m guessing, like with most things, a quality used item is better than a new one that’s cheap and nasty.

Not necessarily. A new inverter MIG can be an awful lot better than thirty year old transformer machine with sticky liner, dodgy drive mechanism and worn out torch. Some folk have funny ideas about how much their old machines are worth. How much are you looking to spend?

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Not got a welder yet but keeping my eye out for a decent second hand one. I’m guessing, like with most things, a quality used item is better than a new one that’s cheap and nasty.

Yes but... Only if you can see it working, and test the functions prior to purchase.

There's quite a lot of electronics to go wrong in a modern welder, and the "better" they are the more complicated they are, with things to go wrong.

I got burned on this about 18 months ago, buying a little Migatronic multiprocess welder and was lucky it was only £150 to repair...

However, for the combination of second hand price, repairs and arsing about taking it to get fixed, I could have bought a new unit from Parweld or R-Tech with a warranty and dealer support, which would be functionally about as good just not from a "top flight" brand.

 

[ziptietechnician]

Not necessarily. A new inverter MIG can be an awful lot better than thirty year old transformer machine with sticky liner, dodgy drive mechanism and worn out torch. Some folk have funny ideas about how much their old machines are worth. How much are you looking to spend?

Oh right, i have plenty to learn! I’ve not decided on a figure yet. I’m still figuring it out but basically I’m wanting to go as cheaply as i can really. It’s only for personal projects. Nice landy btw

 

[ziptietechnician]

Yes but... Only if you can see it working, and test the functions prior to purchase.

There's quite a lot of electronics to go wrong in a modern welder, and the "better" they are the more complicated they are, with things to go wrong.

I got burned on this about 18 months ago, buying a little Migatronic multiprocess welder and was lucky it was only £150 to repair...

However, for the combination of second hand price, repairs and arsing about taking it to get fixed, I could have bought a new unit from Parweld or R-Tech with a warranty and dealer support, which would be functionally about as good just not from a "top flight" brand.

That’s an interesting insight. I’ll do more research

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Not necessarily. A new inverter MIG can be an awful lot better than thirty year old transformer machine with sticky liner, dodgy drive mechanism and worn out torch. Some folk have funny ideas about how much their old machines are worth. How much are you looking to spend?

There's also the point that an old school transformer mig will be substantially bigger and heavier than an inverter type... My old Smashweld was designed specifically for vehicle repairs, and was a trolley about the size and weight of a washing machine.

Realistically most of the good quality transformer welders which have been maintained properly are likely to be bigger three phase units, which just amplifies the issue.

 

[Richiew]

Looks like Middlesbrough college have replaced the City and Guilds evening courses with this.

Award in Welding Techniques and Skills (SEG Awards) - Level 2 - Middlesbrough College

This qualification is designed for college learners who are looking to start a career in engineering and specialisation in Fabrication and Welding, and adult learning wishing to upskill. They are not designed to test already competent welders, and requirements such as welds being subject to...

www.mbro.ac.uk

https://skillsandeducationgroupawards.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Qualifications/2155-TOP-4__Qual%20Guide%20Weld%20L2%20Cert%20V2.pdf

Looks OK. You get to do some MIG, Arc and TIG welding. The course price is cheap too. £225. The welding course places get filled up very quickly, so if you do want to do it, make sure you get signed up as soon as registration opens.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

That’s an interesting insight. I’ll do more research

It's a risk-reward balance, if the welder is cheap enough it's worth taking a punt on buying sight unseen, but you shouldn't expect a huge bargain without a catch.

I bought my first welder sight unseen for £35 off someone's I met in a pub's dad, and it was great for 2 years, and is still in use with my friend today.

I bid £100 on an industrial welder being auctioned off by a shipyard, on the basis I could scrap the copper for that much if it didn't work, and got a working (if incredibly battered) unit that would cost about £5.5k to buy new and be otherwise completely out of reach to a mere mortal.

I spent £400 on eBay for a modern inverter welder because it had paperwork to show it was serviced and given a clean bill of health by a reputable national firm a month before I bought it... And got burned.

 

[eddie49]

If you are considering a specific second-hand machine - which would probably be a traditional transformer-based machine rather than a modern inverter - then post links to local offers on Facebook, eBay, Gumtree etc., and we can advise if they are suitable and look like they might be functional.

 

[indykid]

From my experience, learning to MIG will be the easy part if you are willing to put the time in, shaping repair panels will be the more difficult part and making a better repair panel will make the welding easier.

Do you have your own MIG welder? If not, IMO, getting your own setup sooner and get practicing will be money and time better spent.

This is pretty much my exact thoughts. To do bodywork repairs well, the welding is only 10-20% of the job. You're unlikely to be running beads of any length, more likely building up sequential tacks to control heat, so the settings don't need to be particularly optimised. Turn it up until you burn through and then drop back a power setting. In the same vein, you don't need continuously variable voltage control or super crisp wire feed speed control (though still avoid SIP welders).

I have a clarke 150TE that mainly gets used for bodywork and outdoor welding, alongside a TIG set that does pretty much everything else that will fit on the bench. I've never found a need to upgrade the MIG set. It's compact, it's inexpensive, it does everything I need of it.

This is a place where many people will push you to buy a bigger or better machine than you'll ever need for your immediate purposes, because objectively, it is better and more flexible, it's not just brand snobbery, but right now, you don't need it. All the tuition you will need is available on youtube. A cheap welder, a proper bottle of mix gas, a half decent autodarkening mask and some sheet steel. Good quality aviation snips and a variety of hammers make the job a bit easier too. Watching an hour or two of youtube then half an hour of welding or patch shaping will get you far closer to your goals than a C&G welding course will, IMO. You'll start with MOT standard welding, passable but where your patches don't quite fit and there's more grinding than welding, but each job you do, it'll get tidier and easier and soon enough, you'll be quite comfortable tackling fairly complex bits.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Watching an hour or two of youtube then half an hour of welding or patch shaping will get you far closer to your goals than a C&G welding course will, IMO. You'll start with MOT standard welding, passable but where your patches don't quite fit and there's more grinding than welding, but each job you do, it'll get tidier and easier and soon enough, you'll be quite comfortable tackling fairly complex bits.

It depends on OP's goals with cars.

If he will want to make repairs to Ladder Chassis's or "Highly Stressed Components" (if they're welded assemblies as permitted in the MOT manual, of course) then doing the C&G or equivalent will equip him with useful skills and understanding, and feedback on his outcomes.

That's not to say he couldn't get a little MIG welder and get going with bodywork repairs in thin sheet metal whilst waiting for a place on the course... Which is a fundamentally different skill that's more about the metal forming side of fabrication.