Howdy!
Figured I'd stick my head over the trech and say hi.
In a nutshell, I'm a petrolhead, my interest in welding is mostly finding new ways to keep various old bangers safe and legal.
The catch is, I've next to no practical experience. I've done a few practice exercises in various college basements, but that's mostly putting a bead of weld along a 1" slab of steel - hardly challenging or useful.
Lurking in the corner of my garage is an elderly oxford-style arc welder, 'liberated' from a closing workshop by a friend years ago, the cables are more gaffa-tape than insulation, and a sense of self preservation has prevented me from even plugging it it, yet alone attempting to weld with it.
Common sense suggests it's probably not the best thing to learn and make practical welds with.
So one of my first exercises will be locating a small cheap welder that's novice friendly and suitable for car bodywork. Oh, and it has to be cheap - did I mention that? (She who controls the purse strings is already questioning my need for 3 cars, and probably won't be impressed with my aquisition of more expensive looking tools.) I've already had a browse of some very useful looking topics on here, and will probably be back with questions at a later date..
Figured I'd stick my head over the trech and say hi.
In a nutshell, I'm a petrolhead, my interest in welding is mostly finding new ways to keep various old bangers safe and legal.
The catch is, I've next to no practical experience. I've done a few practice exercises in various college basements, but that's mostly putting a bead of weld along a 1" slab of steel - hardly challenging or useful.
Lurking in the corner of my garage is an elderly oxford-style arc welder, 'liberated' from a closing workshop by a friend years ago, the cables are more gaffa-tape than insulation, and a sense of self preservation has prevented me from even plugging it it, yet alone attempting to weld with it.
Common sense suggests it's probably not the best thing to learn and make practical welds with.
So one of my first exercises will be locating a small cheap welder that's novice friendly and suitable for car bodywork. Oh, and it has to be cheap - did I mention that? (She who controls the purse strings is already questioning my need for 3 cars, and probably won't be impressed with my aquisition of more expensive looking tools.) I've already had a browse of some very useful looking topics on here, and will probably be back with questions at a later date..