Hi. I learnt to weld (MIG and Stick) almost 40 years ago... now 59. I'm looking to refresh my skills and dodgy memory as there are a few welders jobs near me. I be very grateful if anyone could point me to a course or if someone would have the time and patience to let me practice. Thank you all Loz
Welcome! A similar situation to me. You'll probably also find "it's like riding a bike", so IMO money for training could be better spent on buying a new MIG and kit and just practice... It's all much better nowadays: non-live torches, auto masks, decent gas, much wider choice ... and the internet! What machine did you learn on?
Welcome Lawrence. Was exactly in the same position as you and as @a111r says, get yourself some kit and practice, practice, practice Any problems, don't be afraid to ask as there's lots of clever people on this forum that can help.
Crumbs I have no idea. It had a CO2 cylinder one end and was cylindrical with some dials to turn the welder up or down and some amp and volt meters. There was a long cable that led to a red box on wheels that held the spool of wire and the welder came out of that.
That's about all I can remember about the MIG machines that were around in the 70s. I may be wrong but I think Lincoln made a 3 phase job. One thing I do recall fairly vividly is, with some machines, I seemed to spend a lot of time fixing wire jams. There's plenty of info on this site about machines and techniques but I have a feeling that once you pick up a piece of kit and start welding, a lot of memories will come back; especially with a lot of practice.
1980, when I first picked up a MIG torch, the machines in the fab shop (where I wasn't employed) were Butters beasties. I had some good basic instruction from one of the guys and just let rip. Those massive machines were an absolute joy to learn on, being so controllable and within a short time I was able to weld thin washers to thin plate, which is all I wanted to do at the time - reinforcing fan shrouds on small air-cooled gensets. The fab / welding shop was in the same factory as the generator shop, but two different businesses. Didn't stop a lot of cross-over in equipment and assistance, which was great. The handy thing, there was always a spare welding unit available to me, and even though the gen shop had its own welding set it wasn't as good as the bigger ones next door.
