Welders, Torches What to get and use?

I am going to get in to welding parts soon. I know nothing about the art of welding, but I will be getting into it. There are some cheap welding course I am looking to take soon. Does anyone know where to start and what type of welder would be most usefull to me? Most important any good books on welding??? I dont want to loose a limb or blow myself up or something I just want to work on my Subaru and some other projects I need to get done.

 

its a good thing you are looking into a welding class. my dad took a class and loved it, he said there were alot of neat thigns he learned there that he never would have known. you should find out if they have welders & stuff at the class. if so you could take the class then determine what to buy.

 

Thanks D. I am looking foward to classes!

 

i think mig welding is the easiest to do ive only done a little bit of it but it wasnt to hard to catch on

 

it all depends on what kind of welding you are going to be doing, i took 3 years of welding, mig is easy, torch is not, tig is not...tig looks the best, torch is cheap, mig is fast. i suggest going the mig route, becuse its the easiest to learn, and is really easy to be good at

 

what all can you weld w/ mig? can you do aluminum? cast stuff?

 

yes you can weld aluminum with a mig welder, but it must have aluminum wire fed into it, cast would be better off TIG'd

 

3rik is right... Mig is the easiest and probably the cheapest, and can weld stainless, aluminum, and other such steels...although cast is not recommended to be welded!

A torch is nice to know, but not used much to weld as commonly as it is used to cut or just heat up something.

I've only tig welded once, and it's something that takes time to get used to.

And then there's arc... have fun with that, it's pretty cheap, but can be screwed up easily!

 

Aluminum and steel is what we do!!!! (mig)

 

get a littel portable MIG welder from Miller or something, add a cart adn then get a bottle of Argon gas... use nice fresh metal and weld in little 8's... you will get the hang of it... I have been welding for a little over a year.. not the best but my exhaust work is getting better and better.. did one today and first tiem on car not ONE leak on a custom job.. woo hoo

 

Mig sounds good to me. I have to enroll in class soon. Thanks guys!