I'm looking at taking a welding class or two at my local community college and was wondering what type of welding would give me the most bang for my buck? Something that will serve me well in building/modifying motorcycles (seat hoop, rearsets, etc.,) Mig, Tig, Arc, Oxy.? I think for the fall semester I only have one option available; Oxy. I guess my real question is, would Oxy. allow me to do a lot on frames and such?
Welding class advise
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krafty
Dyslexics of the World - Untie!
Oxy is a GREAT starting point. Look at it this way, Oxy and TIG are basically the same thing (heat goes in the metal and the rod is dipped into it) and MIG and Arc are the same thing (heat goes through the wire into the metal). Oxy will give you the softest, easiest-to-work welds. It's also going to help you quickly jump into TIG. MIG is probably the easiest to get good welds out of bad setup/bad cleaning but the welds are tough.
The thing you want to make sure you're focusing on is sheetmetal (and usually for the sake of community college courses anything less than 1/4" is considered sheetmetal) and not thicker. The courses that focus on bridges/trailers are much more concerned with penetration and not so much about warp and you want to focus on controlling warp and you're not concerned about penetration.
The thing you want to make sure you're focusing on is sheetmetal (and usually for the sake of community college courses anything less than 1/4" is considered sheetmetal) and not thicker. The courses that focus on bridges/trailers are much more concerned with penetration and not so much about warp and you want to focus on controlling warp and you're not concerned about penetration.
ILoveThumpers
Everywhere is thumpers!
You are absolutely concerned about both penetration and warp. (Seriously, krafty... what the hell?)
Start with Oxy. The fundamentals never change and you can more directly control them with a torch. Once you understand the relationship between heat and fill, all the other welding methods are easier to learn.
-Deek
Start with Oxy. The fundamentals never change and you can more directly control them with a torch. Once you understand the relationship between heat and fill, all the other welding methods are easier to learn.
-Deek
ILoveThumpers
Everywhere is thumpers!
Gotcha. Lord knows I've done that myself...
-Deek
-Deek
I just went through the welding fundamentals class at the local trade college. We learned the basics of all 4 processes. Oxy and Mig were both pretty easy for me. (relatively speaking) Tig was harder because the precise control and timing necessary. Arc was pretty easy but I don't see using it on bikes.
If your local school has a fundamentals class instead of the full on in-depth class that only covers on process at a time, go with a class that lets you try all of them.
I looked into getting a good Tig setup that would also let me do aluminum but that gets pretty expensive real quick. I picked up a good Oxy setup and decent Mig setup all used for less than 500$.
If your local school has a fundamentals class instead of the full on in-depth class that only covers on process at a time, go with a class that lets you try all of them.
I looked into getting a good Tig setup that would also let me do aluminum but that gets pretty expensive real quick. I picked up a good Oxy setup and decent Mig setup all used for less than 500$.
