Want to learn to TIG weld

[Intropy]

I feel like welding is one of the automotive skills I'm missing. I know next to nothing about it.

Where do I start? What equipment do I need?

[AdamVR4]

Some people just buy a TIG, tank, mask, gloves, rod and dive in (Additional crap you will want: Bench grinder, angle grinder, wire brushes, etc )...

You could take the more conservative approach and take a TIG welding course at the local community college first.

You seem sharp, I bet you can get by with some time in your garage and the internet.

Here's some useful info, the charts at the bottom of the page will get you started: TIG Welding

More good shit: http://www.ckworldwide.com/technical_specs.pdf

[nodoze]

, pyou may want to star wih mig welding, its a ton easier will help you get a hang for adjustemtns needing made penetration etc. some people need charts etc to weld, i can do mine all by ear and how the welds look. tig is easy when doing steel gets difficult when doing aluminum. you can make a cheap tig welder out of an old stick welder and save hundreds if you are not up for investing alot right away , but out of the box a stick welder wont have a high frequency start so aluminum welding will be out of the question . but you can scratch start on steele and learn the basics

[Granny]

We spent a few evening welding in my engine performance class.
It was taught at the votech school.

[92pearltt]

Its really not hard to learn, but it does take time to perfect. If you have the money just buy a setup and practice at home. Honda-tech (ya I know) has a really good welding/fab section you can learn a lot from. Or as others said you could just take a class at your local tech school.

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

I agree that if you have no experience welding then mig welding is the place to start. With a good welder it is like using a hot glue gun.

[Intropy]

Thanks, I think I'm either going to take a class or get a book and do home learning.

Looking on Amazon, this seems to have received the best reviews:
How to Weld

Anyone have other reading material recommendations?

[AdamVR4]

Thanks, I think I'm either going to take a class or get a book and do home learning.

Looking on Amazon, this seems to have received the best reviews:
How to Weld

Anyone have other reading material recommendations?

That does look like a pretty good book, but it also looks like you'd only be interested in about 30 pages of it.

I don't know the true practical limits of a MIG welder, but I assume the main reason you're interested in a TIG is because of aluminum. Sure, you can use a MIG or oxy-acetylene or whatever else to weld aluminum, but it's not nearly as consistent as with a TIG from what I've seen.

If vast majority of your welding will be steel, get a MIG and be done.

Beyond that, using a MIG is nothing like using a TIG, so don't think that the skills translate. You can teach anyone how to use a MIG in minutes as long as they have a functional finger, but TIG takes a lot more practice and is much more closely related to oxy-acetylene welding.

When I took a course, I started with oxy-fuel and finished that quickly enough to squeeze in a few weeks of TIG lessons. Steel and even stainless steel were quite easy, but I never really got comfortable with aluminum.

Are you on 3ST? You freaking should be if you're not (nvm, I see you're registered but only a public member, sigh). Mark W (Minnesota, 10.1 car) seems to be having good luck with Everlast PowerPro 256 (budget/china TIG). Hard to argue with these first beads from a novice -

[Intropy]

That does look like a pretty good book, but it also looks like you'd only be interested in about 30 pages of it.

Hmm, you're right. Aluminum is obviously what I'm most interested in.

Are you on 3ST? You freaking should be if you're not (nvm, I see you're registered but only a public member, sigh). Mark W (Minnesota, 10.1 car) seems to be having good luck with Everlast PowerPro 256 (budget/china TIG). Hard to argue with these first beads from a novice -

Yeah, I'm registered but not "approved" or whatever. Can somebody on there get me approved?

[Chris@Rvengeperformance]

the mig is not entirely useless for training. If you can get your hand control to where you can make pretty mig or especially stick welds you can have a huge head start. I actually started on stick welding and I'm glad I did. I could run a bead a 6 inches longer or more that the slag would pop off in one piece.