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Welding course recommendations
joneh - 15/6/13 at 08:12 PM

Hi all,

Got my self a Clarke 151te and a pile of poorly welded scrap

Can anyone recommend a MIG welding course in the Fareham / Hampshire area? I've browsed the various forums and feel some hand holding is the next best step!

Cheers,
Jon

T66 - 15/6/13 at 08:16 PM

All the night classes start in September, check out your local college, most of them my way run evening classes doing mig/tig/gas/stick etc.


Im self taught, probably lots of errors to a trained welder but thats my issue...

mark chandler - 15/6/13 at 08:25 PM

Are you using a hand held mask?

To start you need to be comfy and support your welding hand with you other hand so a good mask is a must.

joneh - 15/6/13 at 08:27 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mark chandler
Are you using a hand held mask?

To start you need to be comfy and support your welding hand with you other hand so a good mask is a must.


Nope, bought a good mask which helped a lot!

Slimy38 - 15/6/13 at 09:14 PM

I did a city and guilds evening course, ok the qualification is not overly useful but learning to weld with good kit was very useful. You can also try tig without having to buy an expensive unit first. It cost me about £100 for a 13 week course, 2 hours a week. Really good value in my opinion.

MikeR - 15/6/13 at 09:28 PM

I did the same as slimey. The only issue with the course is everything was on 5mm steel with very expensive (good) welders.

It taught the basics, i then had to 'dumb' down to my cebora 100amp. Still very useful and gave me the confidence to build my own chassis. Its also a nice aside in interviews when they ask me to tell them something about myself. (I interview for IT project management roles).

robocog - 15/6/13 at 09:38 PM

There used to be a course run inbetween Gosport and Fareham
(the name of the company evades me - but they sell welding consumables and are in Gosport Business center)

Alternatively - migwelding.co.uk has some good tutorials advice and pointers and a pretty freindly forum (as it is here as well)

Wellington welding supplies is the name of the company I think..

Regards
Rob

peter bland - 16/6/13 at 08:03 AM

Hi, what type of gas you using? I use cougar 5 the large bottles, on 2-3 mm plate, try your amps from 70 , it's the wire speed you need to get right. If you have the set close so as you start welding you can adjust the wire speed to get the right weld. Just a few pointers hope this helps ,it's practice and plenty of it.

joneh - 16/6/13 at 08:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by peter bland
Hi, what type of gas you using? I use cougar 5 the large bottles, on 2-3 mm plate, try your amps from 70 , it's the wire speed you need to get right. If you have the set close so as you start welding you can adjust the wire speed to get the right weld. Just a few pointers hope this helps ,it's practice and plenty of it.


It's the stuff that came with the welder, co2 with a 0.6mm wire.

It don't think the regulator is right as it only turns on above 4... The clarke manual suggests settings of max, 1 and wire speed 6 but the best results I've had are on Max, 2 and wire speed 7.

Jed - 16/6/13 at 10:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by joneh

It don't think the regulator is right as it only turns on above 4... The clarke manual suggests settings of max, 1 and wire speed 6 but the best results I've had are on Max, 2 and wire speed 7.


On my Clarke MIG I had the same issue and it wasn't until I started running with the gas on 6 on their reg that the welds were acceptable. The biggest improvements I made were a new regulator and a decent earth clamp.

I also found that wire speed needed to be lower than they suggested but found that out by trial and error.