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Anyone interested in taking a MIG welding class?

Nimrod

Degenerate Jeeper
NAXJA Member
Location
Duck River
I'm going to take a one-day introductory MIG welding class. The cost is $180, or $160 each if two people sign up together. $20 one way or another doesn't really make much difference to me, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone else may be interested in signing up. Details and the schedule of classes can be found by clicking the link below. My schedule's flexible, so I can do it on pretty much any of the dates offered.

http://moltenmetalworks.net/intro-mig-one-day-welding/
 
They should make ya learn how to stick weld first ;) haha.
 
They should make ya learn how to stick weld first ;) haha.

Have you got many shit hauling farm trucks to repair?

If anything, they should teach oxyfuel, but even that is a waste of time if you only want to pickup mig welding as a passive skill. If you want to move onto tig, sure, start with oxyfuel.
 
I can get some decent welds layed down with a stick welder. It's a valuable skill to have. Stuck on the trail? You can rig up a welder using a battery and a set of jumper cables and a few welding rods. Not the best thing to do but if it's what stands between you and getting home it can get you out of a bind.

The armor and roof rack my last Jeep were actually put together using a stick welder. Wasn't as pretty as a MIG weld job but got the job done and looked decent.
 
Classes are such a good idea. I took classes (started with stick, graduated to a big MIG) for a few semesters and man, did they pay off! I still can’t weld a lot of things due to 110v limitations, but when I do stick stuff together, they stay.

Sounds fun!
 
This is just my opinion, but a one day welding class seems like a waste. I think you'd be better off taking a fab class at a Community college. You simply cannot learn enough in one day. I've helped out at our apprenticeship program it would take longer than a day to teach a person to properly set up a mig welder based on reading the results of the weld itself.

I've been making my living in a fab shop since 1997 and I'm still learning new stuff every day.

All that being said anything is better than nothing.
 
I went to their site and was astonished to see that 90$ or the 180$ is for materials for the 6 hour class. That's seems like a lot for some practice material.

I think you should persue another avenue.
 
Their pricing may be a bit out of line, but I don't blame someone for trying to make a buck and I certainly think many folks would find it a useful service and see the value in it. If you don't have the equipment and someone available to show you how to get started then this could make good sense.

I had the good fortune to have some folks teach me how to weld, but I know that I have limits in my range of abilities, out of position welding being the challenge I run up against most often. San Diego Continuing Education has a welding course (or several). I have been on the email notification list for quite a while. I don't spend my life online, so I don't see the emails the instant they arrive, but an hour later everything is booked up solid.

All that to say there is probably more demand than there is supply. I think we all know what happens to prices in that scenario. You can hold out hope for a better deal in one hand and do your business in the other. See what happens.
 
Their pricing may be a bit out of line, but I don't blame someone for trying to make a buck and I certainly think many folks would find it a useful service and see the value in it. If you don't have the equipment and someone available to show you how to get started then this could make good sense.

I had the good fortune to have some folks teach me how to weld, but I know that I have limits in my range of abilities, out of position welding being the challenge I run up against most often. San Diego Continuing Education has a welding course (or several). I have been on the email notification list for quite a while. I don't spend my life online, so I don't see the emails the instant they arrive, but an hour later everything is booked up solid.

All that to say there is probably more demand than there is supply. I think we all know what happens to prices in that scenario. You can hold out hope for a better deal in one hand and do your business in the other. See what happens.

Valid points. I think that 180$ would be better spent towards a 110v welder. They you could practice all you want. Find a shop similar to the one I work at and have them shear you some scrap steel into 2x4 coupons and start running beads. Repitition is the only way to get better, there is no replacement for time under your hood. You could probably score a used welder for around what that class would cost.
 
I've got a 110 volt welder and and loved that little guy. Plug it into the house and I built rock sliders and roof racks with it haha. I will take that back a little. You could wire mine for 110 or 220. I had mine wired for 220 and pluged it into the drier outlet in the house when I needed it.
 
Check out your local adult education courses. In San Diego area, Grossmont School district offers a continuing education course that's 2 days a week for like 150ish. Part of that is learning to weld. They start you on a Mig with a pile of plates. I need to learn TIG, had to do a semester of oxy/acetylene to graduate from high school. (back when they had vocational/technical). I have a feeling TIG won't be that bad.
 
TIG is onething I didn't get to really learn before I left High School. I learned Stick from family when I was in late grade school early junior high and then MIG when I got to high school cause they had the money for the machines. They had a few TIG machines but I never really got a good grasp on it.
 
It was my luck that I was taught on a TIG. No auto-darkening helmet either. I spent an awful lot of time regrinding tungsten.

The good thing was that I learned about puddle management right from the start.
 
That was my problem the few times I messed with TIG. Getting the pedal right for how much rod I was feeding it. I really need to learn how to properly TIG weld. Might be something I spend my GI Bill on later on in life.
 
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