Welding & woodworking?

[Jason White]

I'm thinking about taking a welding class just for fun. Thought maybe I could build some mobile machine bases or something.

Has anybody found welding or metalworking classes to be beneficial in woodworking?

Jason

[Rod Sheridan]

Sure, I make mobile bases for all of my machines.....Rod.

[Ken Higginbotham]

I've often thought about combining the two. I think you could come up with very creative ideas having custom metal elements on woodworking projects and vice versa... Go for it

[keith ouellette]

I bought an old lincoln arc welder at a garage sale for $25. I love it.

i just used it to make some hinges for my folding attic latter, I used it to make leveling legs for my bases, I rebuilt a trailer.

All self taught. Thats the way I seem to do everything. Get an arc welder and an auto dimming helmet from harbor freight (I couldn't weld with the standard type helmet that was always tinted) weld some metal ant put it to the hammer test to see if it holds.

[Joshua Culp]

Selft-taught is nice, but time consuming and possibly dangerous.

A few hours spent reading "The Welder's Bible" or "The Welder's Handbook" from Amazon/Lowe's/Home Depot will save you many weekends of trial and error and possibly injury.

[Greg Cole]

I made a stainless base for my work bench.
Other than that I haven't used my metal working skills for too much else in the shop to date. But I won't ever buy another mobile base as I've hated the couple different brands I have now.
There's some more contemporary styles of furniture that combine steel and wood (Mark Singer's postings come to mind) but they aren't really to my taste.

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm thinking about taking a welding class just for fun. Thought maybe I could build some mobile machine bases or something.

Has anybody found welding or metalworking classes to be beneficial in woodworking?

Jason

I'm in the middle of a welding class right now. It is taught through a local artist's collective, so it has more of an emphasis on the sculptural, rather than functional. It does have been thinking a lot about ways of juxtaposing steel and wood. This class, at least, is basically gas welding. Simple set up, and he had us welding on day one.

Now, unfortunately, I have to figure out how to accommodate the metal shop and the woodshop in my limited space...

[David G Baker]

I have three welders and am only a glue together welder. I should take classes. If I spend some time welding I get better at it then I don't use the welders for six months and forget what I learned. I do more metal working than I do wood working but most of the work I do are on my tool room lathe and mill.
Welding comes in handy in many ways so I would recommend learning how to weld to anyone that likes to work with their hands and build/fix things.

[Rick Moyer]

I've often thought about combining the two. I think you could come up with very creative ideas having custom metal elements on woodworking projects and vice versa... Go for it

There is a fairly new tavern east of State College that has bar stools incorporating woodworking and metalworking. They're very nice. (Elk Creek Cafe in Milheim)

[Matt Day]

I took a welding class at the local tech school just for fun and really enjoyed it. I focused on TIG as I was interested in learning how to weld fine things such as aluminum in bicycle frames.

I'd like to get a versatile welding setup at some point that can do more than just plain steel, but that can get pricey.

[Rick Moyer]

Selft-taught is nice, but time consuming and possibly dangerous.

A few hours spent reading "The Welder's Bible" or "The Welder's Handbook" from Amazon/Lowe's/Home Depot will save you many weekends of trial and error and possibly injury.

I bought one of those books, but that's as far as I ever got! I decided that the required practice I would need to get any good would probably be too long to teach myself properly, and I didn't have any real need to know how. It would be great to know how though and be reasonably good at it. I have a local guy that works on my dump truck (Usually tig for the aluminum) and he's very good. He also has a huge older metal lathe that he acquired at a good price so he can do almost anything. I don't need another hobby though.

[Ken Higginbotham]

There is a fairly new tavern west of State College that has bar stools incorporating woodworking and metalworking. They're very nice.

Seems if you had a tig welder, a heavy metal brake and a plasma cutter you could do some real neat stuff... Hum, my wheels are turning now as I have a good welder

[Thomas Bank]

Along with woodworking, another hobby is metalworking. I have a fair sized MIG and TIG welder and a plasma cutter. I haven't done a lot of combined woodworking and metalworking, but I would like to do more.

Best advice I can give is to try to find a community college or tech school that offers a course. I started out with a little 110V MIG welder and puttered along thinking I was hot sh** with it. Then decided to expand my knowledge and took a course - and realized how little I did know.

First benefit is finding what suits your needs rather than just your wallet at the moment. I was able to use oxy-acetylene, arc, MIG, and TIG machines as well as OA cutting and plasma. Really showed the benefits of each and how I might apply them.

Next benefit is having someone there to tell you why you aren't getting the results you are wanting. Trying to figure out things from a book is a whole lot of trial and error compared to someone with experience telling you to bump this setting up a notch, this one down a notch, and moving the electrode just a bit faster...

Finally, that little 110V MIG welder at the BORG may seem like the cat's meow. But then you get to try a real machine with more power and more settings and can really dial things in and it is amazing how much your skill improves! And you've learned a bit more about how the machine operates and can judge for yourself whether that unit that came up on craigslist for half the cost of new is really worth the money (all three of my units were bought used for much less than the price of significantly lesser machines brand new).

[John Lucas]

A great idea. I was working for Linde of Union Carbide in mid 70's and welding products was my resposibilty. Part of that was to go to their training courses. I loved TIG and MIG and plasma arc welding. Did a lot of it gor my shop back then...would sign out the equipment as I needed it, I wish I had that now.

[Eric DeSilva]

And you've learned a bit more about how the machine operates and can judge for yourself whether that unit that came up on craigslist for half the cost of new is really worth the money (all three of my units were bought used for much less than the price of significantly lesser machines brand new).

Not to hijack anything, but what do you recommend? My welding has all been oxy/acetylene, but I keep eyeing MIG rigs on CL. I can't imagine getting anything that won't do 3/8ths, so I'm definitely in 220V. I'd like a Miller or Lincoln, which seem like good names, but tend to shy away from snap-on, which seems to be a strange, and pricy, market niche.