Vote for a Welding and Metal Fabrication Forum

[shopteacher]

and the inexperienced do sooner WITH the forum
and isnt that the point of it all?

[63busguy]

Any suggestions on a good quality, inexpensive TIG? I know a little gas, wire feed and stick. Mainly farmer weld, not pretty but effective. I need to replace the rocker on my bus and wonder if I should buy a MIG or do I get a better weld from a TIG? Please hurry, she is turning to dust before my eyes!@@.!

[bajaherbie]

i voted yes, seventeen times...

just kidding

[david58]

i voted yes, seventeen times...

just kidding

That right there is a classic.

[DesertGuy]

Any suggestions on a good quality, inexpensive TIG?

That one is in the eye (or pocketbook) of the beholder. I bought my TIG from a company that thought they would use it alot... turned out they never used it and wanted to sell it for another MIG. New it would have cost around 5,000-6,000 and I picked it up for 2,000... that was inexpensive. (don't forget the cost of consumables, gas lens, gas, etc... these things add up very fast)

I need to replace the rocker on my bus and wonder if I should buy a MIG or do I get a better weld from a TIG?

You would do fine with a decent MIG to weld simple steel sheet. Of course, a TIG will look "prettier", but you can get a sound weld very easily with a MIG on the sheet stock.

do I get a better weld from a TIG?

That's a tough one... the answer is yes and no, there are alot of variables that can play into that... In the end, no weld is any good if not done properly... it isn't brain surgery, but does need to be done correctly.

...And with any welding process: Clean, Clean, Clean and when in doubt, Clean some more

[shopteacher]

any offroad use for a heliarc other than an aluminum fuel cell and some body bling? and for welding pop cans back together.. LOL

HELIARC-what is a good one to start with.. not cheapo but not top of the line... working with a school budget here

looking for a tubing notcher, metal band saw, lathe, and a couple other goodies to go with our plasma cutter, wire feed, and oxy/acet setup. we do have a harbour freight vertical mill.. works really well as a good drill press

[takotruckin]

HELIARC-what is a good one to start with.. not cheapo but not top of the line... working with a school budget here

find someone willing to sell you a good used one for cheap. i found a big 300 amp machine for $800, but i had just payed for my tranny and couldnt afford it

[63busguy]

does an entry level TIG exsist? My arc was 200, the Lincon 100 cost 250, I was hoping for a 5-600 dollar budget TIG. Should I just save the cash to around 2K for a "decent" machine?

[DesertGuy]

does an entry level TIG exsist?

Inexpensive TIG machines are a dime a dozen. However, once you start venturing into water cooled torches and foot control, etc... prices start to escalate.

IMHO, if you are contemplating a TIG, shop around and get a good one. You will be surprised that once the word gets out that you have one, alot of your "friends" somehow end up "needing" things TIG welded

[david58]

We sure have a lot of lurkers checking this sticky out 2026 veiws and 112 votes that like 18% voted.

[terry cloyd]

David I need someone who can weld. I have about 2000 feet of welding. Please PM me

[david58]

I can't believe nobody has posted here. I guarantee we all need help, speak up guys, don't let this forum die!!!

Seems to be more for it than against it so far.The truth of the matter is shop tricks and techniques is to broad of a spectrum.And welding and fabrication is a major undertaking.It really needs its own area due to the fact that we need good solid advice thats easily and readily available.If for nothing else the safety of our fellow V Dubbers. .We dont want uninformed people welding in cages and what not that are gonna come apart and decapitate someone because some blow hard in some forum gave bad advice that a knowledgeable moderator could have caught and set straight.As far as tricks and techniques I mean most of that is common sense.And some good brainstorms.But its not going to mess with the safety of a motor vehicle that could possibly be traveling at a pretty good rate of speed.My thoughts on the matter anyway.

Tim

All these posts are great, easy to spot, wait a couple months, year or two and do a search. Or better yet just start on page 1 and keep looking

Be nice to have all welding in one area just for welding, questions on welding and things welded.

Living in the north east finding any VW that doesn't need some welding is rare. I would personally enjoy finding out anything I could about rust repair on a VW. I've already got the 2 Bugme videos on rust repair, read John Henry's site religiously and have several sites bookmarked but could still use more.

It seems mostly the same guys are posting in here but you know once there is a forum the majority will be using it. Kinda like the count, yes some of that is from others seeing what was posted but a lot of people just sit back and watch, listen and learn. I have a lot of info in the Off-Road forum that will be moved to the welding forum and have questions to ask but I know it is going to get lost in the shuffle if it is not put in one place. Come on Doc, ya know you want it

Welding is a mistical process thats important to anyone restoring a car of any make and model. I have assisted in a little welding in the process piping side of things, but never where it needs to look pretty, and do more than just hold water. I say Welding Forum could be important to anyone doing major body work. Bring it on!

We need this forum could get alot of help from you guys.

I am all about adding a forum that supports a VW lovers passion. IF a forum has a moderator with said passion. It is a great idea that I support passionately.. I voted yes and suggest other Thingsters on this forum vote the same. But that is just one guy's opinion..

[allsierra123]

Only 100 votes.We need for more people to be voting on this.The next step is to PM the link to each person on the board.We were hoping more people would have been turned onto this thread already though.

[david58]

I thought when Doc made this a sticky we would see more votes we have seen more traffic. So that looks like there is interest in a forum, maybe a lot of luckers that aren't members are checking it out. I think we need to open this forum up and see what happens.

[shopteacher]

light it up.. start with a picture of that shock mount with the really nice weld

have the welder explain how they got such a good weld.