Originally Posted by Bonehunter

The speed of light! At this time we know of nothing faster...It's an Einstein thing...Special Relativity for one argument... most light goes fast and straight...but is 'bent' by large objects...'slowing' it down.... most of which wont be circling your head while you are fabricating...Welding flashes and other flashes. eg. short electrical burn out, that 'sparks' (electricians) and the explosive outputs that pyro-technicians incure, do lots of eye damage, so does looking with unprotected eyes at the sun.
The eyes can be 'blighted' (small burn blisters on the face of the eye ball...But the real damage is created by the light that passes through the lens and Burns the 'rods' of the rear of the eye. medicine can remedy the lens damage but maybe not the inner damage...Solution.... as many of the above have stated....get a good helmet and mask.... eyes?...only two issued.... waiting list....as of now ....long. + Good leathers... Capes, gauntlets, jacket and apron and spats.... No plastic....Regards Bonehunter...

Originally Posted by Diesel

Your post makes me laugh. Techniques and tricks? Really? Obviously you only mig and have very little experience. No one welds the same as other people. I electroslag, mmaw, mig, laser and tig. Everyone at our shops has their OWN techniques and their OWN tricks that THEY are comfortable with. Did you learn all your driving techniques from a book? How about the way you eat? No, because its harder to do things the way a book tells you when you are not 100% comfortable doing it that way. You found out ways to do it through EXPERIENCE, thats all there is to it.

Buy around a 250a mig machine. It has most likely adjustable everything, so you can weld 1/16 to 1/4 and anything else you may need, and get used to welding all thicknesses and varieties with that one machine. Thats the only way to get better.




Not necessarily, Mig can be used on almost any metal, including aluminum, you just need to switch to aluminum wire and use aluminum drive rolls. Tig is for aluminum mainly, and yes, mig is almost a beginner to welding. Tig is difficult, but not nearly as difficult as gas tungsten arc. There are so many ways to weld for different applications. Get a half decent mig welder, it will work for what you plan on doing for now.