There a couple of good ways to do it....


Take some Vo-Tech classes at your local community college. I know ours offers a series of welding classes for people who want to weld for themselves rather than a production type enviroment.

Find someone who is skilled to teach you a few things.

Then there is the way us idiots do it...

I bought a couple of "welding for dummies" kind of books. Dove back into what I (barely) learned from high school shop class and my dad. Then I bought a cheapo welder and started welding anything I could get cheap. At one point I was stopping alongside the road and picking weldable stuff out of people's trash.....

 

Hmm what kind of a welder should I get to learn with..I know a good mig/tig welder for doing things like bumpers and what not but what would be good to start out with? I'd like to eventually make my own unibody frame supports to wrap the frame in..

 

i learned about the same way whowey did exept with out the books. i just dove in and started trying it till i got half way comfortable. just get a little lincoln set like this to start off with.

http://www.mylincolnelectric.com/Cat...t.aspx?p=59618

and i would also recomend getting a friend or a book because when i started i was doing it wrong and had to relearn alot.

 

http://www.hobartwelders.com/product...ed/handler140/
This is a great little welder that already has the gas regulator and is capable of 1/4" plate welding.

 

Ok this is going to sound dumb but how do you power these puppies if they are DC power? I would assume a battery or a generator am I correct?

 

No you are not. They plug into the 110v wall socket and have a rectifier that converts alternating current to direct current just like the rectifier on your Jeep's altenator does.
Direct current is a much better welding current because the ground and wire are maintaining a more even arc than alternating current could. AC would need the ground and wire to change places 60 times a second to maintain the current to get a good arc.

 

Hmm $600 for a welder is a lot of money..I may have to wait a while or try to find one on craigs list...

 

That's really too much!
I think it's really better to learn how to weld than to pay that amount...

 

Sorry... but if you are a learner.. Check out Harbor Frieght.. I got a flux-core Mig welder for about $110 on sale.. Its a small one, but it will do 3/16ths plate. You just have to go slow...

 

AH now that sounds much better...I am also going to check into some basic welding classes at the local votech after I graduate next semester..

 

I'm very disappointed in JC Whitney. They flat out lied to me. They said it would ship within 3 days and be here within 7 days after that. I come home today and it's on my doorstep!!! Why do they lie like that??? 3 days!! that's not even close to the estimated 10!































Hitch looks good. You can see the taped up part on the right side, that's the drop hitch for towing and the left side is all the hardware.

I guess we can say quadratec is alright

 

If I was you I would call them up and give them a piece of my mind....That is if you can spare any

 

Next thing I want to see is that thing installed. Work on it so we see some pics in the morning. No sleep until it is ready to use as a recovery point.

 

It's kinda hard to do that when it's pitch black outside

 

I just got a Curt Class 3 Hitch with all the mounting hardware and instructions from Ebay for $115 with free shipping, can not beat the price!