Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi evereyone! My name is Rick. My welding knowledge is very minimal. My dad did most of my welding for me, he wasn't the best by any measure when it came to welding but he made do. His teaching me was limited to letting me run the gun LOL. I never really got to experience the set up of the equipment. He passed away in Jan of this year, way to soon if you ask me, after all I still had some projects to do to my wood truck! He left me a Longevity Weldall and a MIG welder. I guess now is the time for me to jump in and learn how to weld. I have the equipment and the desire, a bit tight on time to practice but I'm ready to start, after all I still have to get the rear tank of my flatbed rigged up so I can use it! Seems that when the last owner put the flatbed on it they never bothered with the rear tank, probably due to the fact that the flatbed did not have a hole in it for the rear tank. I plan on building a " well " for the filler neck soon so I can utilize that rear tank.

My first goal is to learn how to use the plasma cutter to do some hole cutting, then stumble my way thru the mig welding of the parts. After watching the videos posted on youtube and welding-tv I think I'm ready to jump in and start. I'm not expecting perfection right off the bat, but then again my first real project will be a low stress non load bearing project...I'm not even going to attempt my own tree stand for a while!! I like my arms and legs not broken!

I'm looking forward to learning and growing with the help from fellow welders with the same desire to learn all they can. Who knows, maybe some day I can help a newbie out as well.

Welcome.
Get you some scrap metal and start laying beads.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

welcome rick
you found a great place to get info and help
no question goes unanswered here

Rick welcome to the forum.

Welcome, Rick,

I did a double-take on your topic title, as I grew up outside of Dawson, MO, population 3. I was the suburb...

Steve S

Thanks for the welcome! I'll probably be pretty quiet for a while, just gonna go lurk around the forum and try to find as many answers as possible on my own. I'll be working on my truck project this week so maybe even newbie pictures when I'm done!

Welcome to "the hood"!

Remember, there are no dumb questions. Only dummies who are too afraid to ask questions.
We have a great bunch here. All help and no attitudes! So, ask away.

Sorry about your dad man. It always hurts to lose a loved one. We'll help hone your skills
and make him proud of you for learning to weld. He'll be looking down with a smile for sure.