Learning to weld

[Hamish]

I would love to learn how to weld but have only very little experience with welding and it's technique. I've noticed a lot of motors folks do their own welding and it looks pretty fun. So here's a few questions!

What kind of budget/models should I be looking at for a MIG welder for welding 4-5mm mild steel and is it best to buy second hand?
Are these "gasless" MIG welders any good?
Where can I buy metal from on the net?
Did you take any courses or get any experience or just get a few lumps of metal and teach yourself?

Any help appreciated!

 

[Hamish]

Cheers for the advice, the mig-welding site looks very useful as does the steel shop. Are there any shops that sell other metals such as patterned aluminium plate. Also i'm guessing it would be cheaper to find a local metal supplier in the yellow pages.

And welding masks... Auto-dimming ones seem to be the best bet, is it best to avoid the cheap ones or not? Don't fancy going blind or anything...

Hows this kind of thing: http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/150te-turbo-mig-welder/path/diy-mig-welders

 

[Hamish]

For Ally I'm sure you need a TIG rather than MIG welder...but then I could be wrong.

InvG

Yeh I recon so, I think you can maybe weld ally with MIG with difficultly. I probably wouldn't be welding the ally, just pop-riveting it to a welded frame