Advice
How to actually do it
Procedures rather than opinions. Each page covers one thing end to end, says which step matters most, and links to the gear it assumes rather than the gear we would like to sell you.
Getting started
First machine, first bead, and the order to learn things in.
- Stopping an electrode from sticking Every stick beginner glues a rod to the work in the first ten minutes. It is a matter of current, technique and one machine feature — in that order.
- Stopping a weldment pulling out of square Every weld shrinks as it cools, and a frame welded in the wrong order pulls itself into a parallelogram. The fix is sequence, not force.
- How to read a weld bead A finished bead tells you what went wrong. Learning to read four faults replaces most of the guesswork in welding.
Settings & technique
Amps, wire speed, gas flow and stick-out — where a clean weld is won or lost.
- Setting voltage and wire speed A MIG machine has two settings that matter and one sound that tells you whether they are right. Learning the sound takes an afternoon and replaces every chart.
- Welding thin sheet without blowing through Thin sheet does not forgive continuous heat. The techniques that work all do the same thing: put heat in, then take it away before the panel gets hot.
- Grinding a tungsten electrode A tungsten is not a consumable you throw away — it is reground repeatedly, and how it is ground changes where the arc goes.
- Drilling stainless steel Stainless punishes hesitation. A bit that rubs instead of cutting hardens the surface, and from that moment nothing will drill it.
- Tapping a thread without breaking the tap Broken taps are almost always caused before the tap goes in — by the wrong drill size or a hole that is not square.
Maintenance
Tips, liners, wheels and consumables — the routines that decide whether a machine reaches year ten.
- Cutting fluid: what to use and when Cutting fluid is the cheapest consumable in a metal workshop and the one that most extends tool life. It also does something people rarely expect.
- Looking after a MIG torch Almost every « the machine has stopped feeding » complaint is a torch problem. Four parts wear, in a predictable order, and all four are cheap.
- Maintaining a plasma cutter A plasma cutter is judged by its air. Most complaints about cut quality are moisture, and most consumable costs are avoidable.
- Keeping a band saw cutting straight A band saw that cuts out of square is rarely broken. It is a blade, a guide or a habit, and all three are correctable.
- Dressing a grinder wheel A glazed wheel rubs instead of cutting, and rubbing means heat. Heat is what turns a chisel edge blue and soft.
Buying
How to spend a budget so the money lands where it changes the result.
- Choosing a shielding gas Gas choice changes the weld more than most machine settings. The mixtures are few and the differences between them are consistent.
- Equipping a first metal workshop The order matters more than the budget. Buy protection, then a process, then the things that make the process usable — and extraction earlier than feels natural.
- Reading a specification sheet Almost every machine on this site is advertised on the more flattering of two numbers. Learning the pairs takes ten minutes and changes what you buy.
Workshop
Power, air, clamping and earthing — the things that decide whether the work comes out square.
- Clamping and earthing Two connections decide whether a weld behaves: the one holding the work still and the one carrying the current back. Both get less attention than the machine.
- Setting up a compressor and air line Compressor specifications are written to flatter, and the two habits that keep an air system working are five seconds each.
Safety
Fume, arc, sparks and guards — the parts nobody photographs.
- A fume extraction plan for a small workshop Welding fume was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the IARC in 2017, mild steel included. The exposure is cumulative and invisible, which is why extraction gets postponed.
- Cutting discs: choosing and using A cutting disc runs at eleven thousand revolutions a minute and is made of bonded abrasive. Two markings and one habit account for most of what can go wrong.
- Welding galvanized steel Zinc boils before steel melts. The vapor it produces causes an acute illness with a name, and the precautions are simple and non-negotiable.