Welding Class

Hi All can any one tell me if you know of any welding classes that run in Croydon Surrey or local to that for beginners thanks for any help you may have. P.S This site is very cool and full of good info keep up the good work

Hello there! I think you have bought from me on eBay, Cebora Inverter TIG etc.??
weldequip

welding classes

Hi Ya Yes It is me How are you. all going well on E-bay I see. Just trying to brush up on my welding if I can LOL will get to plug in the Tig one day soon I hope

Contact your local community college. Ask about short courses which incorporate welding or go for a C&G Welding cert.

From my experience you may struggle around London / home counties to find many to choose from.

Your local council website should have details of local colleges and you can ring round and check out their sites.

I ended up doing an excellent intro to welding course at Walhamstow college in N.E. London going towards Essex. Its not far from the M25 if you drive or very close to Blackhorse Road tube / overland rail station.

The course is run by the automotive engineering department and the facilities were excellent. You cover the basics of oxy-acetylene (gas) welding as well as MIG.

I did an evening class over 10 weeks (3hrs per week) and it was the best 150 quid I spent. Its invaluable having access to decent equipment and having a really experienced welder be able to tell you how to do things and show you where you are going wrong.

I travelled from SE London to do this course, but it was worth it. I plan to go back to do their car restoration course at some point. They have a full low bake spray oven and professional air fed gear there you can use for free if on a course.

Sadly this type of hands on course is getting harder to find as I suspect for cash strapped colleges maintaining proper workshops and equipment for somthing like welding id more expensive than cheaper IT courses and the like. The students pay a similar amount for both types of course, so its easy to see why colleges favour the less equipment intensive courses.

Cheers,

Chris

Just for info for anyone in striking distance of Huntingdon, this is the course I did:
http://www.huntingdon.ac.uk/coursesearch/Courses/PTDisplay.aspx?id=119
Sounds very much the same as the one Chris did, very much hands on, no silly tests or anything

Cheers,
Rob

http://www.waltham.ac.uk/Docs/parttime0607.pdf

Is the part time prospectus course guide with the welding course I took. Course only runs every few months though.

I am planning to take their vehicle body refinishing course somtime in the next year. 10 weeks, one evening a week and cost is about 170 quid I think.

Cheers,

Chris

ChrisB said:

http://www.waltham.ac.uk/Docs/parttime0607.pdf

Is the part time prospectus course guide with the welding course I took. Course only runs every few months though.

I am planning to take their vehicle body refinishing course somtime in the next year. 10 weeks, one evening a week and cost is about 170 quid I think.

Cheers,

Chris

Click to expand...

...thats the very same course I started last Wednesday night at Waltham Forest College...was the only Introduction style course I could find in my area...Harlow, Essex...other than Cambridge...:eek: ...takes me around 40-50 mins to get there but only 30 to get home... ...glad to hear its a good course...the general feeling from my Introduction was very impressive...the layout of the workshop and the equipment looked superb...but first night was taken up with videos and Health and Safety...so this Wednesday is the first lesson of actual welding...they still cover mainly gas and MIG welding on the course...with a bit of gas and plasma cutting now thrown in...and this time we may possibly cover a bit of MIG brazing if we have time...
...I also intend to carry on and do their Vehicle Restoration course, there is one starting around February...and yes I believe both courses are £170...Welding 10 Weeks/Restoration 12 Weeks...nice friendly people, should be a good time...

Yup it sounds like the same course.

Don't know if the same guy is teaching it, I think maybe his name was Gary? In his thirties at a guess, used to run a bodyshop, also teaches the full time vehicle refinishing course. Very nice guy, good teacher and knows his stuff.

First week was the same for me safety and intro videos and a short intro to the course and facilities. Next week you get cracking with the gas welding I think from memory. I remember being impatient to get onto the MIG, but in fact the gas teaches you a lot more about the process of welding, and ultimately I found it a more satisfying thing to get to grips with.

The MIG bit of the course is good too, although you have to use handheld shields which I think makes things quite difficult as a beginner. One of the guys bought his auto-darkening helmet in for the second week of MIG and let me have a go with it - makes things sooooo much easier.

I want to do the vehicle resto course, but to make the most of it I want to have a project car at the stage where I can use their full low bake oven and facilities to paint it - its probably the only way I'll get to use a decent environment with proper equipment and expert advice on hand.

Have a look at some of the bodywork done by the full time first year students - its quality stuff. A testament to what can be achieved with the right equipment and good teachers.

I think if money were no object I'd book onto one of the Contour autocraft bodywork courses and learn how to make panels and wooden jigs properly. Its a dying art in many ways, but so important when working on older cars where repair panels are no longer available or supremely expensive.

I think the reason the whole welding / bodywork restoration thing appeals to me is I just love making and fixing things and am a bit of a perfectionist at heart

P.S. The plasma cutter is a truly amazing piece of kit - were I to win the lottery tomorrow it would be on my (very long) list of tools to get!!!

...yep thats the course... ...cannot wait to get stuck into it all...once I'm all done and am into the restoration part of the course then it will be time for me to consider a MIG welder of my very own... ...was going to go down the Sealey/Clarke route...but am hoping to save the extra needed and go down the Portamig route instead... ...I am not going to be welding every day...but think I might as well get a really good welding machine to start with and [hopefully] it will see me good for many years after...lmao...!!!
...the bloke who is taking us for the Welding Course, did know his name, but its gone at the mo... ...seems to really know his stuff...and the Restoration Course looks an absolute blast...!!! They said you can bring in project vehicles towards end of course but that they supply vehicle wings/doors for you to learn the basic principles on first...some people come back each course with their projects once they have done the first one...as £170 for 12 weeks access [24 hours over the course] to all the equipment and experience is cheaper than paying someone else to do the work... ...I look forward to trying the metal filling...seen it done on some of the American resto shows like American Hot Rod and Overhaulin'...be nice to try and get the hang of some of these dying arts...like you said...and I can relate to the perfectionists bit too... ...I'm the same...can be a good trait...but can also get you sooo frustrated at times too eh...and those who are trying to work with you...lmao...especially if they are not...