Any good projects to help learn?

[jweaver]

I just got a new welder, and was inspired by this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJTePBp0-Q

So at the weekend, my first test of my new toy was to make one.. And I am quite happy with the results.. I do plan to upload some photos to get your critique and to find out why some of the welds weren't as good as others.

But I just wonder if anyone has any other little projects like this? I am going to make another dice, as a pair is better than one.. But there must be other things like this out there.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Jon

 

[chunkolini]

Beginners projects?
Chop your old pushbike and make one of these.

Or these

Or these

or one of these.


Great projects, lot of fabrication using tubes, problem solving, cheap and best of all you will instantly become single.

 

[LewisH]

That's pretty cool. Me being new to welding too, that would seem like a great practice project!

Sorry to partially hijack a thread and pardon my "newbie" ignorance but I must ask otherwise I'll never learn. at around 5:20 when he is tacking two pieces together I cannot see where those 2 pieces are earthed. My understanding was that the panels, pieces etc. you are welding must be earthed. Am I wrong or is the metal table acting as the earth in this scenario?

Cheers,

Lewis.

 

[jweaver]

That's pretty cool. Me being new to welding too, that would seem like a great practice project!

Sorry to partially hijack a thread and pardon my "newbie" ignorance but I must ask otherwise I'll never learn. at around 5:20 when he is tacking two pieces together I cannot see where those 2 pieces are earthed. My understanding was that the panels, pieces etc. you are welding must be earthed. Am I wrong or is the metal table acting as the earth in this scenario?

Cheers,

Lewis.

The entire table is earthed.. So anything on it is earthed too.. I must admit this part inspired me too.. I have an 1" thick slab of steel on my work bench.. So i cleaned it down with a flap disk.. Earthed it and used it the same way.. Just having the piece sat on it was enough.. I also got a chunk of angle iron (like the video) for the corners and used it the same way.. As i got into the swing of it.. I had the chunk of steel earthed.. The angle iron sat on the steel and the faces of the dice sat on the angle and was able to weld effortlessly. Makes life much easier than trying to clip onto the piece you are working on.

 

[LewisH]

I can see how that makes things so much more convenient. The dice looks good by the way! Probably not best to roll it on your best wooden flooring though!

 

[Llama]

A trolley for the welder/bottle is a good first project that can be done with scrap. I also did a workstand for a bike, and also made a bunch of angle iron out of scraps of flats I got

 

[carlos420uk]

A few simple shelf bracket's made from angle or box section?

A light duty sheet metal folder made from a few piece's of angle iron, box, and some strong hinges.

A Tv stand for the spare room.

A third hand / earthing tool.

A little workshop stool / seat.

The dice looks good for your first ever welded project

 

[Dev]

I thought the rules were you made a trolley, workbench then gas bottle stove.

 

[chunkolini]

Thats pretty much what I did.
Made a wheeled welding table with space for my Mig welder underneath it.
Then started on bikes.
bench is a sensible start, you can tailor it to your workspace which is always helpful.