In this chapter, I tell you how to get set up for welding. I start by filling you in on the details of how you can identify a suitable location for welding. No two welding methods or jobs are the same, but even with all that variety, all good welding sites share a number of characteristics that you need to maintain if you want to ensure a productive and safe working environment. After that, I move on to a discussion of welding equipment, which you need to choose carefully so you end up with gear that fits your welding needs.
Choosing a Location
You can’t find too many hobbies or jobs that are more versatile than welding. Welders with lots of experience are able to make welds in some pretty amazing places (underwater and in space, for example). But if you’re just starting to weld, you can get set up in a relatively simple, straightforward way. You don’t have to have a massive, state-of-the-art facility for your welding endeavor; you really just need to make sure your welding space has a few basic features, including the following:
❯❯ Adequate lighting: Like all other trades, welding requires ample lighting so that you can clearly see what you’re working on. Make sure your welding space has plenty of light, whether that’s natural, electric, or some combination of the two.
❯❯ Flame retardant floors and walls: Many welding tasks create sparks, so you certainly can’t fire up the old welding machine in a room with shag carpeting and wallpaper. Instead, try to find a space that has, for example, concrete floors and cinder block walls (or something equally resistant to catching fire).
❯❯ Large doors: If you’re going to be welding any large items, you need to be able to get them into and out of the welding area safely and smoothly. Keep in mind that you may limit yourself in terms of the range of welding projects you can tackle if you can’t fit certain items into the space. A large overhead or roll-up door is necessary if you want to work on bigger projects indoors.
❯❯ Sufficient electrical service: Welding machines and other equipment used in cutting, grinding, and welding can use quite a lot of electricity, so be sure that your welding location is properly serviced. Generally speaking, you should be in good shape if you have 220 single phase service (the kind of electrical outlets you use to plug in an electric clothes dryer) or 110 single phase service (the kind of outlets located all throughout your home, used for plugging in lamps and small electrical appliances) with 20-amp circuit breakers. (Those are some of the most common circuit breakers out there.)
❯❯ Ventilation: You can read more about safety-related issues like ventilation in Chapter 3, but for this part of the discussion, just make sure your welding space is properly ventilated so that you (and any other people nearby) don’t suffer any negative health effects from the gases and smoke that welding can produce.
The amount of space you need in order to weld safely and successfully is always important. Because of the potentially hazardous nature of many welding processes, you need to make sure you have enough space; otherwise, you put your health and the quality of your work at risk.
Many people who are new to welding assume that they can set up a little welding shop somewhere in their home. (A garage or shed is usually the first choice.) That can be okay, but only if the space you’re considering fits the criteria in the preceding section and also doesn’t compromise your safety. (Be sure to read Chapter 3 carefully if you have any doubts or questions about the safety precautions you need to take before you begin welding.)
When you’re considering a potential space for your welding work, think hard about the kinds of items you plan to work with. Is your space big enough to allow you to move those objects around without banging into other projects, your tools, or – worse yet – your body? Keep in mind that the equipment you’re working with may very well be heavy, sharp, and/or hot. Those aren’t the kinds of items you want to be trying to manipulate and move in a cramped environment.
Another important factor to consider is the amount of space your welding equipment takes up. Most welding machines – more about those later in this chapter – are only about three feet by four feet, but you may end up eating up quite a bit of space after you factor in all the other gear and supplies you need. Be sure to allow plenty of room for your equipment, or your welding projects may suffer from a cumbersome and disorganized workspace.
Sometimes the welding project you’re working on dictates the location in which you’re forced to work. If you’re welding a big piece of equipment that has broken and become immobilized outdoors somewhere, you may very well be forced to do your welding outside. If that situation (or something similar) arises, don’t automatically think that it presents a difficult challenge. Welding outdoors can actually be just as enjoyable and productive as welding in an indoor welding shop, and in some cases even more so. Indoor and outdoor welding each have a number of advantages and disadvantages you want to bear in mind when you find yourself in a situation that allows you to make that choice on a particular welding project.
When you weld indoors, you often have the advantage of regulating the temperature in the building. That can be a huge plus, as anyone who has been forced to weld outside in the sweltering heat of summer can attest. You can also control the lighting to fit your needs and the needs of the job, and when you weld indoors, your equipment isn’t exposed to the damaging effects of the weather.
However, welding indoors isn’t all positive. No matter how big your welding space is, some jobs just don’t fit indoors. Welding inside a building can also be more difficult if you’re doing the kind of welding that produces an unusually large amount of smoke and dangerous fumes. Your indoor welding space has ventilation, of course, but chances are your indoor ventilation system isn’t as good at whisking away the fumes and smoke as a spring breeze can be when you’re welding outside.
As you can imagine, the biggest challenge presented by outdoor welding is the elements. The weather can wreak havoc on the quality of your work and the integrity of your equipment. Precipitation can make welding unnecessarily dangerous, and forget welding successfully when the temperature is below 40 degrees Fahrenheit if you don’t preheat the materials. And even sunshine, which is usually a pleasant part of welding outside, can pose a problem: Sometimes direct sunlight makes certain types of welding helmets function poorly. (Read more about welding helmets in Chapter 3.) Finally, if you’re welding outside where other people will be present, you really need to set up a safety screen so your audience’s eyes aren’t harmed by the welding process if they happen to look at it.
Equipping Your Welding Shop
You’d be hard pressed to find a skilled trade or craft that doesn’t require some specialized equipment, and welding is definitely no exception. But hey, you’re talking about joining metals, not making ham sandwiches, so I’m sure it comes as no surprise that you need some specific gear in order to get the job done right. You can get a look at some of the necessary equipment in Figure 4-1.
In this section, I let you know what kind of general equipment you need for a welding project. Keep in mind that plenty of other types of gear are necessary for certain kinds of welding, and I tell you about those tools and materials in the parts of this book that dig into the details of specific welding types. (For example, you need certain items for flux core arc welding that you don’t need for the other kinds of welding, and I cover those specific items in Chapter 9.)