Help Me Get Started Welding

[RobinHood]

What tools do y'all recommend purchasing for cutting? Chop saw? Plasma cutter? Band saw? I'm a rookie at this and am looking for opinions. Thanks

I use a chop saw. Much quicker than a band saw. I recommend one that you can adjust to cut angles both ways (like a miter saw). Mine only adjusts one way and I regret that.

[Texas Grown]

What tools do y'all recommend purchasing for cutting? Chop saw? Plasma cutter? Band saw? I'm a rookie at this and am looking for opinions. Thanks

Certainly a chop saw for rough cuts and some finish cuts. Get one with plenty of amps. Some will bog down if they have a weak motor. Or the motor may over heat and may burn up. A cutting torch is not out of the question either. The advantage of a torch is you can bend with it too. And it's much more portable than electricity for operating a chop saw and other tools. Course it generally doesn't make cuts as smooth as a chop saw with out a little grinding with a hand grinder for clean-up, pending the skill level of the person. But you can cut dog-ears and other cuts, that you can not with a chop saw and some other tools. Plasma is very fast if you get a good one. But has limited depth of cut. You will need an air compressor that has a certain constant minimal PSI to operate it. It can also cut smother than a torch on multiple metals including aluminum and stainless. But dose not have the bending/heating ability of a torch on various steels. Or the potential cutting depth of a torch. I used to operate a multi torch pattern machine that could cut up to 8-1/2" thick metal sheets. Up to 4" is not uncommon with a hand torch if you have the right cutting tips in it. I've also used them down to 16ga metal. But that is a skill level that is acquired at that thin. 10-12ga is not uncommon with a hand torch. Just takes a little practice at first.
Milwaukee makes a skill saw that is great for cutting long straight lines on sheet metal. Or doing short cuts on some tubing and some smaller stock. But is expensive for limited use IMHO.
Don't forget an electric jigsaw with variable speed control. They are great for smaller cuts on materials with a flat surface. Run it very slow on thin steels. But had higher speeds for aluminum.

[Buck Shot]

Good advice. Thanks!

[Gloftoe]

Tagging this thread. This is a path I feel I need to go down soon.

[Sethmac]

Apologies...lost track of the thread. Couple of different projects I've taken on:

Feeder


Coffee Table

[BonesandArrow]

I like that table! Good work. So what did you buy to cut your angle and square tubing?

[Sethmac]

Evolution Rage2 Chop Saw for $187

It is an awesome saw

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Evolution-Power-Tools-14-in-Multi-Purpose-Chop-Saw-RAGE2/203633549

[hog_down]

Projects came out great!

[JonBoy]

I bought a cheap used flux core Mig welder from a friend and watched a couple of youtube videos. Found me some scrap steel and played around until I got comfortable. Then I just went all in and built a big @$$ pit

[RobinHood]

Nice work [emoji1303]
I started out like you- just small projects to get some experience and self confidence. Now most of my spare time (until the heat gets unbearable), I spend on welding projects.
I built this 6x6x10 ft tower for my girlfriends brother and was proud of the way it turned out.

[kribbz]

Man those links are helpful. I've been wanting to learn to do this for a while!

[DoubleGProstaff]

I'm new to selling I have a Hobart handler 140, it was around 450$ on Amazon.


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[Sethmac]

Latest Table Build...routed the top from boards connected with pocket holes

[RobinHood]

Nice!

[Texas Grown]

Nice round table.