OT: School me on welding Options

[familienauto]

I know absolutely nothing about welding. Wish I did.

I understand there are different types of welding (mig, tig, etc. are names that I see).

If I want to learn to weld, should I take a class or is it something that you can learn better by practicing a lot by yourself?

Been considering a project VW, and hate being totally scared away by rust. Want to learn how to fix it!

Zach

[bangingears]

I was lucky enough to grow up with a dad that use to build dune buggies and race cars, the easiest way is like capt'n said, however, many "starter" kits are coming with insturctions and videos, go get yourself some scrap and play with it.. there are many techniques, the eaisest is dime staking (in learning), take a pencil on a peice of paper hold it like a white man holding a chop stick..... and do circles in a line
IE ((((((((((((((((0, thats what it should look like LOL, or you can do half moons... there are tons of things... Roset welding, TIG and MIG are very different types of welding, TIG requires a hand held welding element and a electric source which creates the circuit when applied to the welding METAL, MIG is the easiest to learn, its alot more user freindly, go to homedepo and get there lincoln HD starter kit, its a wire feed mig...a lot easier to learn on and the thing will weld up to 3/8's inch... the biggest mistake of new guys is getting to hot of a heat range (you melt through your material), to cold and your weld is not penetrating the metal your trying to combine.