Welding course to make your own gantry?

timmygobang

timmygobang

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Is this far flung idea?

Has anyone been on a welding course to learn how to work with stainless steel?

Has anyone made their own gantry?

Rather than spending money on getting someone else to make something, I'd much rather learn the skills myself.
 
I bought a cheapo stick welder and taught myself to use it, to build a barbecue. Ended up ok, but I always had great difficulty striking the arc. I assumed this was because I was doing something wrong, so when the Car Club at work organised a 2-evening welding course for its members I arranged to tag along. Found I had no trouble with the enormous old stick welders there. The instructor asked me to bring in my kit for the second evening; he had a go with it and said the problem was the cheapness of the welder, not my technique.

They also had MIG and TIG in the workshop; I could have had a go with the MIG but decided to keep practising on the stick because that's what I had to work with at home (I've since bought a cheap MIG set). I'd have needed more than the two evenings' course to progress onto the TIG though, and I believe it's TIG you need for neat joints in stainless tube.

If you can find somewhere doing a course that's happy for you to make your gantry as part of it, then I think this could be a pretty good way to do it. The result is unlikely to be quite as pretty as if you left it to an expert, but it will be just as you want it and if you ever need any mods in future you can crack on and do them. However, I assume anywhere running a long enough course that it would get you to the required standard, TIG-welding and polishing tube, will have their own syllabus and structure that may not be conducive to doing your own project at the same time. On the other hand, they might turn out to be enthusiastic about the idea, I think the guy running my course would have been.

Just need to find some places to ask. We did ours at Sparsholt agricultural college.

Pete
 
timmygobang said:
.
Has anyone made their own gantry?

Rather than spending money on getting someone else to make something, I'd much rather learn the skills myself.
Click to expand...
Decent welding gear is quite pricey, esp TIG, plus gases etc.
DIY stick and MIG is OK for simple joints in my experience.
Stainless is probably the easiest metal to weld, but you'll still need loads of practice to come near pro standards.
Depends what your budget is and the standard you set yourself, but I'd think a gantry of thin-walled tubing is ambitious.
Having said that, an angle grinder covers a multitude of sins!
You'll also need some fairly serious tube bending gear.
 
Last edited:
Is this far flung idea?

Has anyone been on a welding course to learn how to work with stainless steel?

Has anyone made their own gantry?

Rather than spending money on getting someone else to make something, I'd much rather learn the skills myself.
Click to expand...
I think you have the right idea, I have made all sorts from small mast lights to bimi style brackets using a stick and s/s, maybe not perfect, but practice helps. If buying a stick welder, buy a better one than mine, (with a built in cooling fan) Otherwise I would agree with prv, have a go!
 
prv said:
I bought a cheapo stick welder and taught myself to use it, to build a barbecue. Ended up ok, but I always had great difficulty striking the arc. I assumed this was because I was doing something wrong, so when the Car Club at work organised a 2-evening welding course for its members I arranged to tag along. Found I had no trouble with the enormous old stick welders there. The instructor asked me to bring in my kit for the second evening; he had a go with it and said the problem was the cheapness of the welder, not my technique.

They also had MIG and TIG in the workshop; I could have had a go with the MIG but decided to keep practising on the stick because that's what I had to work with at home (I've since bought a cheap MIG set). I'd have needed more than the two evenings' course to progress onto the TIG though, and I believe it's TIG you need for neat joints in stainless tube.

If you can find somewhere doing a course that's happy for you to make your gantry as part of it, then I think this could be a pretty good way to do it. The result is unlikely to be quite as pretty as if you left it to an expert, but it will be just as you want it and if you ever need any mods in future you can crack on and do them. However, I assume anywhere running a long enough course that it would get you to the required standard, TIG-welding and polishing tube, will have their own syllabus and structure that may not be conducive to doing your own project at the same time. On the other hand, they might turn out to be enthusiastic about the idea, I think the guy running my course would have been.

Just need to find some places to ask. We did ours at Sparsholt agricultural college.

Pete
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete. I'll find some evening welding courses and drop them a line. I think it would be a really interesting project to do, and no doubt once I've picked up the skills I'll be wanting to make all sorts of things, a life-raft cradle, or granny bars, dorade protectors...list goes on :)

I've no idea of the cost of stainless steel, that might be a limiting factor if its very expensive to buy.
 
Go for an inverter DC welder. You can start with stick welding and then buy the extra kit to start TIG when you have some experience.

Welding much below 2mm thick stainless needs quite a lot of practice.

You will then need some kit to polish the stainless as you go along.
 
earlybird said:
Decent welding gear is quite pricey, esp TIG, plus gases etc.
Click to expand...

Ah, I may have got the wrong end of the stick above. I thought he wanted to build the gantry in the school's workshop, using their kit, as part of the course. For example, on the short course that I did, one of the guys had done a fair bit of simple DIY MIG, but wanted to make a shiny stainless exhaust pipe that was beyond his kit or his skill. While us beginners were practising making hollow cubes in mild steel, he was doing his pipes with a very expensive TIG machine and of course the instructor was on hand to advise.

Pete
 
Start by practicing something simple.
Close-Up.jpg
 
In the thread 'Anyone remember this old hulk at Watchet', the original poster PCUK made loads of ss rails etc for the boat. Hopefully he will pick up this thread and jump in.

Hope that helps.

Paul
 
prv said:
Ah, I may have got the wrong end of the stick above. I thought he wanted to build the gantry in the school's workshop, using their kit, as part of the course. For example, on the short course that I did, one of the guys had done a fair bit of simple DIY MIG, but wanted to make a shiny stainless exhaust pipe that was beyond his kit or his skill. While us beginners were practising making hollow cubes in mild steel, he was doing his pipes with a very expensive TIG machine and of course the instructor was on hand to advise.

Pete
Click to expand...

Well tbh I'm not sure how these things work. If I could avoid buying the kit and use one in someones workshop that would be ideal, but if I had to buy the kit and it wasn't too expensive then I would. Depends on what is mean't by expensive as well, if the gear cost say 1k and I was able to make my own stuff and perhaps earn a few pounds in the future to reclaim the cost back of the equipment then it would be a worthy investment I'd say.
 
Forget the idea of earning a bit on the side unless you are prepared to put a lot of practice in. The quality you need for chargeable work is very different from what you will learn at an evening class. Yes, a class will give you the basic skills which you could use to make a gantry but you'll almost certainly end up with something which will look homemade. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it would be a good project, but it is sensible to be realistic about what you will be able to do.

I did a nightclass a few years ago. It was great fun and I bought myself a small MIG welder with which I've made a number of things for the boat. But my welds need a fair amount of angle grinding, filing and polishing before they begin to look reasonably presentable. It is good fun though, and very satisfying when you manage to get a good weld. However there is a world of difference between getting a good weld first time, every time and getting a ratty weld that you can either clean up or cut and re-weld (sometimes several times!).

By the way, tube is also trickier to weld than flat sheet
 
Rigger Mortice said:
Forget the idea of earning a bit on the side unless you are prepared to put a lot of practice in. t
Click to expand...

Point taken, my primary reason was to have a go at doing something like a gantry off my own back so thats fine. As to the quality of the outcome I think I'll have to give it a go and see how I get on. I wouldn't expect perfection (a bit of 'character' is fine), but I wouldn't put something on the boat that looks totally naff :)
 
It took me two years of practice before I could produce a decent Tig weld round a tube so a weeks evening classes won't cut it for you. My Tig welder cost £175 new off Ebay and does everything I need without a foot pedal. Very satisfying work but needs loads of practice and a very steady hand. Arc welding will not help with Tig as it is a totally different discipline. You will also need a proper tube bender, cheapest is around £500. A plumbers bender or one of those hydraulic ones won't do the job.
 
There are people out there with benders, a cheap hydraulic bender will bend perfectly well, but you need the correct formers.

I know where you can purchase a small cylinder for £200, you just pay for gas then.

You need good lighting and a good quality helmet (auto dimming) £80

Buy one of the 200 Amp AC/DC inverters, a little more expensive, but comes with what you need.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TIG-200AM...ltDomain_3&hash=item4ac424c7d1#ht_9695wt_1170

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AC-DC-TIG...869?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item518ee849b5

The reason for the 200 Amp unit is because it is fully controllable, pre weld gas and post weld gas. In future if you work well with stainless, it will allow you to go onto ally

You can polish with a mini grinder mop and soaps
 
If you are thinking of going the TIG route do be aware that quite a high % of people will NEVER learn to produce good welds because it requires the coordinated use of both hands.

A stick welder with top quality SS rods will do almost as neat a job and it is possible for almost everybody to learn to stick weld. The more expensive rods are a little easier to use and give a better finish.

Making a gantry from fairly thinwall SS tube will not be that easy though even with a good tube bender and profile grinder plus jigs to hold the whole thing together. Why because SS expands a lot when it is heated. Make lots of short welds and let things cool. But even experienced welders may have results that look like a pretzel.
 
Unfortunately a cheap hydraulic bender won't do the job with or without the correct formers. They're OK for bending scaffold tubes but not thin wall stainless which will dent and it is impossible to accurately position the bend. You will not be able to weld 1.6mm wall stainless tube with an arc welder. Not sure what the reference to a 'small cylinder' refers to but Argon in the largest sized commercial cylinder is about £70 plus annual hire charge for the bottle.
 
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