Best way to learn how to weld?

check out this guy's youtube videos, really good info.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/

 

Aluminum is going to be a problem with the 140 anyways.

Fluxcore puts a lot more heat into the metal than the gas-shielded methods, but 120v welders just don't have the "oomph" to get enough heat into aluminum to weld it since aluminum is such a good conductor of heat.

I've been very happy with my results using fluxcore on mild steel. Made passenger highway pegs and a luggage rack for my motorcycle, entertainment center, hitch-mount dirtbike hauler.

If you are going to get serious about it and intend to move into gas, and work with aluminum and stainless, I would recommend returning the 140 and getting one of the 240v units.
If you do keep the 140, watch the duty cycle. The 140 is only rated to 20% at 90amps... that's only 12 minutes per hour of actual weld time on high power.

Also, if you bump against the thermal limiter, it will gradually degrade and cut off early.
I've got a little Sears 90a unit, and while it does everything I have needed, I am finding that I'm taking more and more frequent breaks.

The problem is, when I first started out, I was new at everything... cutting, fitting, cleaning, and welding. As I worked through practice pieces and projects, as well as picked up some better tools, I'm getting quicker at fabrication, so I'm beginning to over-run the abilities of the welder and am frequently hitting the limiter.

If I had ready access to 240 in my condo, I'd have gone with a better unit.

 

I have never done any other welding than stick. I had to teach myself, and the only way to do it is to get the scrap pieces out and start playing. You have an eye for detail, so you will figure it out. Experiment with the different settings, slow vs. fast, c-shape vs. straight etc. It will not take long before you see what works and what not, and then you can perfect it from there.

 

This.

I took a beginner's class on welding on the local community college. It went like this: read book, go burn up a bunch of rods laying bead after bead onto a piece of scrap steel. After a while you start welding pieces together. No reason why you can't do this in your own garage at your convienience.

Definitely go get a book though, it helped me tremendously.

Basically you are heating up two pieces of metal until they just start to melt into a "pool". Then you add some filler into that "pool" and let the metal cool down. If done correctly you have one piece of metal. If you get the pool of metal too hot, you burn a hole right through your material. Steel gets red so you can see how hot it is really easy. Aluminum does not turn red, you don't get a lot of warning before you burn through the base metal. Don't even bother with alumninum until you are a master with steel.

 

Regular MIG is pretty easy to learn to do, just takes practice for your welds to look awesome. Since your welder is apparently set up, I would for sure get into TIG. It's harder but your beads like amazing and it just makes your finished projects look awesome.

Like the other guys said I would use your MIG welder with some gas. I know some people run flux core with gas, and those beads can look pretty damn good, you just get a lot of chip off. Or go solid wire and you won't have that problem as much.

Either way good luck! Welding is awesome, I currently suck at TIG mostly because I'm not good using both hands at once. Could never do oxy- acetelyne either.

 

ummm wut? Why in the world would you waste the MORE expensive flux core wire when you have gas?

 

Also Im 99.9% sure that lincoln 140 will not do tig. Does it have the option to use AC, DC-, and DC+?

 

Nope.
Wirefeed only, with or without gas.
Two controls... feed rate and a 4-step heat control.

Q&A indicates it can handle up to 3/16" aluminum using .035 4043 wire

 

At the shop I work at we use flux core with gas, but then again we weld thick ass material.

 

hmm, never heard of that. What is the point of using gas with it? I know you do get better penetration with flux core, and that is with no shielding gas since it makes its own.

 

i had 3 years of metal shop in high school and now im really good at stick and mig welding, and good at oxy-acetelene torch cutting

 

I also have a lincoln 140. I dont do anything big with it, exhaust on my powerstroke, mudflap brackets for my travel trailer, and a few other little things. I am lucky enough, that at my work we have an absolute top notch fab shop, and I spent some time with them when I first got it. After they showed me some basics I just started sticking metal together. I'm still not good, but I can get stuff to stick together. Now I'm working on pretty-ing it up.

 

There's no camera's in here Connor. This is more like when your camera blows up.

 

Then again you do have a Jeep.

 

Prepared like a MF boy scout!

 

Hell yeah you do!