Welding Training

From London Hackspace Wiki

This page details the training programme/ requirements for the welding equipment. The space has three types of welder - MMA (stick), MIG and TIG, each requiring a separate training session. Generally training starts with MIG, which is the simplest and easiest type of welding to start with.

Training sessions typically last an hour or two, and there will usually be a moderate fee to be discussed with your trainer.

If you would like to get welding training please add your name to the Waiting List and watch the 'Induction Requests' channel on Discord for announcements of upcoming sessions.

All inductions will stress the importance of basic housekeeping:

  • Please double check that the gas is shut off if you have been using MIG or TIG
  • Clean Equipment and put it away
  • Report any faults observed or discovered whilst using equipment
  • Clean workshop floor area
  • Clean and replace tools used

All inductions will cover the same fundamental safety requirements:

  • Safe Working Area
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Controls
  • Heat Risk
  • Visual Risk
  • EMF Risk

Maintainers/ Trainers

The current maintainers are Toby Molyneux

MIG Training

MIG is a production environment tool, it is quick and easy to learn the basics and produce good decorative welds (although developing strong, reliable welds takes a lot of practice). The LHS machine can weld carbon steels only, from around 2mm upward depending on skill. MIG is currently the 'beginner' welding method at LHS, and inductions are available on a semi-regular basis.

Machine: MightMIG 190

Training will cover:

  • Weldable Materials
  • Power Selection
  • Feed speeds
  • Gas settings
  • Welding Position
  • Preparing a work piece
  • Doing the business


Please watch the following videos before attending training:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzBGZaS1apw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdQT-eswYY


It is also important to wear long-sleeved, non-synthetic clothing to protect your body from UV and heat exposure. It is also highly recommended that you wear a P3 rated dust mask, such as 3M Aura 3220+ or this from Screwfix (roughly £2-4).


The notes used for Toby's training sessions are available here - File:Toby's MIG Training Notes r02.pdf. Other trainers will do something similar, but might not follow this exact plan.

MMA (Stick) Training

MMA which is also called arc or stick welding - this broadly is for all general steel 3 mm and thicker (if you were a coded welder you would be able to do a lot of other things too). It is used in industry particularly where you are required to weld on site. It is structurally strong, robust and uses basic consumables - ships were and are built using this technique.

Machines: TIG Welder (Castolin CastoTIG 3002) (note currently we use the MMA function of our TIG welder rather than having a dedicated machine)

We do not currently have a trainer for the MMA machines. We'd be very interested in hearing from anyone who has experience in this field and would like to come forward as a trainer!

Training will cover:

  • Weldable Materials
  • Power Selection
  • Choosing welding rod
  • Welding Position
  • Preparing a work piece
  • Starting a weld
  • Running a bead

Please watch the following videos before attending training:

How it works - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeBX6cKKHWY&list=PL43KZ3XKpFBjpiIS8aIY73bN6R-51PN8R&index=2

Speeds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpJQtv-wGl4&list=PL43KZ3XKpFBiPRwoYrWHTqLw3QJpIF7Mf

Vertical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JJxuwZ055A&list=PL43KZ3XKpFBjpiIS8aIY73bN6R-51PN8R


TIG Training

TIG is good for exotics i.e aluminium , stainless and thin metals you can of course do steel to this requires mastery of setting the gas flow current setting, co- ordination some of which you will have gained from the previous two techniques but control of a filler rod is now introduced

Machine: TIG Welder (Castolin CastoTIG 3002)

We do not currently have a trainer for the TIG machine. We'd be very interested in hearing from anyone who has experience in this field and would like to come forward as a trainer!

Training will cover:

  • Weldable Materials
  • Power and other settings
  • Using the AC Node
  • Assembling the torch and preparing the tungsten
  • Gas settings
  • Using the pedal
  • Welding Position
  • Preparing a work piece
  • Joining materials


Training Records

Trained welders
Member Name Member Number Stick Trained? (Date/Trainer) MIG Trained? (Date/Trainer) TIG Trained? (Date/Trainer)
Ben Vaughan ? / Des ? / Des
Dean Forbes ? / Dean ? / Dean ? / Dean
Des Quilty ? / Liam ? / Liam ? / Liam
Eugene ? / Dean ? / Dean
Hamish ? / ? ? / ? ? / ?
Hipster ? / ? ? / ?
Ilya ? / Des ? / Des
Ian Henderson ? / ? ? / ? ? / ?
James Beyer ? / ? ? / ? ? / ?
Jose ? / ?
Katrina ? / Des
Ken Wyatt ? / Des
Laurie Baggett ? / Des
Liam ? / Dean ? / Dean ? / Dean
Maria ? / ? ? / ?
Mark Steward ? / Des ? / Des
Matt ? / ? ? / ?
Patrick Pater ? / Des
Russ ? / Liam ? / Liam ? / Liam
SCI ? / ? ? / ?
Sid Charity ? / Ben V
Tim Stephens ? / Des
Tom Greer ? / ? ? / ? ? / ?
Tom Hodder ? / Russ
Vlad ? / Des
Zack Osbourne ? / Des ? / Des
Zingzilar ? / ? ? / ?
Calum Nicoll ? / Dean ? / Dean ? / Dean
Emmanual ? / Calum
Gareth Shippen ? / Calum ? / Calum ? / Calum
John Perkins ? / Calum
Raffe Burrell ? / Calum
Billy Smith ? / Calum
Shaun Meehan ? / Calum ? / Calum
Jack Oat HS32949 2022-02-05 / Dean
Faissal Bensefia HS27638 2022-02-19 / Dean
Regol ? 2022-08-23 / Toby
Kyle HS35053 2022-08-17 / Toby
Dave (VintageSteel) ? 2022-09-24 / Dax/Toby
Hasan M ? 2022-10-05 / Dax
Jashar ? 2022-10-05 / Dax
Arthur Tinsley ? 2022-10-09 / Dax
Liyang Hu ? 2022-10-09 / Dax
Mauro HS31758 2022-10-09 / Dax
Baard Hans Sylling HS35106 2022-10-26 / Dean 2022-10-26 / Dean 2022-10-26 / Dean
Dragos HS32771 2022-10-27 / Dean