Anyone learn to weld in the process of Airstream reno?

[JoleneAS]

Hey guys. Doing the full restoration on my trailer and hope to get the subfloors removed this weekend. Thus far I do not see any major rust when peeling back part of the banana wraps, but I know anything can be possible on a 42 year old trailer.

Has anyone learned to weld for the sake of avoiding paying welding fees? Is that a stupid idea since we are talking about outriggers and crossmembers that must be able to be road-ready and support the weight of furnishings and my family?

[rmkrum]

Personally, unless you are willing to spend the time to become a certified welder, so you can be sure of how your frame welds will perform, I'd pay for a trained, certified mobile welder or welding shop to do the work on critical items.

I had a shop build a custom TV stand out of steel tubing and plate that mounted in a corner window in my former house. It was able to easily handle the 70 pound TV I mounted on it with a swivel plate so it could turn easily.

My wife was concerned about the ability of the mount to handle the TV's weight, so I basically put all my weight (220 pounds) on the mount for the TV to demonstrate it's strength. It didn't even deflect..2" steel tubing, a gusset plate, 4 huge lag bolts into the house structure, and a good weld job made it very safe. Yes, I paid for a certified welder to do the work...well worth the money since the TV was mounted where my family ate dinner and we lived in earthquake country...

The welder asked if he could keep the plans and make more of them. He got his own set to keep.

[Totlh]

I can weld, after all I did build my own log splitter. However, the welds are ugly and the first attempt broke. That said, if you want an experimental trailer, I would go for the welder with questionable qualifications. If you want a good weldd job, go to someone who knows what they are doing. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Jerry

[JoleneAS]

Thanks ya'll. I'll save it for the pros.

[Totlh]

Originally Posted by JoleneAS

Thanks ya'll. I'll save it for the pros.

Good call!

[Bubba L]

A lot of what the welder charges for is the cutting and fitting of the piece of steel before welding. You could save some money by investing in a 4” side grinder. With abrasive wheels and grinding wheels you can form most anything on the chassis. I have a Lincoln wire feed that I use for gates and stuff like that around the barn. On the 55 chassis, I cut, shaped and beveled the edges of every piece I needed welded. I tacked the outriggers on with the wire feed plus a few other items. Then I towed the chassis a few miles to a certified welder and he welded all the tacked on pieces I had placed. He was certified and did a good job. I would never trust my welding on something that would put my wife’s life or someone else’s in harms way. Good luck, Bubba

[dbj216]

I learned to weld years ago with "stick" welders. The shielded arc wire feed welders are so much better nowadays. Welding is a skill that requires practice, somewhat like car painting. Heck, I even have trouble laying down a smooth caulk bead. Embarrassing. Some folks have the right touch, and some don't.

So I hired a mobile welder. I identified 9 areas on my Overlander frame needing repaired or improved and he addressed them all. I had the materials purchased and cut to fit so he just had to weld them in place. It took 4 hours of work, and I paid him $400. My frame no longer sags and the body is well attached to the frame at the rear.

Learn to weld. Become a construction welder. You will make good money for the hard work. Know any young folks that aspire to become welders?

David

[Atomic_13]

I needed (and wanted) a completely new frame and considered this issue as well. A welding certificate at my area community college cost $2700 and is three semesters in duration. However, I’m sure there are non-certificate courses that could provide adequate instruction for less time and money. If you plan to weld other high stakes items, particularly for someone else, a certificate makes sense. If not, it might be cheaper, faster, and more safe in the long run to pay a certified welder to do the work. I was fortunate to have my father and grandfather who have been welding all their lives mentor me. In fact, five generations of family members have been involved with my renovation (if you count plastic hammer wielding toddlers). The frame turned out nice and so far nothing has fallen off. It’s likely overbuilt (which is a family tradition)[emoji4]

[r carl]

Originally Posted by Atomic_13

I needed (and wanted) a completely new frame and considered this issue as well. A welding certificate at my area community college cost $2700 and is three semesters in duration. However, I’m sure there are non-certificate courses that could provide adequate instruction for less time and money. If you plan to weld other high stakes items, particularly for someone else, a certificate makes sense. If not, it might be cheaper, faster, and more safe in the long run to pay a certified welder to do the work. I was fortunate to have my father and grandfather who have been welding all their lives mentor me. In fact, five generations of family members have been involved with my renovation (if you count plastic hammer wielding toddlers). The frame turned out nice and so far nothing has fallen off. It’s likely overbuilt (which is a family tradition)[emoji4]

Attachment 332329

Attachment 332328

Good job! Looks like a proper frame that will support the shell.

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by r carl

Good job! Looks like a proper frame that will support the shell.

Outriggers look much stouter than factory. Don't imagine any of yours will break off or poke thru the belly pan.

[Bob662]

AS others have suggested, get a professional to do your welding. Here's why.

When I moved to this farm, I realized the ability to weld was an essential skill. So I went to a local community college for two semesters and learned how. I could have gotten certified, but there was no need to do so since I wasn't going to weld professionally.

Welding is very much an art form. You need to learn how and (most importantly) why welds work. When my life depends on it, I use a stick welder. If I'm just sticking two pieces together, I use a MiG welder. If it's fine work and small, TiG is ideal.

Pros can make excellent welds that also look great, because they do it all day, every day. You should see some of the beautiful gas welding done by women during WWII on fuselage frames. They learned how, then did it all day, every day.

Unless you want to devote the time to training and then lots of practice, hire a good commercial welder! You can then be assured there's proper weld penetration and it'll also look good.

[tbashin]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Personally, unless you are willing to spend the time to become a certified welder, so you can be sure of how your frame welds will perform, I'd pay for a trained, certified mobile welder or welding shop to do the work on critical items.

I had a shop build a custom TV stand out of steel tubing and plate that mounted in a corner window in my former house. It was able to easily handle the 70 pound TV I mounted on it with a swivel plate so it could turn easily.

My wife was concerned about the ability of the mount to handle the TV's weight, so I basically put all my weight (220 pounds) on the mount for the TV to demonstrate it's strength. It didn't even deflect..2" steel tubing, a gusset plate, 4 huge lag bolts into the house structure, and a good weld job made it very safe. Yes, I paid for a certified welder to do the work...well worth the money since the TV was mounted where my family ate dinner and we lived in earthquake country...

The welder asked if he could keep the plans and make more of them. He got his own set to keep.

Sounds like you had a great idea. How about sharing some pictures?

[rmkrum]

Wish I could, but the project was done over 30 years ago, and I have no digital pictures whatsoever from that era. I'm not even sure there is a picture in some buried box of 35mm slides somewhere...the drawn by hand paper plans were left with the welder.

Basically it was a piece of 3/16 sheet steel bent 90 degrees that mounted neatly on the wall corner post. From that a 2" square tube about 5 feet long at a 45 degree angle was welded to that, with a gusset plate to stiffen it. At the end of the square tube there was another 45 degree cut that a 6 inch square plate was mounted on. That plate was drilled to mount a 6" square heavy duty ball bearing furniture swivel and I made a 2x10 wooden shelf that was bolted to the swivel. The TV was strapped onto the shelf with a 3" wide nylon web ratchet strap.

When we moved out of that house, we left the TV mount behind because the new house we were moving into had no post in the corner that the mount could fit into. Stopped by the old house many years later, as it was on sale again. The mount was gone, but the lag screw holes were quite obviously patched.

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by JoleneAS

Hey guys. Doing the full restoration on my trailer and hope to get the subfloors removed this weekend. Thus far I do not see any major rust when peeling back part of the banana wraps, but I know anything can be possible on a 42 year old trailer.

Has anyone learned to weld for the sake of avoiding paying welding fees? Is that a stupid idea since we are talking about outriggers and crossmembers that must be able to be road-ready and support the weight of furnishings and my family?

I did, for three main reasons:

• I am adverse to paying anyone to do anything that I think I can do myself. This avoids the feeling of being disappointed that someone I paid didn't do a good job, sometimes replaced by the feeling of being disappointed in myself for messing something up. But at least I'm learning something in the process!
• I like to learn new skills and have used the welder and the skills I developed many times since.
• I did a shell-on restoration which makes it harder to do all of the welding at the same time, so it probably would have meant having a welder make multiple trips to my home which would have significantly increased the price.

I welded the outriggers, stair supports and a couple of cross-members, but paid someone to weld on a new coupler - that's where I would draw the line.

[LilPeanut]

Here’s another opinion. I could weld some basic stuff before and decided I needed a project. After building a right hand drive Jeep and replacing a pile of mistakes, I learned a lot. I had the basics but now have more experience.

If it is a project, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

[PKI]

If you embrace doing the welding for your project, research position welding. A rotary fixture would make a good structure on which to practice. Pat

[FC7039]

If you ever see my trailer for sale you probable should not buy it. I needed some welding. Got on Craigslist and bought a welder. I believe you have to have a can do attitude or your restoration will be done at the hands of others and you will always be beholden to others. People talk of going to Jackson to see how a trailer is made. I witnessed mine first hand. Things break. I am to blame and I do. But I know who to call to get things fixed.

[ITSNO60]

MIG welding machines make it easy for the average Joe to lay down a good looking bead but most beginners will not understand how welding really works and those good looking welds will be cold, and just be stuck to the surface waiting to fall apart. It's all about the puddle, you have to understand the puddle. The best way to understand the puddle is to start with Oxy/Acetylene, then graduate to stick and lastly to MIG.
I've been a hobby weldor for many years and I have built a lot of stuff but when it comes to anything that goes down the road I will not touch it, mainly for liability reasons.

[Ultradog]

The term certified welder doesn't mean a whole lot as there are many types and kinds of certifications.
For example, you can get certified to tig weld stainless steel in a flat position. This does not mean you are certified to weld vertical, horizontal or overhead position.
You can get certified to tig weld aluminum in numerous positions - or all position.
There are certs for gas shielded, flux core wire feed (mig) certs for arc (rod) etc, etc.
So a guy who is certified to weld 304 stainless piping in a nuclear power plant isn't allowed to arc weld steam lines in a shipyard or weld structural steel in a skyscraper.
In a former life I was a welder. Held a 4G cert for arc which meant I could weld steel in any position but couldn't weld pipe.
It was an interesting job - I had my own mobile truck but it was too industrial and dirty so I left it.
Welding is fun and satisfying.
I suggest you go take a couple of evening classes at your local VoTech. They will teach you the basics - including safety. They will have all the types of welders and let you specialize in the type you like.
This is not a 2 year program. It'll be for 12 weeks or so - for farmers, mechanics and hobbiests. You will learn a lot and have a good, safe place to practice welding.
Take a couple of them and you will have the knowledge to decide which kind of a welder you would like to buy for home and the skill to use it .
Please note that having good welding skills will not make you a good fabricator.
But if you are a guy with a good spatial aptitude, can measure, can build things out of wood, plastic or other materials then you can build things out of metal too.
It has been 35 years since I worked as a welder but I still do a bit of it for hobby stuff.
I would have no qualms about "welding the coupler on a trailer".

[Ultradog]

Originally Posted by Ultradog

Th".

I meant to add a couple of photos of the deck I built a couple of years ago for the back of our house. The handrail is built out of the huge drive chains from an old draglune.