Anyone know any good places to read up?
I know the basics, but 99% of the time it looks like i've squeezed pigeon shit over the weld

 

There are loads of books which are worth a read but by far the best is to get yourself on a local evening course with proper tuition. I did that when I was 17 and have never looked back. Only way to learn is the practical way with somebody to advise you where your going wrong. Not expensive either as I remember.

I keep meaning to sort another one to perfect my tig welding but it will only lead to me buying a Ł2K proper tig which I can neither afford nor justify!

 

As said get a book, or a mate who can weld, mig is very easy, by reading the welds it will tell you what is happening.
The art of mig is correct set up, most particularly wire speed, as this has a massive influence on the work produced, look carefully at what the wire is doing when it hits the weld pool, if for example it is stuttering back and forth or you can feel it pushing you eithe rhave too much feed or too little current.
Aim for sizzling sausages sound if too much current it will tend to blow holes or make welds flatten.
I would just practice as this is the best way,
tabetha

 

I'm with Ratboy. Get on a course at your local college.

I did 2 nights a week for a year. Cost about Ł500. I only wanted to learn to weld for my projects but ended up with a internationally recognised welding qualification as a bonus. A couple of the guys on my course have since emigrated on the quallies they gained.

All the test pieces on the course are examined and destruction tested. Its nice to know that you can perform strong welds in safety critical areas. If you self learn your welds may look great but could still fail easily.

 

as mentioned before, practice practice practice, get your self a load of test pieces and play around with butt welds, fillet weld and lap joints, as Tabs said pay particular attention to the sound and feel, have a read up on how the actual process works, ie how the molten pool forms etc, its one of those thing where you will just click and it will be easy