How to get started in fabrication

Want to teach myself how to fabricate. What are some tools that can help me get started. I am a beginner welder. I have 3 years experience but I would like to add more skills. I would like to get in to custom work some day on choppers and bobber style motorcycles also cars. Any advice that can help me get started...

 

Use your local Community College, there are many classes you can take including Cad, Sheetmetal, Auto Body and so forth. Not just about being able to weld, you need the ability to think outside of the box and have the Cad experience to put your thoughts down on paper. Then again there are outstanding fabricators who wouldn't even know how to turn a computer on.

 

Well see... I am paying for my school now for when I went to welding school. Im just trying to experiment with stuff and see what happens.

 

Grab yourself some sheet metal, say 18 gauge and start making small boxes . Get to where you are not affraid to mess up and start cutting. The great thing about metal is that you can mess up and then fix it. Go buy or pick up an old fender and cut some rust out. Make a replacement panel and weld it in. Move around and put many spot welds, don't just run a bead. Do this until you feel comfortable with the process. Just dive in, what's the worst that could happen?
Mike

 

Don't talk about, Just do it. Start making stuff. Start easy and work towards harder stuff.

Get your hands dirty. That is the only way it is going to happen

 

I'd say check YouTube for videos on what you are trying to make, or a technique you're trying to learn. Have yet to not be succesful in finding what I want to know via that method.

 

Work on getting my tools and equipment first then will start I just like to get ideas first

 

Learn on your own time, once you learn a new skill take on a new project and make money on it. As your skills grow the more projects, and diverse projects you can take on. Don't be afraid to say no, but at the same time don't be afraid to stretch yourself a bit further.

It's like asking how to build a castle, you have to lay one brick at a time. But in the end it's not about the castle it's about the journey getting there.

 

There is not a perfect answer, there will never be a perfect time to learn, you will never have all of the tools you need, and so on. Asking what tools.... I started with a torch, grinder, and stick welder. Far too often people see shops with every tool you can imagine and assume you need all of that to do great things. A great fabricator is someone who can think on the fly and make it happen with the resources presented. If you want to learn. Find something you want to do. DO it.... do it over and over until you get it right. Then move on to something else. I started before there was an interweb to read and watch videos. There is no excuse for someone not learning something with the access to information we have today. Learn something everyday. Never be outworked by others around you. I challenge myself daily to continue learning. I never assume the way I do something is the only or best way of doing it. I remain open to learn from who ever wants to teach me something.

So get started today. Start watching videos, reading books, talking to people, going to shops, offer to sweep just be around high level fabrication. I have a couple guys that come at night and work for free just for the knowledge they pick up here at the shop.