Project training advice

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Greetings from Louisville, KY.I am just getting started welding. I have a Clarke Weld 100e that I bought for $5 in non-working condition, as the 9mm wire inside wouldn't feed evenly. I spent $5.99 on a roll of the correct sized wire (8mm max), and now it works fine. Came with a full bottle, too. I've been practicing on scrap metal for about a month now, and I'm getting pretty good with sheet metal (metal breaks before welds when beaten with a hammer), I'm only so-so with thicker steel as of yet.I'm in the process of restoring a Fiat 850 Spider, and have a number of welding tasks to do before the 'main event.' First, I need to weld in new floor panels, I don't have any questions there; as long as I don't burn holes in it it will keep the water out, gravity will keep it on the car, and a large dose of POR-15 will keep it from rusting off. I will also need to weld in a triangular piece on the bottom side of the nose of the car where a previous owner cut out a section to use a tow bar, and a brace where a horizontal piece of the frame rusted out from the large hole. Those shouldn't pose too much of a problem, either, other than making the body panel look pretty with some filler.Here's the hard part; I'm building a roll bar out of 11 Ga (.120" or ~3mm) ERW tubing. Mount plates will be 3/16" (4.7mm) thick, and it should meet SCCA specs (I'm not planning on racing it, but might as well) Autopower is the only manufacturer who makes one for this car, but I would need to weld a diagonal, harness mounts, and the plates myself anyway to make it work. Local shops here won't guarantee the convertible top will clear a custom roll bar, and it would be a rather expensive trial and error process. Designing my own is my best option. My neighbor works at a custom motorcycle shop and can bend/let me bend the tubing for free, I know a guy at the metal supplier, and I'll have all the steel in a few days (for less than $50!)Before I get a bunch of negative responses, I know this is safety equipment, that my life might depend on it and I'm being overly ambitious. But I'm not (completely) insane. I will not attempt this if I'm not confident with my welding. If I'm not satisfied, I'll design, bend, and cut the pieces and have someone experienced weld it up, but if at all possible I want to do it myself. I'm really good with my hands, and I pick up things really quickly. I'm not trying to get this done this weekend or this month, but probably within the next 3 months.If my welder isn't up to the task, I have access to a friends Lincoln 175, but I would need to practice on it for a while to get familiar with it.What I'm hoping for is some advice on how to 'train' for this job. I'll have about 10 feet extra of the tubing, I was planing on slicing a few feet into 1 inch sections to practice welding to plate, then notching the rest for tube-tube practice. Everything would be beaten apart or cut in half to check penetration. Is there anything else anyone would recommend?Thanks,Patrick Joyce(If anyone's checking, yes, I did post this on another board as well)
Reply:Originally Posted by PatrickJ I was planing on slicing a few feet into 1 inch sections to practice welding to plate, then notching the rest for tube-tube practice. Everything would be beaten apart or cut in half to check penetration.
Reply:One other thing, cut all your practice welds apart so you can see what kind of fusion you're getting, so you can have some visual feedback on both the appearance of the practice welds and on the insides of your practice welds.From what I've seen on this board, and the attitude of the other members here, I'd feel free to post pics of your practice welds.  You'll get advice and troubleshooting help from the folk here that will help you improve as you're practicing.  Though you may get some critical appraisals of your photography  (truth is that it is difficult to get a good pic of a weld without several angles and lighting changes), you'll also get some good advice.KalroyKalroy"It's all about the OODA Loop."
Reply:Originally Posted by PatrickJ Everything would be beaten apart or cut in half to check penetration.