Welding for beginners

[trevera25]

All plans for this weekend have gone up the spout for one reason or another so I end up with the unenviable repairs to a steel framed pool . I left it empty overnight for one night during the winter and we just happened to get hit by a storm that night which bent a load of the T piece legs . Where the upright meats the T piece some of the welds have split so although I've managed to straighten them all out , I need to weld the joins again , and also reinforce the others.
So I had a go with a stick welder but the only rods I have need a fairly hefty current to work properly which blasted holes in the first attempt so I switched to the Tig welder ( could be Mig but I think it's Tig ) . With the power set to minimum there were some joints where the thing still blasted a hole and others where it had almost no effect at all so I ended up constantly changing settings to get it to work .
I've finally got all the legs repaired , and ground to a half decent finish but , here comes the question .
Is there any way I can tell if the weld has actually worked , short of putting them through the storm test again . Also , if anyone has any tips on welding they would come in useful to me as you've probably guessed that I'm a total amateur when it comes to sticking bits of metal together .

[Ken.P.]

I learnt my welding in the shed with a stick welder off ebay!

Best test I've found (and I'm serious, I use it on anything I might want to rely on........) is a hammer! ;D
Crap welds soon crack and drop off....

[trevera25]

I suppose a good wack with a hammer would certainly be a bit telling ;D the problem I have with the stick method is that the rods need too much power for the tubes to take and it just blasts through , and nowhere on a sunday to get lighter gauge sticks from

P.S. , I'll ignore the profanity ;D

[Ken.P.]

That's the thing with welding, you try and start on some small stuff before you realise it's easier welding big stuff!
My son is a welder and reckons I'm welding better with a stick than some blokes he works with using MIG.....

[trevera25]

even from elsewhere , practice is suggested , with some very useful links too

[NigeL]

Something that engineers on ship tried to teach me ... but I couldn't strike "arc" and keep rod away from work ... all I kept doing was having rod "welded" to the work !!
One engineer reckoned if you could write your name - then you wre good ... another just said "Rubbish" !!

I know you've done it now albeit unsure if welds are good ... but wouldn't Gas Welding have been more easy .... ? At least it wouldn't have blown so many holes !!

Mate of mine years ago bought a welder machine out of Exch. & Mart (remember that !! still printed now !) .... reckoned suitable for car repairs etc. - that used to blow holes in everything no matter what you did ... and as for car parts ! Forget it ...

[trevera25]

probably would have been better but when you have to use what's available you make do

[jimbuoy]

sbc said:

Something that engineers on ship tried to teach me ... but I couldn't strike "arc" and keep rod away from work ... all I kept doing was having rod "welded" to the work !!
One engineer reckoned if you could write your name - then you wre good ... another just said "Rubbish" !!

I know you've done it now albeit unsure if welds are good ... but wouldn't Gas Welding have been more easy .... ? At least it wouldn't have blown so many holes !!

Mate of mine years ago bought a welder machine out of Exch. & Mart (remember that !! still printed now !) .... reckoned suitable for car repairs etc. - that used to blow holes in everything no matter what you did ... and as for car parts ! Forget it ...

I did a night school course once but was terrible at it... same problems as you Nigel.