Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello ,, i would like to fab my own lattice boom sections and other parts for crane build,,,no experiance welding but very determined and looking for help on howto go about it and get the best result ,,,..in 1:50 scale a 1/4 inch is about a foot ,, so most of my material will be in the 1/4 inch and less,,, angle and tubing ,, also will be making other parts out of 1/8 or less plate ,,so what would be the be way ,, ,stick ,tig ,mig ,,,ect ,, you tell me ,,and what kind of material for boom ,,,weight is not a concern but ease of use and strenght are,, to see what im doing ,go to youtube and search charigus ,,,,thanks gus

well, for productivity and ease i would use the mig process. For ease of use, weight, and strength aluminium would be a good choice.

Interesting project... personally I would use TIG for this. If you are unfamiliar with welding, I would suggest searching your pool of friends for someone who has welding experience and equipment and see some of the processes in action. with those very small cross sections of material mig would require a lot of cleanup... gas welding might work as well. It is possible that brazing would be a suitable process also.
One thing for certain... after this is done you will have a lot of experience welding.
Have fun
paul

this job is begging for solder. you're going to end up warping and burning through all over the place. besides, solder is a lot easier to get into small places. alternatively, you could braze or solver-solder it, but soft plumb solder will be plenty strong enough.