Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out in the field of welding and fabricating, there are a few essential tools and supplies that you’ll need commonly. We decided to survey a group of welders (all of different skill levels) and see what welding supplies they commonly reach for when melting metal.
Welding Tables & Platforms
Welding Cart- In the perfect world you’d be doing all of your welding on a workbench and you wouldn’t need to move your welder around much, but that’s VERY uncommon. We suggest getting a rolling cart that holds your welder, welder bottle, and welding supplies you commonly use. Some beginners like to build a cart as their first fabrication project, but affordable carts are also available from welding suppliers. We offer a couple variations here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welding+carts
Welding Table or Workbench- One of the essential fixtures in any garage is a good sturdy workbench. A good metal workbench will allow you to weld safely and gets you up off of the ground. Workbenches can go from mild to wild with many plans and pictures on the web, there’s a lot you can DIY for custom workbenches. If you want a portable welding table or even a small fixture table Eastwood offers a few options here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welding+table&ts=custom
Welding Safety Equipment
Auto Dimming Welding Helmet- Pros and beginners alike can benefit from having an auto dimming welding helmet. These helmets work by quickly dimming the shield when sensing a bright light. This not only helps save your eyes, it also makes setting up and finding your weld joint easier with the mask down. The only downfall is your head banging skills will diminish without the need to flip your old helmet down every time you want to weld! A number of options for auto-dimming helmets (from boring to stylish) are available here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welding+helmets&ts=custom
Welding Gloves- Welding is the act of melting metal together and that creates a LOT of heat. Be sure to protect yourself from the heat and harmful UV rays that are produced during the process by wearing a pair of welding gloves. There’s a many different types of gloves designed for different types of welding. Most quality gloves are made of leather and cover your hands and lower arms. Checkout the common options of welding gloves here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welding+gloves&ts=custom
Welding Respirator- Welding and preparing metal for welding can emit dangerous fumes and debris that you can easily inhale. Wearing a respirator or dust mask under your welding helmet can save your lungs and also save the time of blowing black gunk out of your nose after a day in the shop! We offer fume and dust protection here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=respirator&ts=custom
Safety Glasses- Have you ever had a rogue spark fly under your helmet when welding? No? Well you don’t want it to happen it hurts! The worst damage can be done when you least expect it. We suggest wearing a pair of safety glasses under your helmet when welding or grinding. It can be the difference between a trip to the eye doctor to pull a piece of metal out of your eye and a day of trouble-free welding and fabricating! Our complete line of eye protection is available here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=eye+protection&ts=custom
Other Essential Welding Accessories
Angle Grinder-A grinder is an essential item to have around the shop. By changing the discs on the grinder you can perform a lot of different tasks. When welding it’s great to have a grinder on hand to clean the weld joint, smooth proud welds, and cut metal to size. We prefer an electric angle grinder such as these: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=angle+grinder&ts=custom
Welding Clamps- Generally tight joints are preferred when welding metal together. Using welding clamps will allow you to set your work piece up firmly while welding it together. It also allows you to pull metal together and keep it straight as you work around a larger work piece. There are a number of different shapes and styles of clamps available here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welding+clamps
Hammer and Dolly Kit- Hammers and dollies can be essential when setting up a work piece for welding and also during the weld process. These can help straighten the panel as you weld (also called hammer welding) and also “fine tune” a joint before you weld. When welding sheet metal you may also need to use a hammer and dolly do work out minor shrinking caused by the heat generated during the weld process. We offer a full line of hammers and dollies here: https://www.eastwood.com/autobody/hammers-dollies.html
Measuring Tools- No matter what your local grease monkey tells you, eyeballing something when fabricating or preparing a weld joint is not acceptable. Be sure to invest in a number of measuring devices. The most common are tape measures, metal rulers, calipers or “micrometers”, and metal T-squares. We offer most of these on www.eastwood.com here: https://www.eastwood.com/shop-equipment/measuring-tools.html
Pre and Post weld Treatment- Corrosion is the enemy when it comes to metal fabrication and welding. This is why most good fabricators clean and protect their weld surfaces before and after welding. Our entire line of metal treatments is listed here: https://www.eastwood.com/welders/surface-prep.html
Copper Backing Plates- Ideally all of your weld joints should be a tight fit, but this isn’t always the case in the real world especially for weekend warrior projects. Keeping a set of copper plates on your welding cart will allow you to back up less-than-ideal gaps in your weld joint. They also can act as a “safety net” for beginners that may have trouble with burning through thinner gauge metal. The different types of copper backer platers or “welders helpers” can be found here: http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=welders+helpers&ts=custom
If you work on filling your shop with these essential items you can be sure you can handle most any DIY job you decide to tackle. Even the most experienced welders and fabricators are looking for more tools. So for that reason we’re always working to come up with and source new tools and supplies to help you do the job right! Check our welding supplies out at: https://www.eastwood.com/welders.html
-Matt/EW