Monster Garage: How to Weld Damn Near Anything

Rating:
Summary: Recycled data from the 60s, 70s
Review: I bought this book hoping to learn more about welding, but i was overall disppointed...But the book is still interesting because they talk about a lot of techniques, like plasma cutting. And there is way too many pictures

Rating:
Summary: Seen this before!!
Review: I was checking this out at the bookstore today when after a few pages I realized that I have read and seen these same images somewhere before. Then I saw the Author was Finch and realized that its the same book as his "Welder's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Mig, Tig, Arc & Oxyacetylene Welding". Whew glad I didn't buy two. Still some usefull info though.

Rating:
Summary: Welding for airframes and NASCAR
Review: The main gripe I have about this book is that it clearly has little to do with the kind of welding one sees on Monster Garage. 90% of the welding done there is on plain vanilla structural steel, probably with exhaust systems as the main excepion. I don't doubt there have been a few projects with some aluminum, maybe the boat, some tanks or maybe a rad.

What I associate with Monster Garage is a) Jesse is a bike builder; b) the projects are mainly simple metal, sometimes some pretty big parts. In this book the focus is on welding thin section 4130, and aluminum and magnesium. This just isn't bread and butter for most folks who will respond to the title.

The book as you find it is about performance welding these high-tech/thin wall materials. And claims to introduce production techniques from NASCAR (and airframe construction), which it is said has revolutionized frame welding because new production MIG techniques are used. This is an interesting subject but again, not the focus of the kind of one-off buiding MG buider's do, or many workshop types. Where it may pay-off for the average welder is in the techniques for MIG on AL, which at least get coverage.

Also, some of the jigging information may be of value to the one-off builder, it's interesting to see airplane wings constructed on wood jigs versus some of the behemoths often used to weld simple frame parts in the small shop. A lot of weekend welders take their lead from set-ups used in production frame shops, for instance, and might get some simpler ideas here.

I'm pro stick myself, but the fact is it has little use in this environment of .065" wall 4130.

I think new welders will find the equipment selection information up to date, it captures the trends, though some of the photos are a few years old.

Rating:
Summary: useful, but not the whole picture
Review: What do you expect to learn about welding from a book? If you're like me, you know you can't learn to weld by using a book, but you expect to pick up some useful information to help you along. I guess you could say that this book had that.

The intro states that this book will "tell you, step-by-step how to make perfect welds every time". I didn't find that to be the least bit true. In the entire book, which has chapters on selecting equipment, prep work, gas welding, TIG welding, MIG welding, and jigging, there were NO step by steps. I don't think there is anyway you could go buy a welder and even begin to learn to use it with this book. I don't think the book should make that claim.

I liked the fact that he does not dismiss oxyfuel welding as old fashioned, but the subject is totally glossed over- there's no info on tip selection, starting a torch, startup or shutdown safety, welding or cutting techniques, etc. He offers some tips on rod selection for certain metals and fuel pressures but that's about it. If you want a good book on oxyfuel welding get Kevin Bodwitch's book.

The TIG and MIG sections are the same- there were some tips here and there that may help you in selecting equipment and torch size, wire speed, etc, but by no means is it the whole picture.

The main gripe I have with this book is the stick welding section- it's three pages! The first page completely dismisses it as a viable welding method for anything but "barbecues and angle iron". Give me a break! There's a great number of certified SMAW welders that would probably disagree with Finch about the viability of stick welding on ANY project. Just like with TIG, MIG & oxy, SMAW has limitations, but to dismiss it like was done in this book is scandalous. If it's not a good option, why is it practically every welding class out there starts with SMAW? Why don't these classes teach MIG instead? Besides the fact that a monkey could learn to MIG weld, it's because MIG has more limitations than SMAW (when you know how to PROPERLY SMAW of course), the only reason it's propogated here is the ease of use and cost effectiveness compared to TIG. I do like the fact that he points out all the drawbacks in MIG, unlike other books that claim it's the only way to go. He also says that there are only two rods you should be concerned with: 6011 and 7018 . That's not true, they make rods for every kind of welding you could imagine, those two are only the multipurpose rods. Besides, for serious DC SMAW welding, 6010 or 6012 is a much better multipurpose choice, 6011 is for AC machines! I think Finch should drop the chip off his shoulder and realize there's a whole new world of welding out there, his information seems quite outdated on this subject. Throughout the book he talks about debunking old wives tales, but in this chapter he starts a whole new one- that SMAW is a process you should dismiss. Wrong!

The book looks to me like an almost complete repackage of Finch's "Performance Welding", which I saw at the local bookstore. Only that one is in B&W. So, if you get either book this would be the one. He touts all the updated info that makes this book the best, but I really saw none of that. Square Wave machines have been out for years now, and he says about MIG "this emerging process is quickly gaining in popularity because it is easy to operate and relatively fast". Emerging process?!?! That's not up to date!

One of my favorite lines from the book is a caption next to a cluster of tubes that have been MIG welded, "try this cluster several times before you attempt to weld a serious project on an airplane fuselage". I hope nobody that reads this book alone will attempt to weld an airplane fuselage!

Is it worth buying? Yes, it has some good tips, but do not expect to learn welding from it. For the price it is worth it.