Originally Posted by
mconlonx
This.
I did a local high school adult ed welding class before doing a bicycle frame-building seminar. Helped a lot. Then I furthered that with an intro to welding class at a local community college and a refresher at a local makerspace. Learn a bit of stick and MIG and you'll be good for most welding, but try your hand at TIG as well. The community college class also covered torch and plasma cutting.
Welder costs:
Stick
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Mig
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Tig.
But, considering the high initial cost of a TIG unit, you can generally also use them to stick weld. Stick welding is primitive; MIG is quick and dirty; TIG is precise but overkill in most applications and more expensive. I don't know of any high-end custom bike mfgs using anything other than either TIG or brazing, but I have seen messengers and alt-bike people riding MIGged and Stick welded abominations.
Thanks Headloss and Mconlonx. This is good, specific information that helps. Maybe Sitck is the way to go. Cheap, old-school, easy? My repairs won't be for show or resale so I don't much care if it falls into the "abomination" category. Regardless, a welded repair would be better and look better than duct tape.