It is a popular misconception that welding is expensive as it requires a lot of tools and equipment. But the truth is that all you need is some essential welding equipment and you can start welding right away. Even though there are a lot of welding tools and equipment out there in the market, you don’t need every tool as you can get a simple welding job done only using some basic welding tools. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the essential welding tools and equipment list.
Welding Tools List
Contents
Welding table
A welding table is a must for welding. Welding on the ground is possible but if you are working on smaller projects it can be quite a headache and uncomfortable to work. Before you start with your welding job, you need to find an even surface to place your tools and the details to be welded as uneven surfaces will make things difficult. Welding tables come in all sizes and shapes and sizes, traditionally wooden tables were used, but as you might assume, a table made out of metal would be a reasonable way to go. Better look for a welding table that provides you easy options to place all the tools and get your job done easier or make one yourself.
Auto-Darkening Helmet
Welding helmets are an essential part of welding safety as it provides the welders with ultimate protection for their faces and neck from getting exposed to the sparks and fumes flying around. It is quite impossible to even think about welding without wearing a safety helmet. Even though some people carry on with the welding process just wearing a cap, it is quite dangerous, and they can cause permanent damage to their eyes. Invest in a good quality welding helmet, whether you like fixed-shade helmets or the auto-darkening one’s.
Welding helmets come in various sizes and types and the most popular ones are the auto-darkening helmets that automatically darkens the glass shield when it spots a bright light. These helmets also offer a larger viewing panel, here’s a review of one top-notch auto-darkening welding hood.
Welding Gloves
I can’t stress this enough, safety is an important parameter for welding as you always need to give utmost importance to it as welding involves dangerous tools and equipment and could harm you any second. Another important equipment essential for welding is gloves. Never go for the normal safety gloves available in the market but buy specialized gloves that are made for welding purposes. Remember the arc temperature may even reach up to hundreds of degrees and even when you wear specialized welding gloves, you can still feel the heat.
Safety Glasses
Welding also produces hot sparks flying all around, even though welding helmets provide protection for your eyes, it is always better to wear protection glasses to ensure complete protection for your eyes. Never insist to wear a wedding helmet without wearing the safety glasses. Welding helmets don’t provide you 100% protection as they don’t cover your face 100% as there still some gaps left and even a tiny spark can cause major damage to your eyes. So it is always recommended to wear safety glasses even while using a welding helmet. It also makes your life easier if you have to clean or grind the base metals before welding without the helmet between the welds.
Angle Grinder
Angle grinders are another important aspect when it comes to welding as you can never think of completing a welding job without the use of an angle grinder. These are mainly needed for grinding purposes and also for smoothening the weld surface. These grinders can also be used to cut a pieces of metal into two and no welding shop is complete without an angle grinder. It is really versatile tool to have.
Welding Clamps
When it comes to Welding tools and equipment list, welding clamps are another essential tool that helps in keeping the weld pieces together. Say if you are weld pieces are not held together tightly, it could become be impossible to weld and depending on the size of the metals, you can even use up to 10 welding clamps. These clamps are mainly used when you complete cutting the pieces and fitting them together. The clamps hold the pieces firmly while you weld the pieces.
Welding C Clamps
Next in our basic welding tools list is the welding C clamps that helps in holding together the workpiece onto the table. These clamps come in various sizes and as the name suggests, these clamps are shaped in the C as you can see in the picture above.
Measuring Tools
Precision is an important aspect of welding as a metal that is cut into pieces of wrong sizes won’t fit together or cannot be weld properly. This is where a measuring tool can help you in a great extent as and these tools come in various types including tapes, calipers, rulers and framing squares. Digital calipers mostly provide you with the perfect measurements.
MIG Pliers
A welding hand tool list cannot be complete without a MIG plier as they are versatile in nature and can help you get many simple jobs done quickly. Whether it requires to remove a contact tip from or removing a hot nozzle, the MIG pliers can be used. Even though you will be wearing safety gloves, it is not wise to pick up hot metals using your safety gloves as you might burn yourself, that is where the pliers come in handy also.
Metal file
Once you have completed welding the pieces together, a metal file is used to remove all the metal burrs and smoothen the surface and provide a finished product. It can also be used to work on small weld pieces as well as smoothen all the finer details or clean the base metals removing any excess rust and dirt.
Conclusion
That concludes the list for our Welding tools list. Even though still there are a lot of welding accessories and supplies available in the market, it would take another 2-3 page to complete the entire list and hence we’ve listed only the essential welding tools list that should cover the basic needs, we will add more tools in the future so stay tuned.
Of course, you would need a welder as well, so check out our guide on how to pick the best MIG welder while getting the most bang for your buck.
Please post your comments and suggestions in the feedback section below along with your favorite welding equipment and why you like it so much. We would like to hear back from you. Happy Welding!!!
