Learning to weld the back gate

When we drove out the Volvo to drive it to the Netherlands, I noticed again the side gate is in need of some fixing up. Since it is mainly a welded construction it would need to be welded. As it is something I’d like to learn I checked out a bunch of videos and looked into the tools I would need.

I found out K-Rauta sold a -welding machine for 60 euro after a double discount. I contacted Jeff, as he had told he could teach me some basic welding skills and for this money and this project there was little that could go wrong. So we went shopping at K-Rauta and came home with a welding set.

After trying out some settings, Jeff welded the first beams together to show me how to do it. It is simple and tricky at the same time. After a weekend of trying and welding stuff together the gate opened and closes a lot better then before. But a bit later when it was windy, a few welds did break again. So time for more practice, and by the end of the day the gate stayed up, opened and closed and could be locked.
I learned how to ‘bake’. In a next project I will try to learn how to weld better.