Training courses/learning to work with metal & fabrication

[senn]

I'm getting to the stage now where i'm sick of trying to find a good panel beater who will

A.) Give me an honest, to the point answer

B.) Not charge me an arm and a leg,but still do the work of a blind 3 year old

So i'm considering doing some training to learn how to do panel repair/welding/fabrication, and i'm wondering if anyone can reccommend any TAFE/college courses to get me on my way? I'm located in WA, only downside is i work FIFO, so i'm not sure if anywhere caters for that :/

I'd also consider working for free on my time off to get training in this, but am not sure if any business would be happy for this to happen?

[Alex]

A mate of mine lives in W.A and has recently finished a 6 week panel beating course (night school) he learned a fair bit and is going to do the course again so he can keep working on his own car and learn more, i think it cost something around $230 for the 6weeks.

I suggest searching courses within the local tafe websites to find out more, but i'll try to get onto my mate doing the course and find out for you.

[Hen]

I found trying to work out the TAFE system and so on a bit tricky from their info and websites. But when I went in person and talked to them, everyone was super-helpful and point me toward the courses I was after. They'll probably let you go twice a week while you're home to make up for the weeks you are offshore too.

And they seem to offer almost everything you can poke a stick at.

Hen

[jeffro ra28]

As a fitter machinist a mandatory course for my TAFE was the course "welding and thermal cutting". Module "NBB09/2"

This course lightly touches on most common forms of welding, including Manual Metal Arc (MMA), Gas Metal Arc (GMA) aka Metal Inert Gas (MIG), Oxyacetylene welding (OAW), Gas Tungsten Arc (GTA) aka Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG), Submerged Arc Welding (SAW), Resistance welding, Fuel Gas cutting and plasma cutting.

Its a good start to get an idea of a variety of techniques for light sheet metal fabrication and repair

It should be available as a night course also.

Hope that helps.

[senn]

thanks very much guys, i'll attempt to pursue this on break