Body Prep, panel welding etc help needed

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Originally posted by southerner
Now when you say you want the job to look neat and tidy, you butt weld. So what kind of welder are you using ? Is it a Mig, Tig or gas ? I have used the gas for panel welding and found that you get a lot of heat distortion and you have to use the hammers a lot. Mig is okay as it is cooler than gas and is faster, but I tend to find it is a very hard weld. for those of you that can do it, the Tig welding process is the best of all, you get a thin bead of weld, minimal distortion and the weld is easy to work and if you do a stitch weld over a long panel, leaving time for the job to cool you get a real tidy job.

Pat have you got any trade secrets on panel prep before welding and what type of tools are you using for flattening the weld and final panel prep. Thanks S :D

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sorry i can see the over lap dose it look good yes .do not call me s.o.b it is a nice job .did you try to hide it yes some times you have to over lap .but the more you butt weld the better you get at it and if time is a eschew. then you do not have the correct hobbie i can butt weld a pach in as fast as you can over lap no seam s to hide. the way i do it is the rigth way for me you do the job the way you want .but do not kid your self when the job is done you have a lip. the butt weld is way . now how do i do this i started body work when i was 11 years old and i am 42 and old fart? i cant tell you how long it will take for you to get the butt weld down. to do the job you need cut off and a good steel scribe body hammers and a welder tig or a mig it will not take much heat if it 0.30 thick steel it will take 30.amps. make the welds as small as you can ,to blend the welds i like 60 grit. to cut the top of the weld down with hard grinding stone do not cut to deep watch the heat :whacked:

I have been looking real hard at the Lincoln 100 mig welder 110 volt. It does not come with the gas attcjhments but they can be added. Is gas something that I should go ahead and get to make this project easier or is it wsomething I can wait on?

sanpedro

this is a good welder for sheet metal. the small welder work good for thin steel if you are working on thick stuff like frames get somthing bigger miller or lincoln i have used many types they all work good the gas is for shied gas this is the way to go on thin sheet metal so this is not used on flux wire

Yes Pat is right, you need gas.

Go as big as you can afford. You can always turn the heat down, but I find the more I weld the bigger and more different the jobs I need my mig for. I bought a Lincoln 135+. I love it, but would have gone bigger if I would have had the money and the 220 to support it.

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Originally posted by pat mccarthy
sorry i can see the over lap dose it look good yes .do not call me s.o.b it is a nice job .did you try to hide it yes some times you have to over lap .but the more you butt weld the better you get at it and if time is a eschew. then you do not have the correct hobbie i can butt weld a pach in as fast as you can over lap no seam s to hide. the way i do it is the rigth way for me you do the job the way you want .but do not kid your self when the job is done you have a lip. the butt weld is way . now how do i do this i started body work when i was 11 years old and i am 42 and old fart? i cant tell you how long it will take for you to get the butt weld down. to do the job you need cut off and a good steel scribe body hammers and a welder tig or a mig it will not take much heat if it 0.30 thick steel it will take 30.amps. make the welds as small as you can ,to blend the welds i like 60 grit. to cut the top of the weld down with hard grinding stone do not cut to deep watch the heat :whacked:

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Yep thanks for those tips pat:3dSMILE:

okay, guys!
I have started to weld in my floorpan. and in some areas where I have grinded down the weld I have tiny pin holes. Can I just use por 15 on it or should I weld over it again?

I have my lincoln set on 1 for the amps and about 2 for the wire speed.

Also ther are some area where I have alittle more than an 1/8" gap. ANy suggestions there.

Thanks,

sanpedro

I would just use something like paintable caulking, or auto paint stores sell a product called seam sealer.

Pin holes is not good, it's porosity. But, a little bit here and there doesn't necessarily mean you need to start over. Are you mig welding with gas, or fluxcore welding? If mig welding, your shielding gas is getting blown away, or your not metering enough gas, or your base material is really dirty. Also, it can be caused by poor operator technique. There are so many Lincolns out there I'm not sure what to tell you about your setup, but rather you need to spend a day practicing until you are comfortable with your heat and wire speed settings. Have you visited the Hobart welders forum? There are alot of great guys over there that can give you some tips.

http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/

i do this and it work good .i use fiberglass resin and use a small acid brush on the bottom use a back to keep it from runing out of the small hole duck tape works good for this .if it is good and soild this works good .i do not like seam sealer it will shrink and some of it is crap. the resin works 100% better and it will self level .as for your gaps over 1/4 try not to do that .take your time make cuts smaller and fit it up the more time here the better the job. to fix the gap spots cut it out to 1/2 and butt in a pices of steel keep cool with the grinder so you dont have thin steel .:whacked:

Ok well you can have your heat and wire speed set right ect but it doesn't mean that it will be set and right when your welding. All depends on how your holding the gun. How close do you have it, the angle, etc? Closer the hotter, farther less hot and more splattering, sputtering, etc. Must not have it set right still. Take a scrap piece of the same metal and mess with it for a while until you get it going and flowing smooth and no pin holes or sputtering. You may think now that "oh it's going and welding good" but you may find that you can get the setting better.
JMO

Pin holes are natural when butt welding with a mig, as far as you probably just didn't get the welds close enough together. What you should do when butt welding is take a drop light behind the piece your welding to see any light shining through, then go back over the spots where you missed. To butt weld a seem and get every spot first time out would be fantasic, but unlikely.

Well guys, it seems I need to work on my welding skills...........my welds are getting better. Thanks for everyones advice