Beginner: Welding

Top job trucksyd your mig setup will soon pay for it self as rust repairs don't come cheap as you now its labour intense well done keep up the good work

Thanks Bryant ,I appreciate that..

Fully support the "Be carefull with the guardless grinder" theory.Those thin slitting discs can leave a nasty cut.Have personally lost a bit of bark in the past on more than just the one occasion lol.With the welding side of things I found good value with some of the tutorial type vids on Youtube.When making up patch panels I tend to sometimes resort to making up cardboard templates,it works for me .

PS.Nice to see another Pinball person messing with old trucks as well.

P.s dodgey,the pins are a nice distraction..

Always good to see someone havin a go and being proud of their workmanship, Good on Ya!
Thank you for taking the time to 'step by step' the job and post it up.
This is the sort of thing that puts the inspiration into many of the 'too hard' jobs..

There has been some good advice posted also, some experience showing through there too.


As has been said, the gas needs to be used at a reasonable rate to 'insulate' the welding area.
The gas helps to create the correct environment for a successful weld.
About 11 or 12 on the gas gauge with the trigger pulled on the handpiece. (in a sheltered spot)
If the welds are lumpy, cut the wire speed back slightly and try again, this will make a hotter weld also.
If they still lumpy, go up a notch on the heat, and again, pull the wire speed back in small increments.
Small 'hot' tacks, then fill in the gaps, working 'apart' to minimise the distortion.
You have picked difficult material to learn on too, something with a bit of thickness is a bit more forgiving than panel steel..
If you get a good run happening along a piece of steel, it should sound a bit like frying bacon...

Looking forward to the next instalment, and again Thanks for taking the time to share your job.

chocs

Well done keep at it if you have a chance to look over the shoulder of a real good welder its s bit easier to pjck it up. Also some real good YouTube videos just type in mig welding for beginners.
Keep at it

Trevor

thanks chocs & trevor,...chocs ;i didnt realise it was difficult welding this type of panel steel ,but now i figurerd that i can burn holes through with to high temp, but i practice around 2-3 hours non stop....hopefully i will figure out the gas flow in time,.. . i have a few more repairs coming up as i have to get my truck blue slipped ,so i will post more photos later.......slo: it would be nice to watch a pro at work ,i have a mate who welds & he gave me a few pointers ...

If possible, can the door be taken off and laid flat? It's sooooo much easier to weld flat than vertical.

The steel is molten and runs. Vertical welding requires expert heat and speed.

yes , it can be taken off,i have seen it done where the door is taken off & either laid flat or is upside down..the other door has the rust in the same spots, so it will come off.

make Shure to paint or fish oil insides of your new weld patches asap to seal them or else they will start to rust again , you may have to drill access holes to get into cavity's, I use a kero gun with a plastic pipe fitted to drench hard to get spots with fish oil ,

cheers damo

When you are cutting your rectangular pieces, why aren't you starting at the edge, You can also save metal and cuts by not having a gap between your pieces, ie have the cut on one edge, be the edge of your other piece.