[san 312]

I am getting very frustrated by the fact that I cant get this done.......I took a course of welding in school ,practiced before trying to patch a quater panel, now I cant seem to do nothing right. I am getting alot of burn through when I try to weld along the seams of the patch panel and quater panel meet, But when I weld a half inch down from the seams I get a nice bead ...the only problem is I then have a half inch border (overlap) sticking up not touching anything. do I get my cuttter and trim this border off , or do I need to find out how to get a better weld closer to the edges of each panel. For the record I'm using a craftsman welder 110v with ABC heat settings...... 75 argon 25 Co2 gas 0.023 wire. somebody please give some tips . How much gas should I let flow through ? :uh:


I know I can do this , but I am slowly leaning towards hiring some one to come in and do it for me, which is gonna be a waste of money , simplybecause I purchased this damn welder.

 

[hosscutlass]

it seems like ur trying to lay on a bead on the seam thats were u went wrong u should be tack welding the seam little by little tack them about 3-4 inchs apart leting the metal cool down inbetwwen each tack weld so you don`t warp the metal

 

[lowdeville]

Try spot welding the panel every inch or so,then"connect the dots(welds)",going one end of the patch to the other, so you don't build up too much heat.Don't try and lay a bead down in one pass on light gauge metal,it'll warp all to hell.

 

[san 312]

Thanks fellas I will be back at it in the morning! I see what you are talking about I was trying to get a bead and leaving the knozzle on the panel to long instead of just a quick second to get a tack down. most of the welds I did in school were on frames , I have to change my technique.

 

[phatphord]

don;t know if you have any handy,but try backing the area you want to weld with a big chunk of aluminium. Also,as said previous,use lots of tacks. Start from the outside and work in. Don;t try and get an interference fit,leave a gap around the repair panel for the weld to fill. Work with your tacks opposite each other,the same when you are stitching it up.

 

[Swangin44s]

tack the left, then when it cools down a bit do the right, then meet them up with a bead

 

[STREET SWEEPAZ]

They sell copper backing plates at an autobody supplier for tack "Butt welding" that support the weld from behind, absorbs some of the heat & allows you to make a nice tack weld if the metals are not exactly together .....

 

[skandalouz]

Originally posted by phatphord@Aug 24 2005, 02:20 AM~3681258
don;t know if you have any handy,but try backing the area you want to weld with a big chunk of aluminium. Also,as said previous,use lots of tacks. Start from the outside and work in. Don;t try and get an interference fit,leave a gap around the repair panel for the weld to fill. Work with your tacks opposite each other,the same when you are stitching it up.

Actually you should start from the center and alternate going outward. you get less warpage this way.

 

[san 312]

Thanks for sharing all this info.....I'm trying to figure out how the aluminium works , from what I'm understanding ,I would put a piece of this aluminium between the patch and the panel to be repared. This will help me get a better weld. whats confusing is the weld will not stick to the aluminium, but still transfer the heat to join the two panels? today i did discover some problem I was causing myself . first thing was my welder setting was to high for sheetmetal , second I was not giving the tacks enough time to cool , before I went back and added another weld. my test panels were all shrinking up! Third I had not cleaned the metal properly which caused my welds to spatter and I would lose my spark! I did mange to lay down a few nice tack welds in areas that had a much cleaner surface. I will be back at it in the morning. remembering what all of you have said , and making notes and correcting my techniques. One more question when I lay down the tack should I try to center the tip of the wire at the seam or have it on the top panel . also do you guys angle your your guns or do you keep it straight.

 

[skandalouz]

I take the tip and grind it down so it sits about 3/16"inside the difuser, and i angle it slightly, going backhand or forehand into or out of the weld. its all feel for me.

this is buttwelded, full penetration throughout. no burnthrough. I would suggest getting some 18 ga metal and cut a bunck of 2 x 4"pieces and practice practice and practice, get a feel for it.

 

[san 312]

skandalouz thats a thing of beauty...... ...... what do mean by the difuser welding terminology might be different . also when you put that rear quater patch on did you have to weld under the bottom . what did you use to get it that shiney , alot of question right now! what type of welder you using. other than that , those welds look great. thanks for response and the pic.

 

[phatphord]

Originally posted by skandalouz@Aug 25 2005, 12:11 AM~3685413
Actually you should start from the center and alternate going outward.  you get less warpage this way.

my bad,was thinking too many things at once..

 

[skandalouz]

Originally posted by san 312@Aug 25 2005, 12:25 AM~3687993
skandalouz thats a thing of beauty...... ...... what do mean by the difuser welding terminology might be different . also when you put that rear quater patch on  did you have to weld  under the bottom . what did you use to get it that shiney , alot of question right now! what type of welder you using.  other than that , those welds look great. thanks for response and the pic.

the difuser is the nozzle that screws on the outside of the gun. Its plug welded like factory on the bottom. I use a 220V Lincon Welder. Similar to what your using. The body is shiney because its in 80 grit Da right now.

 

[san 312]

Ok I though that was what you were talking about. By grinding the knozzle down does that reduce the amount of slag you get , or does it just make it easier to put the wire exactly on the spot you want welded. if you can take pic of difuser . Oh yeah there another post for someone to show welded quater panels . Thanks a million .

 

[lowriding 'lane]

skandelouz, that's an interesting trick with grinding the tip down to be inside the diffuser, from the looks of that patch it must work good for you, nice work man. I didn't grind down my tip, it just sounds like you have your heat too high and you're staying in one place too long. like all these guys said, space it out and tack weld it or else you'll burn through and warp the panels all to hell. here's a quick picture i took while i was doing my quarter repair, nothing great but it gives you the idea of the tack welds i guess

good luck

 

[san 312]

I went to the garage early this morning , went and got some 26 guage sheetmetal so I was alittle anxious to weld on some clean metal and not have too go through the entire sand it down process, So after a few hours practice , I decide to give it a shot on the 64 cut some small patch pieces test fit them and began to weld. For some reason I couldn't get the feel for the machine while I'm welding on the car So I gets frustrated to all hell, and just quit, decided I need a break from the car , Took my boys to the park to watch a local basketball tournament .......great stress reliever that and 2 budweisers, after about 2 hours at the park I come back in the house get on L.I.L and go to the project section and just look at all the work others on here are doing. skandalouz project always motovate me , I go back to the garage , this time my wife comes out since she knows I left the first time pissed off, she looks at the car and then look at what I'm trying to do and say " why dont you try to replace the entire section instead of just patching the to rust outs" and let it overlap more than what you have there!" I think about it and it made more since ....so I cut the surounding area around the quater panel out , cut a 8"x 16" piece of sheetmetal out and began to tack weld ,Got dammit wouldnt you know it worked . I got the panel welded up all I have left to do is sand down the welds and smooth! women ......... Think they know everything :0

 

[skandalouz]

Originally posted by san 312@Aug 27 2005, 08:32 PM~3705172
I went  to the garage early this morning , went and got some 26 guage sheetmetal  so I was alittle anxious to weld on some clean metal and not have too go through the entire sand it down process, So after a few hours practice , I decide to give it a shot on the 64 cut some small patch pieces test fit them and began to weld.  For some reason I couldn't get the feel for the machine while I'm welding on the car So I gets frustrated to all hell, and just quit, decided I need a break from the car , Took my boys to the park to watch a local basketball tournament .......great stress reliever that and 2 budweisers, after about 2 hours at the park I come back in the house get on L.I.L  and go to the project section and just look at  all the work others on here are doing. skandalouz project always motovate me , I go back  to the garage , this time my wife comes out since she knows I left the first time pissed off,  she looks at the car and then look at what I'm trying to do and say " why dont you try to replace the entire section instead of just patching the to rust outs" and let it overlap more than what you have there!"  I think about it and it made more since ....so I cut the surounding area around the quater panel out , cut a 8"x 16" piece of sheetmetal out and began to tack weld ,Got dammit wouldnt you know it worked . I got the panel welded up all I have left to do is sand down the welds and smooth!  women ......... Think they know everything  :0

:thumbsup:

 

[3onthree]

post pics

 

[san 312]

Trust me if I had a digi camera I would, right now all i have is regular pics , that need to be scanned, and since I'm trying to get this car up and running by next summer, Those items are not in my budget at this time sorry.

 

[3onthree]

thats cool, i feel ya, i went forever without one cuz i'd rather spend my money on my car.