Body Work & Welding Options

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I guess I’m going to join the class of men and women who’ve had to do serious body work. It seems that the consensus is MIG is the all around best, and a Harbor Freight flux core unit is not the best, but will get the job done for the buck, but I have some stuff in my arsenal that I was wondering if y’all had experience with.

All pieces that don’t have tacks to drill out aside, has anyone used oxy-acetylene to cut stuff out? What about oxy-acetylene brazing? The latter seems pretty primitive, and my understanding is that it’s the oldest type of welding, because you’re trying to dab or pool your filler metal to make the tacks. The cutting seems more feasible if the thin metal can handle the heat, and the brazing seems easy on a flat surface, but I worry about it at angles.

What about a Lincoln 225 AC stick welder? Y’all know, the little (although heavy) red, tombstone shaped guy. I’m not making passes so would warpage be an issue with this method? I know about the slag with this one, but are flux core and/or MIG that much better here?

Anyway, this is what I have in my possession. Anything else I’ll have to go out and buy, and while I don’t mind buying a $95 flux core unit from HFT or hunting for a used MIG unit for a similar price on the classifieds, I’d much rather utilize what I already have and simply buy the electrodes/refill the tanks.

 

[CSFJ]

Torch cutting tends to leave a messy edge. I'm not sure brazing will bond the panels in a truely structural way. Stick welding is just asking to blow holes into the sheetmetal. Not saying that there's anything wrong with the tombstones, just the wrong tool for what you want to do. If it were me, I'd look into the 3m panel bond adhesives. From what I understand, it's becoming more and more common. Supposedly, the chemicals bond is as strong or stronger than a weld seam. I've spoken with body repair guys who used it back when it was fairly new, and they swear the metal will tear somewhere other than the bonded joint before the joint fails. Plus you don't have to worry about heat warpage, or burning off any sealer primer you might apply to an inner area that would be difficult to access after. As for cutting, I would stick to a spotweld drill bit, and a cut-off wheel for panel separation.

 

[The88]

The HF welder will work great for the spot welding. Make sure to get a spot weld cutter and not just cut them out completely. You will also need a high speed cut off wheel to cut your panels. To put in your new panels you will fishplate the 2 together at your cut seam and can marry those using spot welds. Tip for that is to try and keep your panel as close as possible for minimal body filler and dont mix it to hot or it can lock up before you are done filling. For panel bonding you will want that in your pinch weld seams and works great.

Just take your time and you will find it is rather easy. Ahh another one is grab a can of weld through primer as well. You will want that on any bare metal you are sandwiching together.

 

[77 K20]

Torch cutting tends to leave a messy edge. I'm not sure brazing will bond the panels in a truely structural way. Stick welding is just asking to blow holes into the sheetmetal. Not saying that there's anything wrong with the tombstones, just the wrong tool for what you want to do. If it were me, I'd look into the 3m panel bond adhesives. From what I understand, it's becoming more and more common. Supposedly, the chemicals bond is as strong or stronger than a weld seam. I've spoken with body repair guys who used it back when it was fairly new, and they swear the metal will tear somewhere other than the bonded joint before the joint fails. Plus you don't have to worry about heat warpage, or burning off any sealer primer you might apply to an inner area that would be difficult to access after. As for cutting, I would stick to a spotweld drill bit, and a cut-off wheel for panel separation.

Huh- I really like this idea. I'm about to have a Fred Flintstone truck soon- as my floor is rotting out. Some of this bond and a few rivets sounds good to me.

 

[bucket]

Torch cutting tends to leave a messy edge. I'm not sure brazing will bond the panels in a truely structural way. Stick welding is just asking to blow holes into the sheetmetal. Not saying that there's anything wrong with the tombstones, just the wrong tool for what you want to do. If it were me, I'd look into the 3m panel bond adhesives. From what I understand, it's becoming more and more common. Supposedly, the chemicals bond is as strong or stronger than a weld seam. I've spoken with body repair guys who used it back when it was fairly new, and they swear the metal will tear somewhere other than the bonded joint before the joint fails. Plus you don't have to worry about heat warpage, or burning off any sealer primer you might apply to an inner area that would be difficult to access after. As for cutting, I would stick to a spotweld drill bit, and a cut-off wheel for panel separation.

3M 08115 is the stuff, if my memory serves. I had good luck with it for many years. It shouldn't be used in key structural areas, but it's really good stuff. A unibody car quarter panel is a good example, you still weld the rocker splice, the roof piller splice and usually at the rear body panel. But everything else gets the black sauce.

 

[Frankenchevy]

as much work as you have coming up on the older truck you bought, I'd look around for a little mig like the Lincoln pro mig 135. it can do everything on most any light truck/passenger car. the stick welder is good for repairing tractor implements out in the wind, but no good for sheet metal. I've been able to weld 1/4" steel with the 135 with pre-heating and it'll go 3/16"+ running flux wire with no pre-heat if your plugged straight into a dedicated socket or have a nice 25' 10/3 extension cord.

brass backing is good for filling holes.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

So I’ve been doing my homework, and there’s a guy in town selling multiple welders. A Lincoln Easy Weld 110 MIG Unit for $150 that needs a new tip, and a $75 HFT flux cored unit that’s supposedly good to go. I have a bottle of either CO2, Argon, or a mix to use as shielding gas (it’s black and I can’t remember the label), but I’m curious as to how much it costs to refill it, and I’m worried about the flux core because I don’t want to have to beat the hell out of the slag to reveal a dirtier weld compared to MIG and require more bondo to cover up how I abrasive I was. The guy is negotiable on the MIG unit but firm on the Chicago Electric flux cored unit. The 3M stuff sounds promising, and I might have other applications for it, but I’m concerned about using it at the nexus of my cab’s support structure.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

If you have gas, I'd get one that uses gas. The weld quality is much better (cleaner).
Lincoln is also a better company. I dont know what he means by the new tip on the Lincoln, but that sounds weird. Tips are disposable wear items at about $1 each. Is he claiming it's a tip when it's really a screwed up feed system or something?
Also depends on the model and how used it is whether thats a good deal.

A new Lincoln that uses gas, will weld up to 1/8th, and comes with wire/regulator/etc is like $325.
A new HF is like $135.
I haven't tried the new HF units, but I tried one several years ago and it was a complete piece of ****. I've heard that's not always the case.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[The88]

With your questions of body work and what not check out the August 2019 Peterson's. It was in the post yesterday and the whole mag is based on body work. It's a pretty good read.

 

[idahovette]

Just picked up an older Century 130 mig with a little short bottle(14" or so tall). Seems to work ,it's a 110 volt, looks decent . Any one know anything about these?

 

[Blue Ox]

IIRC Century was made by Lincoln. I have a friend who has one and it's a very nice machine.

 

[idahovette]

That's great to hear. I gave $200 for it at an auction, maybe I did good.

 

[fried_daddy]

Stay away from the HF one! I bought a brand new HF 180 flux welder a few years ago. It worked good until it quit working for no reason. Of course it quit right when I needed it.

Since then, i've purchased a Lincoln tombstone stick welder for heavier welding and a Summit Racing 110V MIG for finer welding.

 

[bft305]

I went with a klutch 140 mig inverter mig welder from Northern tool and I have been happy with it. It has infinite controls, which is something you don't really get with most welders in the cheaper price ranges, which helps doing sheet metal work. It is 110v, can use flux core or hook up gas. Has the option of an aluminium spool gun if you really get into welding down the road. I agree with fried_daddy, definitely stay way from HF welder, no experience but from my research found too many complaints for my liking.

 

[Bennyt]

Whatever route you choose for welder, be prepared to spend an equal amount on all the accessories. I bought a Lincoln Mig 180 (220v) for my son for this past xmas for around $550 at Lowes. The cart, gas, wire spool, mask, gloves was another $400 plus I had to add a 220v 50 amp circuit. I tried a 110 welder on a dedicated 20amp circuit and anytime I tried welding on high power it would pop the breaker.