My new HF welder

[Fat 454]

Chris - TIG welding is like portrait painting - not for everyone, and those that are good have equal combinations of natural talent and grinding perserverence - practice, practice, practice. Maybe start with some thicker gauge to get the "Feel " of it, and then progress to thinner.
Sheet metal is the hardest type of material to weld, and requires some different approaches. One of which is to alternate spots, like torqueing a head down. The idea is to minimise the heat soak in the general area of the weld, which in turn will lower the amount of energy needed to melt the metal, leading to your blow-through's. Also, dont try to repair matal that is rusted on the back, as it will be too thin ( and blow through ) compared to the repair sheet. Better to cut out back to good metal ( even if a larger area than you wanted ) and replace. You will then be joining 2 parts of equal thickness that will respond more evenly to the arc applied.
There are some good you tube videos ( and some garbage ones too ), that will illustrate how to get a continuous bead joint using this back and forth approach.
I have a TIG, and tend to use that for more than my MIG as it gives more control on finer work ( which is what it was developed for ) HOWEVER the MIG is better for heavier, continuous work ( Chassis repairs etc. ) AND you have a lot of "saddle time" to get comfortable with TIG.
That is why people say use MIG, as it is "easier" to deposit a bead because of the continuous feed. At the end of the day TIG will give far better results tho', once you master it.

 

[Sad Sack]

Welding is like crack but better, once you see how it affects you, you're hooked for life. Took a MIG welding class some years ago and I was hooked, welded up all kinds of stuff. Instructor tried to get me to take a TIG class but wasn't ready...maybe soon.

 

[Chris64]

I've done OK Tig welding material that's at least 1/16" thick although I'm sure it's terrible by any professional standards. I've been able to weld SS tubing and grind and polish it into one piece well enough. I'm not to a point where I would show off my "stack of dimes." It's more like a stack of random coins. I started welding Aluminum and that was really hard to learn. After that, welding steel is a delight.

I'm pretty sure my biggest problem is that the hood metal is so rusted underneath that there just isn't any metal to connect with. I'm sanding it down to metal but it's paper thin. With the tig I found it best to hold the filler rod on the hole and instead of feeding the rod into the puddle, I move the puddle from the rod to the hood, if that makes sense. Either way, I was failing more than I was succeeding and I needed a better plan for my door that I don't intend to replace.

With the mig I can zap it faster and in case of a bad rust spot (which turns a 1/16" hole into 1/4") I can just keep zapping (letting it cool) until it eventually finds metal and just slowly build enough material to cover the hole. It's fine for now. It saves me buying a new hood for now but I probably will eventually. I'm never going to be able to address the rust between the skins properly. The point of this exercise was just to get ready to fix my doors which have an embarrassingly bad patch job (worse than what I would do). And finally the cab.

I'm now wishing I would've gotten a mig that supported gas.

 

[Ricko1966]

I've done OK Tig welding material that's at least 1/16" thick although I'm sure it's terrible by any professional standards. I've been able to weld SS tubing and grind and polish it into one piece well enough. I'm not to a point where I would show off my "stack of dimes." It's more like a stack of random coins. I started welding Aluminum and that was really hard to learn. After that, welding steel is a delight.

I'm pretty sure my biggest problem is that the hood metal is so rusted underneath that there just isn't any metal to connect with. I'm sanding it down to metal but it's paper thin. With the tig I found it best to hold the filler rod on the hole and instead of feeding the rod into the puddle, I move the puddle from the rod to the hood, if that makes sense. Either way, I was failing more than I was succeeding and I needed a better plan for my door that I don't intend to replace.

With the mig I can zap it faster and in case of a bad rust spot (which turns a 1/16" hole into 1/4") I can just keep zapping (letting it cool) until it eventually finds metal and just slowly build enough material to cover the hole. It's fine for now. It saves me buying a new hood for now but I probably will eventually. I'm never going to be able to address the rust between the skins properly. The point of this exercise was just to get ready to fix my doors which have an embarrassingly bad patch job (worse than what I would do). And finally the cab.

I'm now wishing I would've gotten a mig that supported gas.

You also aren't using the best tool for the job, You'd be better off using a gas mig with 75 /25 mix and .023 wire. Can you add a bottle to the flux core mig you bought?

 

[bucket]

You also aren't using the best tool for the job, You'd be better off using a gas mig with 75 /25 mix and .023 wire. Can you add a bottle to the flux core mig you bought?

Pretty sure that's the same unit that a buddy of mine has. It'll take a bottle.

 

[bucket]

Also, here's an example of a home-made and dirt cheap copper spoon. Works on flat areas as well as inside rounded corners.

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[Chris64]

You also aren't using the best tool for the job, You'd be better off using a gas mig with 75 /25 mix and .023 wire. Can you add a bottle to the flux core mig you bought?

I don't think it supports gas. They make another one that does that isn't that bad on price. I know I should go get a $3k welder but that isn't in my budget. $500 is more my speed. I won't feel bad wasting the money on this one because it's so small and light I could for sure see this getting used for projects that I can't bring into my garage.

I guess this one I have isn't Mig - it's flux. TIL.

 

[Sad Sack]

I don't think it supports gas. They make another one that does that isn't that bad on price. I know I should go get a $3k welder but that isn't in my budget. $500 is more my speed. I won't feel bad wasting the money on this one because it's so small and light I could for sure see this getting used for projects that I can't bring into my garage.

I guess this one I have isn't Mig - it's flux. TIL.

Flux welders are at their best with rusty iron and better for welding outside. Using argon outside can be an issue if a breezy condition exists. Yours will get the job done but welds may not be as pretty on automotive sheet metal.

 

[bucket]

I don't think it supports gas. They make another one that does that isn't that bad on price. I know I should go get a $3k welder but that isn't in my budget. $500 is more my speed. I won't feel bad wasting the money on this one because it's so small and light I could for sure see this getting used for projects that I can't bring into my garage.

I guess this one I have isn't Mig - it's flux. TIL.

I don't think at all that you have any reason to spend 3k on a welder. But with that said, if you can up your budget some, the Vulcan Omnipro 220 is a damn nice welder for the money.

Flux welders are at their best with rusty iron and better for welding outside. Using argon outside can be an issue if a breezy condition exists. Yours will get the job done but welds may not be as pretty on automotive sheet metal.

Using 100% argon can help with outdoor welding.

 

[idahovette]

I got my little 110 volt Lincoln wire feed with a small bottle on Musick auction.....an online auction service. Paid a princely sum of $95 for it and it works great for what I do.

 

[Chris64]

So I finally got back on my hood work with a new MIG welder. It was a cheap one so I'm not going to subject myself to the abuse of saying what I got but it's got a bunch of dials and buttons. I really just want to say WOW. It welds so much nicer than the flux welder. Zero spatter and no failed starts. I had no idea how bad I had it before.

Then my angle grinder broke (Milwaukee), so I got a new cordless one and it's way nicer too, but I ran out of day light. The hood is almost done!

 

[DoubleDingo]

All this talk of welding with a new machine, and no carnage, I mean, welded metal pics?

 

[Chris64]

All this talk of welding with a new machine, and no carnage, I mean, welded metal pics?

Nope
I won't subject myself to that ridicule. You did see that I was equally excited about getting a new angle grinder. That's a perfect way to describe my welds.

 

[DoubleDingo]

I personally have not welded sheet metal, but talking with a good welder and friend of Pop's, he said when welding sheet metal, place the clamp further away so the current has to travel through more metal and less tendency for blowout.

 

[Chris64]

OK, here's what I was working on - I'm throwing myself to the wolves.

Here's the passenger side - that shiny area was me just playing around trying to fill a rusty hole. I didn't intend to keep it, I was just feeling indestructible with this new welder. I can't believe it worked that well. The metal there is so thin that it just folded like tinfoil when I cut it.

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SO I cut a piece of steel and bent it with a bench vice. It'd be nice to have more metal forming tools but it seemed like it worked. I probably could've made it taller for that one ugly spot but it seemed like thick enough metal to work with.

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I started tacking the corners and half way to get it aligned.

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I just kept welding halfway. A few times it just didn't feel right and I would Dremel-wheel it and use a little flat head to massage it.

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I forgot to take pics after I tacked it all the way around. I was playing with the settings as I went to try and get it to look better. I still hit a few rusty spots on the original metal that just blew out but I was able to fill them. It's all practice.

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