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| | | | Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 275 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 275 |
38 original
48 panel
59 stepside
46 in the back forty
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 154 Member | | Member Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 154 | wow. looks pretty good to mean.
running a CO2/Argon sheild, or something along those lines?
no pointers for you sor, looks pretty darn good.
makes me want to get back to the garage and start burning again.
oh, wait. it's 20 degrees out without windchill at the moment.
scratch that.
.later days.
.sam.
1969 K20 , with a '67 front clip. fleetside. 292, 3x1 offy, headers. sm465 4spd. getting put back together, almost ready for paint. doing it all myself. 19 and lovin' it. "proper" is so over-rated. .later days. .sam.
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2006 Posts: 453 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Apr 2006 Posts: 453 | Looks good here too. Looks like you already know how to stitch weld. From what I saw in the pics, you can now call yourself a welder, congrats!
~Ron | | | | | Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 209 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 209 | Looking good! Now the hard part not over grinding and have to reweld. | | | | | Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 | What are you using to weld this? | | | | | Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 | highwayman,
Thin sheetmetal is hard to weld and you are doing a great job. My only comment would be to maybe kick up the heat a bit, or the travel speed.
If those beads don't penetrate 100%, when you grind them off, not much will be left. See what the weld looks like from the back..it needs to be well joined with filler metal too.
Stuart | | | | | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 | Might want to turn the wire speed down a bit. Also appears slightly cold. Practice, practice, practice. Should be using .023 wire. | | | | | Joined: Sep 2003 Posts: 2,384 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Sep 2003 Posts: 2,384 | I second the .023 wire, on both thin Chinese patch panels & old sheetmetal thinned from rust/use-it is great. Brian | | | | | Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 | I think that I am using .028 wire and I am burning through everything. If I use the lowest setting I can't get any penetration. I am using flux core ... Would CO2/Argon be a big difference? | | | | | Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 | chev235,
Technically, there should be only .023 or .030. wire. The smallest diameter flux cored wire would be .030. The flux core wire doesn't require a shielding gas, but does require a higher amperage setting to burn the flux and make a proper weld.
To successfully weld the thin sheetmetal, you need minimum heat input, which means minimum amperage, which equates to small wire diameter.
.023 solid wire with the shielding gas you noted is the most friendly for these thin body panels. It doesn't get 'skinnier' than this.
Stuart | | | | | Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: May 2004 Posts: 204 | Ok ... my mistake it is .023. I understand that minimum amperage equates to smaller diameter wire but I am having a hard time getting it to the right setting. After looking at highwayman's pic's I realize that I must be doing something wrong because my weld doesn't even look close. Mine looks more look swiss cheese when I am done. I have holes all over the place.
I am stuck with flux core because that is all my welder is good for. | | | | | Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,708 | chev235,
I'm going to go out on the proverbial limb here and say there is no such animal as .023 flux core wire...to small to get the goodies inside.
.035 is common in flux core, and maybe .030, but, as you are seeing, both these wires require more heat and result in burn through on thin panels.
I don't know what welder you have, but there are tag on gas kits available for many small machines. You have two strikes against you if you are a beginner and only have flux core for your body work...pretty tough to do a nice job.
Solid wire with no shielding gas is a notorious swiss cheese producer...maybe that's what is going on!
Stuart | | | | | Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 79 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 79 | Atomarc, you are correct, there are no manufacturers of .023 flux core wire. There are several that make gas shielded .023, Hobart markets a nice range .024 and Lincoln has a nice range of .025 gas shielded solid wire types.
All the rest, flux core and gas shielded, continue up from .030 and step up in sizes. .035, .040, .045, .052 & 1/16" are available from a variety of sources.
( Wow, 1/16" mig wire, that'll blow a hole in a door skin, eh? )
1949 "Heinz 57"
| | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 169 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 169 | Looks pretty good for flux core.
But you need to get a hotter weld. Those welds look cold meaning they are just sitting on top of the metal instead of "fused" or melted into the metal.
You can get closer to the panel, but you should be about 1/4 inch away from the panel. if you are around 1/4 inch then you need to turn up the wire feed which in turn will increase the amps. You can also move slower. You might have the proper distance and amp setting but if you are moving to fast you can get a cold weld.
Just try keeping the arc going a tad longer before you let go of the trigger. | | | | | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 428 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 428 | I have done all of the repair panels on my truck using a Campbell Hausfeld flux core welder. Also did some repairs on a '67 Dodge Dart for a buddy and it turned out pretty good. You just have to make sure you get good penetration and having good metal to work with cuts down on burn through. You will have more clean up to do with the flux core wire but it isn't a big deal. take a look at the Dart quarter panel pics. Not bad for a beginner. http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1340478380059704903ScTZAP http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1340478432059704903Foeows | | | | | Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 275 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 275 | I really Not sure what type of wire that I'm using it was in the welder when I bought it. For some reason I'm guessing it's .030 but not 100% percent sure. You guys are good My welds were a bit on the cold side looking at the back of the fender there are some areas I didn't get good penetration. Here's the pic of the welder I'm using. It's old but it was in my price range [img]http://thumb5.webshots.net/t/16/17/6/58/19/2352658190085718485iQEyDx_th.jpg[/img] It does have a tank it's sitting on the floor out of view.
38 original
48 panel
59 stepside
46 in the back forty
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 4 Junior Member | | Junior Member Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 4 | That is definitely MIG and not flux core just looking at it. If you had to turn on a bottle before welding that is MIG. If you have to chip or brush off any slag that is flux cored wire. I prefer to do a series of overlapping tacks, which means setting the machine a bit hotter. a one second tack, two to three seconds to allow the material to cool...lather, rinse, repeat.  It should look a bit like a stack of dimes when you're done. The key is to not move the gun away when you let go of the trigger. An auto darkening helmet makes this a bunch easier as you won't be so likely to stray away from the seam. Penetration on sheet guage is almost never the problem...the usual problem is burning through. The second problem is warping the panel. To mitigate the warpage problem it's best to weld 1/2"-1" in one area, then move to another part that is a little ways away and do 1/2"-1" there. Keep moving around and try to avoid overheating any one area. When grinding the welds down go easy...it doesn't take much to put even more heat into the panel with the grinder if you're pushing it too hard. A 36 or 50 grit sanding disc and light pressure should remove most of the weld without too much heat build-up. If you see the steel turning blue you're being too aggressive. As an aside the largest wire I've used is 3/32" Flux core with a CO2 shield gas. Big enough to burn through 1/4" material at will.  Rene | | | | | Joined: Nov 2006 Posts: 324 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Nov 2006 Posts: 324 | I'm also new at welding and have just gone through figuring out the same problems you are experiencing. Mig welders with flux core or gas shielding type? The first welder I bought was a Handycore Lincoln 100. (110 volts) As mentioned in the thread the smallest wire that I could use with this type of non gas welder was a .030 flux coated type. Because I am not an experienced welder, results were too much heat & wire to large for this type of sheetmetal repairs. I could not get the settings etc. Because .023 flux coated for this welder did not exist. I sold it and bought a new Millermatic 140 Mig 110 volts welder. (argon gas sheilding)this one can run the .023 wire.
A professional welding shop informed me that for this job, (& the fact that I was inexperienced)to prevent overheating the sheet metal, I needed .023 wire (which is not flux coated)& uses argon gas sheilding type Mig Welder.
I am happy to say the new welder is a pleasure to use even for an inexperienced person like myself. Very user friendly, measure the gauge of the metal, open the cover on the inside and a chart gives me the exact settings required based on the metal thickness,heat range & wire feed rate. Results are , good penetration, nice solid welds, no overheating of the sheetmetal. I am really pleased.
Hopefully your welder has the gas type sheilding.
I'm am not experienced enough to say that the flux wire weld is not possible. But for a non welder person like myself this was better for me.
It was nice to read all the excellent reply's by our fellow Stovebolters. When someone like you asked the question it really helps the new guys. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 613 Member | | Member Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 613 | i have a century flux core mig welder.all i can do with it is is weld the center wire to what im trying to weld. | | |
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