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I bought a new welder and plasma cutter. I got the Vulcan Omnipro 220 welder and a 50 amp plasma cutter. I used them both to make a cart to roll them around on too. Thanks.

Location for welding gas bottle?

I haven't attached the bottle rack yet. I'm running flux cored wire right now. I figure there is no reason to tote the bottles around unless I need them. When I start working on the sheet metal again; I will switch over to MIG or TIG and put the rack and bottles on. I prefer 7018 stick whenever and wherever I can use it!

7018 is a DC "reverse polarity" rod that doesn't like to run well on an AC buzz box. When the only thing I've got available is an AC welder, a switch to 7014 gives a bead that's almost identical to the one 7018 produces on DC, and it runs a LOT easier, and at lower amperage.
Jerry

We have several tombstones here that are AC. We even have a Forney carbon arc torch which we used last week to loosen up an exhaust manifold.

I am not a great welder by any definition but I enjoy it immensely none the less. I've been dreading finally cutting out and patching the rust on my cab. I wouldn't use the term scared; more apprehensive. There are several spots that will be hard to recreate the curves.
I know that when its all finished, there will be an immense amount of pride in doing it all (mostly) myself.

Thank you

I never welded sheet metal together before starting on my truck. I played with a welder a few times and I was a bit scared to start but it feels awesome to do the work at home and not send it to someone.

I agree Matt but my cab has a LOT of sheet metal work. Worries me.

Fitzy,
Practice, go slowly, brace, brace, brace(if surgery is substantial), and read Robert’s sticky MIG welding tips in the Paint and Body Forum. Good stuff.

You’ll never be able to do it if you don’t try. You can do it. I actually sold a truck because of my nerves regarding sheet metal work. But after a lot of practice, mistakes, and learning I won’t hesitate now to cut out rust. I’m still a “beginner/novice” and haven’t tackled the “expert” stuff, but for cab corners, floors, etc, you can do it! Be prepared for reproductions to not quite fit as original and they will need some finessing.

As my old, coyote trapping, hard drinking, best farmer I knew, bear of a man neighbor used to say,”It’s just metal. Weld it back together if you screw up!”

Good advice. I screwed up some repairs on a mangled fender, just cut it out and started over with a patch. I had never butt welded sheet metal before, but managed to get good reviews on my repairs from a friend who owned a body shop.
His son is a co-worker and had a comment from him on a repair. He said metal is dumb, just work it back where it was.

I've got an accessory for my air hammer that puts a stepped-down flange on the edge of a hole. This allows a flush patch to overlap the hole and provides a much stronger method of installing it than a simple butt weld.
Jerry

The only welder I have is an oxy-acetylene rig, and two weeks ago I needed to rent an arc welder. The place I normally go had rented all their units so I decided to rent one of the Lincoln wire-feed units Home Depot has out of curiosity (.030 or .035 size internal flux wire). Once I got the feel for it and got the feed rate and amperage balanced, the thing did a surprisingly good job...particularly for a 120 volt unit. Good penetration. I used a multi-pass approach One piece was 3/16 inch and the other was a bit thicker than 5/16 inch.

Don't like flux core wire...its a dirty easy way out weld. Solid wire .023 with Argon only way to go if you want to own it.

Thank you for the advice Fox! Want to have a sleep over and help me sandblast the doors and cab?
HR Lincoln, I have two pair of vice grips that make similar flanges. Its just VERY slow.
I could argue that Apache1. I prefer 75/25 with solid core wire. I save the pure argon for TIG.

Jerry,
Do you have a picture of that air hammer flanger accessory?

Thanks Fitzy, but my wife says I’m not allowed to sleep in the shop anymore. 😀

Fox, I thought if you didn't finish the "honey do list"; you were ONLY allowed to sleep in the shop?

That "stepping" attachment is definitely a nice accessory Jerry! But I find that I can accomplish pretty close to the same results burning more wire (a wash). A bit of cleanup with the angle grinder, and I cant even see where I started, or ended. I'm also not one for cutting the rust out, I just turn up the heat, and burn wire until bead starts forming. Burning all that iron oxide looks like a sparkler on the 4th of July.

Chris

You can buy that flanging tool attachment that Jerry is talking about from Amazon. When I learned to replace panels in trade school back in the sixties, the school had one of those flangers. Back then MIG or TIG was not in the picture so we would braze the joint using an oxy-acetylene torch. This would fill the joint so it didn’t create an crevice on the backside for rust to start. My teacher showed us the you could tap down a standard lap joint flush while it was still red hot and accomplish the same result with a bit of practice. That put allot of heat into the panel so you would use a rag soaked in water to cool as we progressed.

There was a recent post from Jon G that used the flanging tool but used a special type of low temperature solder to fill the joint. This sounds interesting as you would wouldn’t need nearly as much heat.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...mig-welding-sheet-metal.html#Post1323272

https://www.amazon.com/Tool-Aid-916...r&qid=1567597254&s=hi&sr=1-4

The only thing I don't like about the flanger (on body panels) is that is that you can't really seal it very well. Sure, some lead (now largely zinc) in the outside seam is easy enough. But often, the inside seam will be inaccessible, and as a result, a water catcher. For example, on my rig. All the panels I need to replace were the spots Chevy (notoriously) left without proper drainage, or were places that collected dirt, which unless frequently cleaned, acted like a sponge. Causing the area to rust out. I can easily "butt weld" (patch) panels in, and for the door(s) drill a couple holes in the bottom for drainage, and be done with it. If I used a flanger, I'd need to wind the window all the way up, remove the inside door panel, in order to seal up the flanged area with undercoating, or maybe roof mastic. It'd probably work alright. But I'm not so sure it'd be as effectively sealed as hosing a butt weld with paint, or undercoating. That's my take on it. However right, or wrong.

Chris

I worked at a well respected car restoration shop and we always replaced rusty metal as if it was new again, but welding mostly and flanges and spot or plug welds only where original flanges or lapped seams existed.

Rust you say? Boy have I got a job for you!

I'm not looking forward to all the wire I'm gonna have to burn to get Ol'Blue looking like her old self. The '64 I have now suffers the worst case of rot that I've experienced out of all 6 60's GM trucks I've owned to date -- and I'm on the west coast. We haven't used salt on the roads until the last couple years.

Chris