Just wondering what kinda advice people could give on this, started doing it tonight (in a discreet place) and seams (not pun intended) to be pretty **** to weld. What settings are people using. I have a sip inverter 180amp welder. Any advice appreciated.

 

your using a mig i take it? what wire? what gass? and whats going wrong? pictures?

 

Using a mig, pure argon, .6 wire. Maybe I didn't clean it enough, there was quite a bit of body sealer in the area. It looks like there are bubbles in the weld if anything, I've not been welding that long and wanted to see what it was like on a car body cos I've only been welding tube and box, making odd things.

 

Hi carterv3typeR.
pics would help. but my guess is, you havent propley cleaned down the joints/ seems that u want to weld.
seem welding should be done at inch weld then 3inch gap between next weld, ans so on..
hope this helps scoobymike

 

I thought that I'd use quite high voltage like 7, and wire speed 8 (both out of ten).

 

I'll get some pics tomorrow at the garage.

 

wrong gas mate u want "energas migweld 5" what i use at work and is brill

 

Never used the stuff, would be good to compare. Is it expensive stuff?

 

It's all about preparation & the right settings, oh & years of experience. Remember a thin body panel will need a lower power setting than thick box section. Practice on an old scrap section of wing or sill to perfect your settings & technique.

 

not my best work but welding on cars is very hard compared to steel on a bench....

 

i tryed pure argon once on a car with mils steel wire.........lol

 

Only once, must not have been good. It's not so bad sometimes, got a few good bits of weld on the car. I have a scrap car coming my way soon, probably be worth using that as a practice. Don't wanna mess up my subaru with dodgy weld!

 

Very true, people don't realise that welding thin rusty panels in awkward places on a car is a skill that can take years to perfect.

 

I guess the only way to be get good at it is practice. If my welds were as neat as them shown above I'd be made up but not there yet. What's best for cleaning up the surrounding area, I'm using a die grinder atm, is there anything else that's better for getting right into corners

 

die grinder, cut off tool with a worn out disc even a scraper can work well when its all you can get in

 

I use an angle grinder with a cleaning/sanding disc on it for the areas I can get it in & I always grind everything back to bare shiney metal even if it makes the repair bigger as the rot will soon reappear if you don't do it right.