Skiz learnz weldz

[chodweaver]

Wow, 'Win double'

 

- acquires Rancho

- learns skills to make it immortal

 

Two things about mig welders - 1: you might find that the trigger starts to feed gas slightly before the electrode goes live and the wire feed starts up - this can be a useful feature, as you can make sure you have a nice bubble of inert welding gas before you put the power on and get the arc, by squeezing the trigger slowly. 2: I doubt that this is the case with the Cebora, but I know that some (mostly older and/or cheaper) mig welders have the electrode live ALL THE TIME not just when you squeeze the trigger. This is a lethal state of affairs.

 

+1 for lowering the power and welding slower. Penetration is dependent upon power... and how long you hold the arc on that spot. 

 

As for chasing the plate around the floor   ... I end up using everything and anything I can get my hands on to hold pieces together prior to getting down a sufficient weld to hold it together - ordinary vise grip/mole grip pliers, welding clamps, G clamps, giant croc clips. I know others swear by welding magnets, I just haven't bought/found/scavenged any of those yet.

 

Gasless wire is ok if you have to weld outside on a windy day, when your gas bubble would get blown away, but apart from that, I've found it annoyingly shit. Oh, and if you leave it in the garage, it'll be rusty by the time you come to use it again, and it'll fuck up the inside of the feed tube.

 

But I am woefully out of practice and haven't done any where near as much welding as I want to/need to, so don't listen to me...

 

dub-dub-dub.mig-welding.co.uk/mig.htm

 

...is a great source of good advice.

 

Blooming well done for getting stuck in. Good luck and stick at it

[wuvvum]

 

Here's some welding I did recently...

 

Sent from my 5022X using Tapatalk

Show-off!

 

 

I'm well jel of all you flash gits with your fancy garages and gas MIGs.  Spare a thought for us poor sods scrabbling around on the driveway trying to get gasless wire to stop sputtering everywhere.  Might be why I haven't used my welder in a while...

[Skizzer]

I've been an avid reader of www.mig-welding.co.uk for the last fortnight!  I first learned about it on here somewhere and it's a fantastic site.  Without it I'd still be wondering what the big crocodile clip thing was for

 

Check the thickness of metal on your car, I thought 0.8mm was more common and if your repair panels are too much thicker it will be difficult to weld patches on.  Enough power to penetrate the thick panel and it'll blow a hole in the thin panel.

 

Agreed - this bit of sheet metal is just for early practising, it's only a little sheet.  I'll get some 0.8mm sheet and 0.6mm wire for refining my, ahem, skills and any real car work.

 

Oh, and I did think about cleaning up the sheet with a poly disc and/or some POR degreaser stuff first, but got impatient to spark up the sparkles.  It's not rusty or visibly dirty but it's not shiny and clinically clean either.

 

 

Loads of great advice and encouragement as always, thanks again to all.

[cort16]

I'd also dig out tony bmw's metal bending thread on retro rides. You'll find that unless you have repair panels, 80% of a job is making up a repair panel, 15% is welding it in and 5% is cleaning it up.  A mentioned a joddling tool is a worthy investment as it means you're not butt welding panels, which makes a stronger repair and it's easier to weld.

[PhillipM]

Show-off!

 

 

I'm well jel of all you flash gits with your fancy garages and gas MIGs.  Spare a thought for us poor sods scrabbling around on the driveway trying to get gasless wire to stop sputtering everywhere.  Might be why I haven't used my welder in a while...

This was my first weld with a mig, outdoors, holding a piece of cardboard as a windbreak, on some rusty scrap I ran a wire brush over, with the dregs of gas from a pub bottle

 

 

/smugbastardmode

 

[chodweaver]

Don't believe you. Either you photoshopped that, or it's a worm that you coloured in with a grey felt tip pen and glued to a piece of metal...

/disgruntled weld-o-sceptic mode

[PhillipM]

I do all my welds with felt tip pen, I thought that was the normal MOT-standard?

[Dave_Q]

Getting the metal shiny clean is best and will help penetration.

 

The gas, as mentioned, isn't ideal, Argon gas is the best (and most expensive) as it's totally inert, then CO2/Argon mix, then CO2 only.

 

However, I wouldn't worry too much about using the one you have, certainly for practicing, as it's clearly doing its job from your pictures. 

 

Ultimately the job of the shielding gas is to keep oxygen away and the N2/CO2 mix should do it, maybe just consider getting Argon/CO2 mix for welding the actual car as it should be slightly  better.

 

You may find you have a regulator setup for pub gas, the pub bottles have a different thread to the welding bottles so you might need a new regulator, or some sort of adaptor for welding bottles. I would suggest finding a small friendly welding shop and showing them what you have, or posting a picture up here.

 

The plus side with pub gas is it's loads cheaper, I think I paid £14 for my last bottle of CO2 which I still have.

 

My top tip is to change the torch liner if you have any issues with the wire feed, should be <£10 for a metal one rather than the plastic they normally come with and helps with the wire feed smoothness.

[wuvvum]

Getting the metal shiny clean is best and will help penetration.

Whilst I fully agree in principle, in practice this may prove something of a challenge on Skizzer's Rancho.

[PhillipM]

...in fact, it may result in no metal left to weld...

[xtriple]

I got taught to gas weld many years ago and love doing it. It really feels quite artistic... MIG is easy but doing it right and strong is a bit more difficult! Power down, wire speed slower and take your time and practice makes perfect. However, until you can do welds like those two posted above (flash gits!) upside down on the underside of a rusty heap with underseal catching fire and dripping down your sleeve, you are not a 'real' welder

 

Oh, and if you can do welds like the above AND remember to take the interior trim out before you start and so don't set it all on fire, then you are a wizard of weld!

[PhillipM]

It's when you're trying to weld rollcages in and your upside down and more bent than a politician to get in the footwell over the doorbars, head stuck in the pedals trying to get the torch under the cage tubes to weld the bottom, whilst dodging all the hot spatter that un-erringly heads straight for your inner ear that you realise it's not fun any more.

[Joey spud]

If your Cebora is the same as my old one then i found for welding thin steel power setting no2 and a wire speed of six or seven is a good starting point.

 

Also you don't have to do one long continuous weld its far easier to do little 1 inch runs,sort of stitch your way along the repair that way you get less distortion and heat build up and so fewer unwanted holes through the metal.

 

Once you get the hang of it it's a great skill to possess.

[chodweaver]

(Apart from practicing loads) the biggest improvement AND reduction in the cost of welding I made was when I converted my Aldi Powercraft welder to take a proper size gas bottle. I'd burnt through three or four of the non-refillable Sodastream/sparklets size CO2 and Ar/CO2 bottles, that were costing me about 12quid a pop - these things: 

and got about 45 minutes of welding out of the lot. One of them quietly emptied itself in the garage before I even got to use it. Sod that - I went to hobbyweld, found a local stockist and coughed for the (non-refundable) deposit (you basically have to buy the cylinder iirc) and the first fill of Ar/CO2, and I haven't even made a dent in it in all the welding I've done since. You do have to get a proper regulator, a flow meter is worth the money too ( - then you're not guessing at the amount of gas you're pushing), and muck about with getting an adapter to go from 'proper' gas connectors to the noddy push fit stuff that hobby welders come with i.e. one of these 

but it makes it so much easier to get consistently good welds...

[Noel Tidybeard]

an co2 fire extinguisher may* make a good substitute for a gas bottle

...and has the advantage that once the regulator is set you can release the handles to stop the gas flow

[cort1977]

Good on you for getting stuck in skizz.

 

Have you considered doing a course? I did one years ago at Aberdeenshire agricultural college one evening a week and it was pretty good.

[dieselassist]

Im a cert'd welder- in MIG/TIG/ARC/GAS; on old shitters; ie like my discovery Tdi; the welds I did to the sills; you can see it on my 'disco'lights' thread - not the type of welds id like to present to any sort of testing body; or be certed upon - get the job done repairs; all 'butt welded' -edge to edge' as its just the way I prefer to MIG weld these repairs - with some experience, you can get a feel of how the weld pool burns through the metal, n know when to take the finger off the trigger; I weld on the 'hot side' - settings probably one setting above' what might burn thru - lots of spots n in between a seam on an inch or two- if the parent metal is a bit crusty looking - scrubbed down clean but the metal looking a bit scaly from scrubbed down ex rust - I turn the wire feed up a tad.... on old shitters that I own, n its a 'get the job done' scenario - it makes the weld seems appear a bit fat, but its welded, n you can always 'tune down the wire feed' if yer bothered about how the welds look....

 

nothing wrong with lapping or leaving 10mm or whatever 'overlap' from repair panel to whats actually good on the car; its this same approach that many 'professional prestige/guild/allegedly top of the tree' restorers use on high end cars n cover the seam with filler - in a working/man hours to be paid environment, that's what actually happens, but the guy paying the bill at the end is never the wiser n as its all fillered up n painted- he'll never know, as its all buried below filler n paint... in the long term; say 5 years the 'lapped joint' sapps up moisture n rusts - two bits of metal together inevitably rust - 'joddlers' - sold by frost or whatever have made this type of joint acceptable - but with this approach the seam will rust in the long term - nothing as they say lasts forever...

 

if yer 'on the first steps' to welding - MIG welding; my best advise is to always look 'forward' of your weld - if yer right handed have yer head on the left shoulder n watch what your putting down; a clean mask - I don't use auto-darkening masks; just cant get on with them n n not how I was thought....

...keep at it; some of yer welds looks good for lap welds- good penetration; keep the gun at 45 degree if at all possible...

 

Co2 argon mix is a good medium/shielding gas...

 

best of luck

[billyboy406v6]

This bloke is worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KrwmK7df-s

[cort16]

Some legendary weld fests and panel fabrication from Retro Rides history:

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/70135/panels#.U44ixSimWIY

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/65793

 

http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/119596

[Junkman]

 

Phhhhh...phhhhhh...phhhhhhh...I find your lack of faith disturbing...phhhhhh...phhhhhhh...The Force is strong with this one...phhhhhh...phhhhh

[chodweaver]

"Some say <insert fatuous and vaguely topical reference here e.g.> that Keith Vaz is actually frightened of him, and that on Wednesdays, the decals on his helmet (ahem) actually change colour. All we know is, he's called 'The MIG' "

[Parky]

Is that a Chernobyl Burkini you're wearing??

[DodgyBastard]

My welding outside of work isn't quite as refined...

 

Me - Welding Fiat Panda by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Slave cylinder bodge by srblythe, on Flickr

 

DSC_0875 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

At work I have all of the best equipment but unfortunately at home I have an old Esab welder, a bottle of co2 and various reels of wire.

[PhillipM]

Look at all that clean gear. I remember having clean overalls, once. I think.

[chaseracer]

You have to admire The Skiz.  Even togged up like Darth Vader's dodgy backstreet exhaust fitter, the footwear is bang on-trend 

[PhillipM]

Don't believe you. Either you photoshopped that, or it's a worm that you coloured in with a grey felt tip pen and glued to a piece of metal...

/disgruntled weld-o-sceptic mode

If it makes you feel any better this was my last bit of welding the other week:

 

It probably won't, but I like smugbastardmode.

[chodweaver]

No, it doesn't make me feel any better  but you have every right to be proud of that - it's a lovely bit of welding

[somewhatfoolish]

image.jpeg

 

 

You've got a snotty nozzle/shroud/tube thing; time for a new one as well as a new contact tip. Ceboras are sound bits of kit, I had one for 20 years until I went all posh and bought a Lorch.

[chaseracer]

 

 

What?

 

Oh, right...

 

[holbeck]

If it makes you feel any better this was my last bit of welding the other week:

 

It probably won't, but I like smugbastardmode.

 

That's a nice bit of work is that.