project Morris Minor Ratrod - First drive since 1989!

[GingerNuttz]

Nah it was brand new in the box from an online retailer, full warranty and all that too 😂

[GingerNuttz]

It was listed for £1200 I think it was but it cost me £440 in electricity mining to buy it so it owes me basically nothing.

[juular]

That disnae sound right at all for something at that price! Even the cheap chinese inverter migs I've seen have a pretty much instant arc. I think that would piss me right off when doing thin stuff as you say. Still, if the welds on the Galaxie are anything to go by I'd love to see what you can get up to with a machine you rate. 😂

Despite the odd hiccup with my R-Tech I'm enjoying it - the infinite adjustment is brilliant. Sometimes the tiny nudge on the voltage is just right where you need it.

[Scruffy Bodger]

1 hour ago, GingerNuttz said:

I've got the pearl 210 and I hate it 😂

The delay from pulling the trigger till it arcs is doing my head in and the synergic thing is utter junk, I'm contemplating going back to a transformer mig. 

 

I used my mates 3 in 1 Parweld synergic thing recently on a Connect van and got on with it fine out the box, maybe worth a look? I just set it to the minimum 50 amps that showed on the meter and got on with it, I'm assuming it's on 0.8mm wire, I didn't look tbh.

As for Oxford transformer welders he's also got the big daddy 400 amp single phase unit with the 10m cassette extension and so far it's been a cracking bit of kit but very far from being portable! Imo if you know your way round a welder you just don't need the synergic complication in the mix.

[GingerNuttz]

3 minutes ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

I used my mates 3 in 1 Parweld synergic thing recently on a Connect van and got on with it fine out the box, maybe worth a look? I just set it to the minimum 50 amps that showed on the meter and got on with it, I'm assuming it's on 0.8mm wire, I didn't look tbh.

As for Oxford transformer welders he's also got the big daddy 400 amp single phase unit with the 10m cassette extension and so far it's been a cracking bit of kit but very far from being portable! Imo if you know your way round a welder you just don't need the synergic complication in the mix.

I'm not really bothered about portability tbf but need something that has 4 rollers to push a 5-6m torch. 

The whole inverter/synergic thing made me want to give one a go but I'm not impressed. I'll give it a better go on the next project but I'm fairly certain I'll be replacing it in the near future or I'll let the wife use it and I'll grab something else.

 

[SiC]

 

15 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

I'll let the wife use it

I didn't know you were married to @captain_70s 😯

I'd have a speak to either the retailer or GYS UK on your problems. Playing around with different button combinations there are some secret menus. I can't find anything at all on what they do so I haven't touched them. But there might be something they can tweak. 

[Scruffy Bodger]

7 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

I'm not really bothered about portability tbf but need something that has 4 rollers to push a 5-6m torch. 

The whole inverter/synergic thing made me want to give one a go but I'm not impressed. I'll give it a better go on the next project but I'm fairly certain I'll be replacing it in the near future or I'll let the wife use it and I'll grab something else.

 

That delay on yours sounds like a right old pain in the arse as it'll mess with your timing something chronic I'd imagine, especially when you are welding 8x4 sheets into Yank barges 😮

[GingerNuttz]

8 minutes ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

That delay on yours sounds like a right old pain in the arse as it'll mess with your timing something chronic I'd imagine, especially when you are welding 8x4 sheets into Yank barges 😮

You get into that rhythm in your head and GYS just goes and ruins it 😂 

Don't get me wrong when it's laying a constant seam it's absolutely fine but it's the stop start welding it's really pissing me off.

As Sic said it could be as simple as a setting needing tweaked so I'll look into it next time I use it.

[Scruffy Bodger]

6 hours ago, GingerNuttz said:

You get into that rhythm in your head and GYS just goes and ruins it 😂 

Don't get me wrong when it's laying a constant seam it's absolutely fine but it's the stop start welding it's really pissing me off.

As Sic said it could be as simple as a setting needing tweaked so I'll look into it next time I use it.

All right and good if you are welding rsj's. Your work shows the welding is intuitive, the easy bit, standing on your head, twist a dial, done? 

[SiC]

When I pull the trigger on my 162 it's instant and you get that spot rhythm going on thinner stuff but with the Pearl the delay seems to be a second or more and it's putting me off my game 

This is when I push the trigger on my torch. To me it seems zero delay from trigger in, gas and wire out.

There is a delay welding function but I've never used that, so leave it in standard weld mode.

[SiC]

Arch in and welds dressed back.


Then a splash of zinc primer and black paint.


Haven't welded the inside chassis rail yet, so that will be tomorrows job. Does mean I'll end up repainting this outside section as it'll be burnt off. Once that is done, filler to smoothen things out and then some body colour paint.

I do need to get a chance to go into town and pick up some new rubber wing beading and fixing bolts. Bit of a hassle to have a half hour journey for those bits, but it's the final thing left to finish this repair.

[SiC]

On 9/14/2021 at 5:03 PM, GingerNuttz said:

As Sic said it could be as simple as a setting needing tweaked so I'll look into it next time I use it.

Having a look through the manual on yours there are these options. I think I found them on mine by accident but I don't remember seeing them in my manual? I'll have a play with them on mine tomorrow, especially as I'd like to reduce the burn back slightly on mine too. Not sure what SELF is?

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Worth doing a reset; if you've accidentally moved some setting starting again from default will establish whether there's a fault or just a bad setting.

[SiC]

Could also be part of the factory build process where those settings are changed and an operator has simply forgotten to set it to reset on the end of line. 

[GingerNuttz]

Yours feeds much faster than mine, I'll have a look at the settings when I go up tomorrow and see if I can sort it out.

[SiC]

29 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

Yours feeds much faster than mine, I'll have a look at the settings when I go up tomorrow and see if I can sort it out.

That I think was set to MIG Synergic with 0.6mm steel wire/CO2 Argon mix and 1mm steel/+2 trim/downwards butt welding. Feed roller set for 0.6mm wire, tension set I think quite high and 3m long genuine Binzel MB15 torch with its standard liner. Wire is (iirc) SWP Super 6, 5kg roll of 0.6mm. 

It would be interesting to see if yours acts differently after doing a factory reset as mentioned in the manual above. 

On the Moggie, 1mm +2 trim tends to work for me best. On the Dolomite I knock that back to 0.8mm or 0.9mm as the steel is a bit thinner and it doesn't blow holes in it then. 

[GingerNuttz]

I had mine at 1.2 and +9 on the trim but it was still dire for 1mm so I went to manual. I'll swap my 6m mb25 to my 3m mb15 and see if it makes a diff. 

I'm going up to start polishing the Galaxie tomorrow so I'll factory reset it then 

[GingerNuttz]

I meant +9 or whatever it is on the synergic wire feed control, my head is ruined today 😂

[SiC]

20 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

I'll swap my 6m mb25 to my 3m mb15 and see if it makes a diff.

"For welding 0.6 wire use a torch no longer than 3m"

Possibly would explain the problems you have on the Synergic mode. With a 6m long torch it would have to be pushing it harder. Now the machine I believe tracks the wire feed rate but it can only do that by the rollers moving. If the wire is slipping on the rollers then what it thinks it's outputting won't be reality. A 0.6mm is probably a bit too thin for the rollers to grab hold of and push through a torch.

My machine will weld with a 4m torch but I need to keep the roller and liner spotless. But then I only have a single roller setup where you have two, so that should aid running longer torches. 

[GingerNuttz]

I only use 0.8. I've never liked 0.6 since it can't be pushed that far without bird nesting plus I weld 10mm a fair bit. 

[SiC]

I used 0.6mm as I read that is usually the preferred stuff for car bodywork. I've got about half a roll of 0.8mm that came with the machine that I plan to give a go once I've run out of the wire I'm currently on. I'm interested to see how it compares. I presume you get a bigger weld pool with it? Obv the machines wire speed will reduce too and will be interested if that becomes too low for it to be accurately fed by the machine. 

My torch probably needs a good clean down soon anyway. Liner needs a blast through, the tip is getting loose and I managed to weld the nozzle onto the workpiece yesterday, so that's now a bit misshapen. 🤣

[GingerNuttz]

I can get the same results from 0.6 but it's not as good as 0.8 imo, I feel 0.8 is a better all rounder for thin and thick stuff with a 15% mix. I've welded down to 0.5mm steel on a transformer machine using 0.8 mm without issues and never really saw the point of changing to 0.6 to do the same job. 

Many people use 0.6 and 5% mix and do fine with it but for 4mm + steel and a 6m torch it's useless. 

[SiC]

What are you welding that is that thick? Presumably not automotive, or is it the Herald chassis?

I've yet to need to weld anything that thick apart from repairing a garden rake.

[GingerNuttz]

I've been welding the fronts of forklifts here and there plus I've built a few manifolds for bikes carbs for a few people using between 5-10mm steel bases. 

The Herald chassis was only 2-3 mm and would fold like a coke can in a crash, I had to reinforce it in places to cope with the extra power from engine. 

Once people know you can weld they usually ask you to fix all sorts of crap 😂 This is the reason I tell no one I can weld aluminium on the tig. 

[Snake Charmer]

@GingerNuttz with your Mig flat out, can you get into spray transfer? I can just about with my Portamig but it cooks an MB15 torch in seconds.

[GingerNuttz]

5 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

@GingerNuttz with your Mig flat out, can you get into spray transfer? I can just about with my Portamig but it cooks an MB15 torch in seconds.

I've not tried yet on the Pearl but will deffo give it a go. 

 

[SiC]

Last weekend I got the boot bottom patched up. Horrific stomach bug during the week meant I couldn't finish off during the nice days we've had.

Today, feeling better, I cleaned up the rear end ready for filler to smoothen it over.


While the filler hardened, I removed the filler from the side wing. This was a mistake.

I hate filler.


Fucking despise the stuff


I didn't quite remove all of it as it turns out that whoever repaired this last warped the utter fuck out of it. Or a possible weird accident? No idea. Shadows make it look weird.


Did I say I hate filler? That's partly because I'm even shitter with filler than I am with paint 🙈😆


The phallus shaping wasn't intentional.


Check out the gap on the front door now. The filler was so thick, it went up to the door level. Probably a good inch thick of filler.

You can see the impressiveness of my filler work here too. Tub said to use no less than 600grit. I was down to 120grit, trying to get even a faint level of smoothness. 


I keep saying to myself, no more bloody bodywork projects again.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Great to see work on the Moggie steadily going in the right direction.

Those photos have reminded me that I need to get a quote for our living room artexed ceiling to be skimmed. 

[GMcD]

Hate the stuff as I can never get it looking flush either and the mess it makes does my nut. 

[vulgalour]

Less is more when it comes to filler, just like building up layers of paint really.  Skim, sand, skim, sand, until you're totally bored of it and then do a bit more and the end result is almost good.  When filler is really thick, you can sometimes get a heatgun on it and dig large chunks out with a screwdriver or similar to cut down on the ridiculous amounts of dust it otherwise makes.  Hopefully you can deal with the aligment there by adjusting the door rather than anything more serious.